Beer snake

A beer snake, or cup snake is the stacking of numerous plastic beer cups to form a "snake." Beer snakes are most commonly found at sporting events that are played out over many hours, such as cricket. Some snakes have been reported in the media as being up to 175 m long.[1] They are typically formed during breaks in play: for example, when the fourth Test of the Pakistani cricket team in England in 2006 tour at The Oval was halted after ball tampering allegations, a large beer snake was constructed in the Ben Dunk stand.

Beer snake on The Hill at The SCG in January 2004

Materials
A long beer snake at a day-night match at the WACA on 15 January 2008

A beer snake is made with a large number of empty plastic beer cups, usually those issued by the bars on site at the stadium. Many sports stadiums do not allow glasses for safety reasons, and use plastic cups for serving beer. The plastic cups, once empty, provide the flexible building blocks for constructing the beer snake.

Origins

The first recorded beer snake occurred in January 1997 at the WACA Cricket Ground in Perth, Australia as per Dan's Memory. A newspaper article in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Michael Gray as "The Snake Charmer" and architect of the social phenomenon.[2]

Procedure

As such a large number of cups are needed, gathering normally occurs in large groups of people. The cups are simply stacked within each other until they form a tube or 'snake'. Once the snake has reached the desired length it is held skyward to 'dance' as if being charmed. Snake length is often restricted by the width of the bay of seats as anything longer will protrude into the aisle. One solution to this is to team up with other groups and link your snakes together. One of the biggest challenges is trying to keep it in one piece.

Security staff at many sporting venues frown on such behaviour, and will often attempt to confiscate the empty cups from people building a beer snake. This is in part due to the dangers of such structures in crowded places, and also due to the fact that the component cups are often not completely empty and will spill stale or fresh beer on spectators.

As a result of several minor injuries that occurred when a beer snake collapsed during a regular season Canadian Football League game, the Winnipeg Football Club banned the creation of beer snakes during Winnipeg Blue Bombers football games.[3]

Notable examples
  • January 20, 2013: It is believed that the longest ever beer snake, aka the beeraconda, was created during a two-hour rain delay at an Australia versus Sri Lanka one-day cricket match in Sydney, Australia. The snake was reported to have spanned the width of the SCG's Victor Trumper Stand.[4] Although the beer snake was not accurately measured, it is believed to have been between 100 and 175 metres long, beating the previous record held at the WACA Ground, Perth, Australia in 2007.[5][6]
  • March 8, 2020: During an XFL game between the DC Defenders and St. Louis BattleHawks at Audi Field, fans formed a beer snake with approximately 1,237 cups. XFL commissioner Oliver Luck also contributed to the snake with his own cup.[7] Defenders fans had created an earlier beer snake, which was 75 feet long, during a February 15 game against the New York Guardians.[8]

See also

References
  1. "SCG crowds build 175m beer snake". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
  2. "Mexican Wave Replaced By New Wavy Snake".
  3. "CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - CFL - Winnipeg: Beer snake blues".
  4. "Fourth ODI Between Australia And Sri Lanka Abandoned In Sydney Due To Heavy Rain At SCG".
  5. "Cricket Fans Set Beer Snake Record At Australia Sri Lanka SCG Washout". News Corp Australia Network. 21 January 2013. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013.
  6. "SCG Crowds Build 175m Beer Snake". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
  7. McGuire, Sean T. (March 8, 2020). "These Stats Behind XFL Fans' Gigantic 'Cup Snake' Are Wildly Impressive". New England Sports Network. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  8. Sams, Travis (February 17, 2020). "XFL Fans Make 75-Foot Long Snake Of Beer Cups Spanning 9 Rows". WKDQ. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
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