On the afternoon of Tuesday 4th February 2025, RTÉs ‘Liveline’ show was inundated with calls from Irish rugby fans raising concerns about the scale of alcohol consumption at that weekend’s Six Nations rugby match between Ireland and England at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.[i] The callers raised concerns that the event was alcohol orientated, with rugby playing second fiddle to drinking. Those fans who contacted ‘Liveline’ outlined how the spectacle was ruined by fans constantly going to and from the bar, and in one case, by a drunk fan vomiting on a row of spectators.[ii]
For some these revelations may have come as an unpleasant surprise, but for Alcohol Action Ireland, it is perfectly understandable that a match in a competition called the ‘Guinness Six Nations’, in which the field of play and stadium is emblazoned with alcohol branding, suffered from alcohol related problems; after all, we know marketing activities are used to build links between alcohol, sports and elite athletes, which ultimately drives consumption of alcohol. Indeed, the website for Guinness, the title partner and official beer of the Six Nations Rugby Championship, states “We’ll be making sure you get the most from the game, so you can be sure of an epic match day experience whilst enjoying a great pint of the black stuff!”.[iii]
We have known for some time alcohol advertising seeks to recruit new drinkers and increase sales among existing consumers of alcohol, including those with alcohol use disorder and dependency as well as amongst young people and children.[iv] It was for this reason that the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 (PHAA) aimed to reduce the direct or indirect promotion of alcohol products. Two of the most important ways the legislation sought to do this was through Section 15 which, from November 2021, placed restriction on alcohol advertising during events, and Section 19 which, from January 2025, introduced a daytime alcohol advertising broadcast watershed.[v]
Section 15 of the PHAA prohibits the advertising of an alcohol product in or on a sports area when a sports event is taking place. Essentially, it bans alcohol advertising on the field of play.[vi] However, since its introduction we witnessed countless attempts by the alcohol industry to circumvent this modest restriction. Indeed, we must only look at last weekend’s game between Ireland and England to see this practice in action. During the Guinness Six Nations match, the Guinness logo, with 0.0 tagged on, was emblazoned in the centre of the pitch. If this is not a direct contravention of the law, then it is most certainly against the spirt of the law.
Desire
The purpose of marketing is to create a need or desire for a product. Alcohol is not a staple, it is not a necessary purchase, therefore a market must be created for it – and new drinkers must be recruited to create and expand that market.[vii] From a commercial perspective, this makes sense for the alcohol industry because sport, especially games such as rugby and football, have undergone rapid process of ‘hypercommodification’ which has resulted in increased presence and importance of sponsorship deals with alcohol producers.[viii] Therefore, sport is particularly attractive for alcohol sponsors, as it provides positive brand associations and a gateway to global audiences.[ix] However, this is exactly what the Public Health (Alcohol) Act was supposed to protect against, especially in terms of alcohol advertising being seen by children, because evidence shows that exposure to alcohol marketing encourages children to drink at an earlier age and in greater quantities than they otherwise would.[x]
In order to further protect children from the direct or indirect promotion of alcohol products, Section 19 of the PHAA legislated for a daytime broadcasting ban on alcohol advertising with no advertisements for alcohol products on television from 3am to 9pm and on radio on a weekday from 3pm to 10am the following morning.[xi] This modest measure, after a bizarrely long delay, finally came into operation on 10 January 2025, Yet, at the weekend, during the live coverage of the Ireland v England rugby match we saw alcohol marketing being broadcast into the homes of hundreds of thousands of people, doubtless tens of thousands of the viewers were children. The advertising was a seamless blend between Guinness and Guinness 0.0 using identical branding across ads on hoardings and ads on the field of play.
It is clear the alcohol industry will use 0.0/alcohol-free products not just to circumvent Section 15 of the PHAA, but also Section 19. Zero alcohol advertising is not being pushed because the alcohol industry wants people to drink less, but because of the aforementioned restrictions on where the industry can advertise their products. It is of note that in the outdoor space where most of the PHAA restrictions are in place, zero alcohol ads made up 25% of the spend of alcohol brand advertising in 2022, up 31% from 2021, even though these products only make up around 2 percent of the market.[xii] Strong brand recognition, whether driven by advertising the brand through zero-alcohol or alcohol products, can result in higher sales and profit margins. Indeed, the marketers of Heineken 0.0 have admitted as much in their submission to Effie Awards Ireland 2021.
