A huge row has broken out behind the scenes over a Liquor Board bombshell ruling which at one stage threatened to prevent spectators at the opening World Cup games from drinking anywhere outside a stadium bar.
As it is, after a confrontation between lawyers for cricket authorities and the liquor chiefs, thousands of spectators with tickets for Newlands on Sunday will not be able to have a drink in the comfort of their seats.
And smokers can forget about lighting up in their seats as well.
The Liquor Board at first sought to ban liquor from any stand or grass embankment at Newlands or Boland Park.
The compromise ruling bars drink on temporary stands during the matches.
This will affect about 5 000 of the 25 000 spectators who will pack Newlands for the first game between South Africa and the West Indies.
And there will be a strictly enforced 90-minute "drying out period" for all spectators, with liquor outlets shut after the supper break.
Those on temporary stands at all the World Cup games at Newlands or Boland Park in Paarl will be affected.
The drying-out period after lunch or supper breaks will also apply to every event venue.
On Thursday there was an 11th hour Liquor Board hearing at the board's office in Dorp Street to consider the stadiums' adherence to the Liquor Act.
Board chairman Sedric Evertson's initial ruling was that spectators would not be allowed to drink liquor in any stand and or on any grass embankment, in accordance with the ground's liquor licence stipulations.
But lawyers Solly Epstein, for Western Province Cricket Club, and Peter Ingwersen, for Boland Park, protested strongly, resulting in a brief exchange in Evertson's chambers.
Evertson emerged from the meeting minutes later and back-tracked on his earlier ruling, saying "leniency like this, from this board, does not happen often".
The WPCC and Boland Park were summoned to a Liquor Act inquiry over a recent police report outlining liquor abuse and contraventions of licence stipulations at Newlands and Boland Park.
The lawyers told the Cape Argus the inquiry was "nit-picking" by authorities at a time when they could least afford such action.
Addressing the hearing, Western Cape liquor control chief Jacques van Lill said if the entire Newlands ground was to be licensed, then no supporter under 18 would be allowed in.
Epstein warned that stopping spectators from consuming alcohol in the comfort of their seats, or in a picnic environment on the grass embankments, would force them into long queues at beer and wine outlets, where tempers could run high and result in chaos.