International Journal of Drug Policy 11 (2000) 199–202
Editorial
Challenging the culture of sport and alcohol
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One of the ironies in the field of harm
prevention is that involvement in sport is
often regarded as insurance against drug use
and the development of drug problems. A
folk-belief holds that if young people play
sport they will be ‘safe’ from drugs. The two
are constructed as antithetical. Sport is
‘wholesome,’ ‘healthy,’ and ‘character build-
ing,’ whereas drugs, and those who use them,
are decadent and diseased. Entire prevention
programs have been constructed to channel
young people’s energies towards sports activ-
ity in the belief that this will lower the preva-
lence of drug use. Such programs are justified
by a desire to keep them busy (idle hands…),
a trust that they will develop a desire to
remain ‘clean’ (healthy body, healthy mind)
and the effect of mixing with people of good
character (avoiding the ‘bad crowd’ syn-
drome.) Of course the mandatory testing of
elite athletes for the use of illegal perfor-
mance enhancing drugs means that elite sport
is no longer synonomous with clean endeav-
our, but there is a deeper, more insidious
sense in which sport and drug use are en-
twined. Many sports promote recreational
drug use most powerfully at community and
elite levels, and alcohol and tobacco compa-
nies use sports to market their products re-
lentlessly to the public.
Australia is a model case where alcohol
and sport are united in a close partnership.
Major sporting competitions, festivals and
teams are sponsored by the alcohol industry;
or, to put it another way, major sporting
events are used to promote and advertise
drinking. Alcohol sponsored events and
teams in recent years include the Melbourne
Cup and the entire Spring Racing Carnival,
the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand
Final, the Australian Tennis Open and the
national Test cricket team. On television’s
high-rating (AFL) Footy Show, compere Ed-
die McGuire introduces the comedian Trevor
Marmalade ensconced, always, ‘behind the
bar.’ The bar has no role in the program
except to subliminally advertise alcohol and
to reinforce the impression that alcohol, foot-
ball and fun are a team.
It is not just the symbolic partnership of
alcohol and sports, but also the behaviour of
elite athletes which sends a strong message to
our young people. Traditionally members of
male sporting teams in Australia have had
licence to indulge in heavy drinking. An ex-
ample is the legendary drinking contest held
by the Australian cricket team en route to
England. Even the most public drink-driving
death in 1991 of the Collingwood footballer
Darren Millane has not prevented a host of
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