The Effie Awards, launched in 1968 by the New York American Marketing Association, are an awards program to honour the most effective advertising efforts.[xiii] It is the pre-eminent award in the industry, and the award recognises any and all forms of marketing that contribute to a brand’s success.[xiv] Elaborating on their Heineken 0.0 campaign in Ireland, which won a silver medal at the Irish Effie Awards, the marketers were keen to show that their efforts are increasing brand loyalty and also contributing to increased sales not just of 0.0 but also of the main product, Heineken.[xv] The case study reference guide for the Heineken 0.0 campaign stated that advertising the non-alcoholic product “drove advocacy through excellent product experience and positive conversation around the brand.”.[xvi] This also had a “beneficial effect on Heineken main brand.”. The submission further noted that the “success of the Heineken 0.0 campaign has compounded growth for the brand overall in a shrinking market.”.[xvii]
Recent sports events have revealed these practices first hand as the alcohol industry has sought to put their brand at the centre stage of important sporting events. Research from the University of Stirling found alcohol brand references being shown at a rate of up to one every 8 seconds on the field of play during some high profile rugby matches after the PHAA restrictions came into place.[xviii] Beyond the Guinness Six Nations, we have also witnessed alcohol advertising on the field of play during the recent UEFA Nations League football match between Ireland v England, where Carlsberg displayed their logo behind both goal end lines, again, with a 0.0 tagged on. There was a particularly egregious example of a zero-alcohol product being advertised on the sports surface which is not even available on the market.[xix] Forged Irish Stout 0.0 was prominently displayed on the boxing ring during a high-profile Katie Taylor fight in May 2023. Under PHAA rules, alcohol branding should not be displayed on the ring. The manufacturer claimed that the product was in development. This product is still not available (Feb 2025).
Alcoholization of rugby
To return to where we started, this is not the first time concern has been raised about the alcoholization of Ireland rugby matches at the Aviva Stadium. In 2023 the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) conducted a survey of 744 fans attitudes towards alcohol as part of an effort to counter accusations that the international matchday experience had become alcohol orientated.[xx] The IRFU survey found that almost seven out of ten fans opposed an alcohol ban in the Aviva Stadium at rugby matches, while 68% of adult fans surveyed said they went to the 2023 autumn international games against South Africa and Australia intending to drink.[xxi] The situation further came to a head in 2024 when Irish Times rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley bemoaned the “flat” atmosphere at Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations Championship matches, saying that fans were treating rugby games as a drinking occasion.[xxii]
This is hardly surprising given comments from the organisers of the Six Nations that Guinness and the Six Nations were now synonymous.[xxiii] Fans are being saturated with alcohol marketing at and around their games, and we know that the purpose of alcohol industry marketing is to create a need or desire for a product, the outworking of which is to get people to consume more alcohol. Indeed, the alcohol industry admits as much. In 2024, Diageo attributed increased sales directly to sports sponsorship activity. In that year’s annual report, the company stated: “Whilst Guinness has been the official partner of the Six Nations Rugby Championship since 2019, in 2024 the tournament helped it reach new heights. During this year’s Six Nations, sales of pints of Guinness in stadiums were up 15% compared with 2022…”[xxiv]
Therefore, it is clear for all to see that the alcohol industry is circumventing Section 15 and 19 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 and using sport to drive increased sales and thereby increased alcohol consumption. It is imperative that the Irish government and the Health Service Executive ensure that this practice is ceased immediately.
