Players get beverage with meal (not bad ale!) (4)
I believe the answer is:
team
'players' is the definition.
(sports team)
'beverage with meal not bad ale' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'beverage' could be 'tea' (tea is a kind of beverage) and 'tea' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'm' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'get' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for team that I've seen before include "(Football) side" , "See 22" , "Players united" , "People working together" , "Competitive side" .)