Leaders from the GAA, IRFU and FAI went before a Transport and Communications Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday to argue against an outright ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport.
The issue has featured prominently in the past 12 months following a Department of Health report that recommended prohibition as a way of curing the national social problem with drink…
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[ismember]John Delaney of the FAI and Philip Browne of the IRFU argued that plans to pitch for hosting major international sporting tournaments would be threatened by an outright ban though France’s hosting of the Euro 2016 UEFA Football Championships suggests that it’s ban is not necessarily a red line factor in determining host countries.
Of greater likely impact on the politicians and public opinion was research which showed alcohol misuse among the young in France actually rising during the period to date of the ban on overt alcohol association to sport.
The Heineken Cup is known only as the ‘H’ Cup in France as a result of the restriction on advertising and brands like Carlsberg and Heineken who have international sponsorships within soccer tournaments like the Champions’ League are also prevented from promoting in the same way they do elsewhere.
All the sporting bodies recognised that there were issues within Irish culture and alcohol but Paraic Duffy outlined that no organisations were better than sporting ones at getting the message across about responsible attitudes to drink.
The GAA and HSE have already an extensive ASAP programme on alcohol and drug awareness which is rolled out through clubs and uses players as good role models.
The argument that a longer engagement in sport, or indeed other extra curricular activities like drama, will delay a young person’s likely exposure to alcohol and this outweighs the cultural iconography of alcohol being central to sporting celebration.
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has publicly recognised the difficulties that a ban would have on the funding of sport and Minister Michael Ring spoke in the Dáil yesterday about the impact of a ban on the self sufficiency of sport.
There remain strong forces within government and those who determine state policy that are determined to push ahead with a ban.  Eamon Maloney TD, one of the members of the Committee expressed that view in response to arguments about the health benefits of sport by arguing “we have to face up to our national problem with drink.”
The role of sporting administrators must now be to highlight education programmes and enhance the perception of sports coaches as being among the best independent adult reference points for young people who will be faced with alcohol for so long as it is available in homes, pubs and shops across the country.[/ismember]
An outright ban would be counter productive in many ways but if Government as a whole is intent on pursuing a prohibition policy it might be well served to look at the model in Australia we highlighted last July.
 
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