Sport and Social Inclusion

Analysis of Committee Recommendations on Alcohol and Sport

Sports role as a force for social inclusion
Last week the Oireachtas Committee investigating a proposed ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport  ruled against the merit of a ban, suggesting a number of alternative measures in its place.
Day by day we are considering each of those recommendations, the basis on which it is made, how it might be put into practice and how it might have been put in place elsewhere around the world.
Today: All sporting organisations should be encouraged to support programmes which contribute to social inclusion in order to reduce the abuse of alcohol, particularly among young people.

The sixth and penultimate recommendation is once again highlighting an area where sport already scores strongly.
In 2007 the Government published a strategic plan on social inclusion which ran over nine years from then until 2016.
Included in that document was the statement that “In addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle, sport contributes a sense of identity and belonging and brings people together in positive and social community settings.
By its very nature sport is a community based facility with players ranging from infants to the elderly across the full range of activities that take place across the country.
Ireland has a high propensity to volunteer and again much of this is driven through sport.  The Federation of Irish Sport, representing sports national governing bodies, published data this year which showed 2.1 million people having participated in sport in the past year, and 500,000 having volunteered to make that happen.
83% of children participate in sport outside of school hours and 70% of people cited friendship as a primary motivator for being involved in their local sports club, of which there are 12,000.
Sport hardly needs to be told to be socially inclusive.  It is so by its very nature.  Sports like horse and greyhound racing, based for the public more on watching rather than participating have also stepped up to the plate with local initiatives to encourage those who may be lonely and elderly to come together and meet in a socially inclusive setting.
The next strategic plan on social inclusion will be started on in the coming months and sport will have to feature prominently again as it did in 2007.  One area though that will be different is the reference in that year to the fact that the budget for the Irish Sports Council had increased in that single year by 20%.
Sport is a major contributor to the health and overall wellbeing of the country.  Were alcohol sponsorship to be banned it would lose 30% of its commercial revenue and rely even more on central funding which, while undoubtedly deserving and a good investment in many ways is simply not available in present circumstances.
 
Catch up with the rest of this series
Day One: Sponsorship by the Alcohol Drinks Industry should remain in place until such time as it can be replaced by other identifiable streams of comparable funding.
Day Two: A Code of Practice for the consumption of alcohol within stadia should be drawn- up by all sporting organisations.
Day Three: A fixed percentage of all sponsorship received by each and every organisation (sporting, cultural, arts, music etc.) from the alcohol drinks industry, should be ring-fenced and paid into a central fund to be administered by an appropriate body. That fund should be used exclusively for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Programmes.
Day Four: Sponsorship of sports and sporting events should be treated in the same way as sponsorship of the arts, music and other festivals.
Day Five: A Code should be introduced to make it mandatory for all brand owners and rights-holders to provide responsible training in selling, advertising and marketing and to promote responsible drinking at all sponsored events.
Today: All sporting organisations should be encouraged to support programmes which contribute to social inclusion in order to reduce the abuse of alcohol, particularly among young people.
Friday: A prohibition on sponsorship by the alcohol industry should only be considered if it is done on a pan-European basis in order to ensure that Irish sports and sporting organisations are not operating at a disadvantage relative to their international competitors.
The Committee report can be downloaded here
Follow our coverage of the Alcohol and Sport debate
Join us for our Sports Tourism Seminar in September
Sign up for our Free Daily News Digest