The Government’s publication of the legislation to regulate alcohol promotion has been published and while it does move voluntary restrictions in sport onto a statutory footing there is to be no immediate ban on sports sponsorship by alcohol companies.
The Health Minister Leo Varadkar did say though that this element of the bill aimed at tackling public health would be reviewed in three years time.
That is a short enough window and will come in advance of a number of the longer term contracts currently being signed between sport and the larger alcohol sponsors including Guinness and Heineken. It will also add a level of uncertainty to planning for the bid to host Rugby’s World Cup in 2023.
The three year time frame may allow for analysis of how Britain seeks to tackle similar issues though when the Labour Party unveiled a raft of measures aimed at improving public health they were quick to backtrack on suggestions that would also include a sponsorship ban.
One snap poll conducted by a major national newspaper in the wake of their policy publication showed 76% of the population opposed to a ban.
There will be a ban on low price selling of alcohol and restrictions on TV advertising until after the nine o’clock watershed which may impact on some of the advertising that accompanies broadcasts of major sporting events like this weekend’s start of the RBS 6 Nations, the Rugby World Cup and the European Championships which will take place in 2016.
The voluntary code adhered to between alcohol companies and sport has a variety of measures designed to avoid the targeting of young people including restriction on the use of images showing younger players against alcohol backdrops and these will now be moved onto a statutory footing as the bill progresses towards law before the end of this year.
There is no question that our society needs to face some serious questions over its relationship with alcohol.
Sport has a major role to play in that through the encouragement of coaches and mentors at underage level to downplay any sign of alcohol as an inextricably bound part of celebrating a win, and of putting forward role models of health and fitness that if they drink do so only in moderation.
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If sport was to be chosen as the vehicle for a broad based public information campaign such as that undertaken by the Road Safety Authority, then that would make perfect sense.
That in time may make alcohol companies think differently about how and where they promote but for now the voluntary measures adhered to and followed by companies like Heineken and Diageo allow for responsible promotion and for the continued provision of sport at every level from the very top to the grassroots.
Alcohol consumption causes problems in our society and we do not recognise that enough. But there is no evidence that sporting sponsorship has a direct link to those problems. In France where a ban has been in place for years there is no evidence at all of a reduction in youth drinking.
The damage a massive reduction in sports funding would cause, at a time when obesity and physical activity are so important to promote, would be catastrophic, and it is to be applauded that this has been recognised by government.
Now it is up to sport and the sponsors to show real commitment to education and helping change the relationship between alcohol and our broader society into a more positive one.
Image Credit: Inpho.ie