[i] RTÉ Radio 1. (2025). Sip, Stand, Shuffle – Rugby, Interrupted. Available at: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22485725/
[ii] RTÉ Radio 1. (2025). Sip, Stand, Shuffle – Rugby, Interrupted. Available at: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22485725/
[iii] Guinness. (2024). Guinness Six Nations. Dublin: Guinness. Available at: https://www.guinness.com/en-ie/sport/guinness-six-nations
[iv] Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS). (2020). Alcohol Knowledge Centre Briefing: Alcohol and Marketing. Institute of Alcohol Studies. Available at: https://www.ias.org.uk/report/alcohol-and-marketing/
[v] Government of Ireland. (2018). Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. Available at: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/24/enacted/en/print.html
[vi] Government of Ireland. (2018). Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. Available at: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/24/enacted/en/print.html
[vii] Alcohol Action Ireland. (2014). It’s not a game – Submission to the Working Group on Regulating Sponsorship by Alcohol Companies of Major Sporting Events. Dublin: AAI. Available at: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/22134/1/AAI%20Print%20Submission%20Version.pdf
[viii] Purves, RI, Critchlow, N, Richard, G, Hunt, K, Morrow, S & Bancroft, A. (2021). ‘Sport fan attitudes on alcohol: Insights from a survey of football supporters in Scotland and England’, Journal of Sport and Social Issues. Available at: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/247559822/PurvesEtal2021JSSISportFanAttitudes.pdf
[ix] Purves, RI, Critchlow, N, Richard, G, Hunt, K, Morrow, S & Bancroft, A. (2021). ‘Sport fan attitudes on alcohol: Insights from a survey of football supporters in Scotland and England’, Journal of Sport and Social Issues. Available at: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/247559822/PurvesEtal2021JSSISportFanAttitudes.pdf
[x] Institute for Alcohol Studies. (2020). Alcohol and Marketing. London: IAS. Available at: https://www.ias.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Alcohol-and-marketing.pdf
[xi] Government of Ireland. (2018). Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. Available at: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/24/enacted/en/print.html
[xii] Core. (2023). Outlook 23 – Media Market Forecasts for Ireland. Available at: https://www.onecore.ie/intel/outlook-23-media-market-forecasts
[xiii] Effie. (2024). About Effie. Available at: https://www.effie.org/worldwide/about
[xiv] Effie. (2024). About Effie. Available at: https://www.effie.org/worldwide/about
[xv] Effie Ireland. (2021). Effie Awards Ireland: Case Study Reference Guide. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/effie_assets/ckeditor_assets/376/case_study_booklet_-_effie_awards_2021_-_final_version.pdf?1669310772
[xvi] Effie Ireland. (2021). Effie Awards Ireland: Case Study Reference Guide. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/effie_assets/ckeditor_assets/376/case_study_booklet_-_effie_awards_2021_-_final_version.pdf?1669310772
[xvii] Effie Ireland. (2021). Effie Awards Ireland: Case Study Reference Guide. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/effie_assets/ckeditor_assets/376/case_study_booklet_-_effie_awards_2021_-_final_version.pdf?1669310772
[xviii] Critchlow, N., Purves, R. (2023). Alcohol branding during rugby union matches in Ireland after commencement of Sect. 15 from the Public Health (Alcohol) Act: a frequency analysis of highlights from the European Rugby Champions Cup and Six Nations Championship. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369383940_Alcohol_branding_during_rugby_union_matches_in_Ireland_after_commencement_of_Sect_15_from_the_Public_Health_Alcohol_Act_a_frequency_analysis_of_highlights_from_the_European_Rugby_Champions_Cup_and_Six
[xix] Thomas, C. (2023). Conor McGregor’s promotion of zero-alcohol stout criticised by harm reduction group. Dublin: Business Post. Available at: https://www.businesspost.ie/news/conor-mcgregors-promotion-of-zero-alcohol-stout-criticised-by-harm-reduction-group/
[xx] Martin, T. (2023). What Irish rugby fans really want is a drink. Cork: Irish Examiner. Available at: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport-columnists/arid-41051504.html
[xxi] Martin, T. (2023). What Irish rugby fans really want is a drink. Cork: Irish Examiner. Available at: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport-columnists/arid-41051504.html
[xxii] Thornley, G. (2024). Flat atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium not helped by Irish rugby fans treating matches as a social occasion. Dublin: Irish Times. Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/2024/02/27/the-best-irish-team-ever-and-another-flat-atmosphere-at-the-aviva/
[xxiii] Six Nations Rugby. (2025). The Guinness Men’s Six Nations, “Rugby’s Most Loved Annual Occasion”. Available at: https://media.sixnationsrugby.com/press-releases/the-guinness-mens-six-nations-rugbys-most-loved-annual-occasion/
[xxiv] Diageo. (2024). Annual Report 2024. London: Diageo. Available at: https://www.diageo.com/~/media/Files/D/Diageo-V2/Diageo-Corp/investors/results-reports-and-events/annual-reports/diageo-annual-report-2024.pdf
