PRIMARY school teacher PJ O’Meara, in this piece on alcohol industry sponsorship of sports, argues that “we owe it to this generation of young people to protect them from a particularly devious form of alcohol sponsorship that targets their demographic”.
THREE separate events, over the course of a decade, helped to develop my awareness of the insidious relationship between alcohol sponsorship and sporting events.
My first feelings of unease surfaced during the All-Ireland Hurling Final of 2001. While the match ended with the right result (A Tipperary win!), the construction work in Croke Park and the presentation of the Liam McCarthy Cup on a Guinness-branded podium, in the middle of the pitch, detracted from my overall enjoyment of this great occasion.
However, the attacks on the “Twin Towers ” in New York occurred just two days later so these misgivings were quickly put to one side.
In 2006, Munster finally won the European Rugby Championship after several heartbreaking near-misses. In the interim, I had qualified as a primary teacher and had started to work in my old school.
The players on that team would have been heroes to most of my 5th class students so this was the first item we discussed on the following Monday morning. As soon as I mentioned the words “Heineken Cup ”, however, it struck me that I had never mentioned an alcohol brand in a classroom before. Sharing this insight with the class led to a remarkable conversation in which several boys shared their own perspectives and concerns about alcohol.
The previous day ’s live television coverage of the arrival of the Heineken Cup in Limerick was discussed. A number of boys observed that some Munster rugby players were drinking from Heineken bottles and cans, openly, on a stage festooned with Heineken bunting and paraphernalia.
While my charges were less than impressed with the lack of sobriety of some of the Munster players, evidently, the “Red Army ’s ” great rugby victory was a marketing triumph for Heineken.
My eyes had been opened at last, but another six years passed before last February ’s RTE 1 “Frontline ” special on the Steering Group ’s Report on the National Substance Misuse Strategy converted this awareness into a strong desire for change.
John Leahy, the great Tipperary hurler, spoke on this programme about the relationship between alcohol and hurling, but the most telling contribution came from the State ’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan.
He emphasised the public health benefits of protecting our young people from exposure to brand awareness and desensitisation to the downsides of alcohol consumption. Dr Holohan illustrated the effectiveness of the ban on tobacco advertising with an example of his own children knowing ten brands of beer but not one brand of cigarette.
His perspective reminded me that the protection of our young people should be at the heart of discussions on any proposal to prohibit alcohol sponsorship of sport. Teachers like myself are faced with a dilemma. Should we talk with our students about something positive like Munster or Leinster ’s latest big rugby match when we will be, simultaneously, raising awareness of an alcohol product?
We know that sports advertising works through the constant sight of alcohol brands at events young people enjoy (such as rugby and GAA matches) which normalises drinking, encourages an aspiration to drink alcohol and reinforces an expectation to drink alcohol, especially among young people.
These facts should raise alarm bells in a country with the third highest levels of binge drinking among 15 to 16 year olds in Europe (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey, April 2012). The Taoiseach himself has said that teenagers and young adults in Ireland drink more in total and more per occasion than in any other country in Europe.
Raising the national store of self-esteem is the long-term answer to our national problems with alcohol abuse and addiction so the importance of schools ’ education and awareness programmes, such as “Walk Tall ” has been re-stated for me.
However, we owe it to this generation of young people to protect them from a particularly devious form of alcohol sponsorship that targets their demographic. Can they not live in a society that values their protection over the needs of our drinks industry? This is a matter I intend to raise within the I.N.T.O. during the coming school year.
