Cowboy Mac
Bluelighter
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and finally alcohol will go the way of the cigarettes.. original story here
Booze ties to sport denounced
By Paul Colgan
August 26, 2003
POLICE want to break the link between sport and alcohol by banning drinks companies from sponsoring major national sporting events.
A NSW summit on alcohol this week will hear that the link between sport and alcohol is one of the most crucial - and potentially damaging - in Australian drinking culture.
The state's police association says getting drunk while watching sport "is probably as close to a national religion as we will ever get", and says the sponsorship of sports events by alcohol companies is "problematic if not hypocritical to say the least".
In it submission to this week's conference, the police criticise the use of "‘Barbie look-a-likes’ with certain product names splashed across their bikini bottoms at major sporting events" to sell beer.
Girls are "demeaning their behind" by wearing the promotional outfits, the submission says, adding the models "betray a sporting establishment whose quest for alcohol sponsorship is pursued at the expense of their fans health, and the health of the community as a whole."
Most of Australia's major sporting events have multi-million dollar sponsorship arrangements with alcohol companies: the Australian Grand Prix (Foster's), the Melbourne Cup (Tooheys), the Rugby World Cup (Heineken and Bundaberg), one-day international cricket (Victoria Bitter), and the Australian Open tennis (Heineken) among them.
A submission by the NSW police association to the conference offers two solutions to the problems of binge drinking that surrounds sporting events: stopping the advertising of alcohol at sporting events, and limiting the amount of drinks that can be purchased at service areas.
NSW Premier Bob Carr is keen to ensure the summit, which finishes Thursday, is not seen as aiming to produce a string of anti-drinking measures, though his spokesman said advertising sponsorship would be a "prickly issue" during the summit.
"You pull out sponsorship dollars from a lot of those [sporting] organisations and they are going to be in trouble," Mr Carr's spokesman said.
"We don't want the summit to be an exercise in wowserism - there's clearly some problems with alcohol, but there's also some good things about it, too."
In a speech this morning to the alcohol summit, Mr Carr said: "A starting point for this summit is that alcohol is not bad," adding that it had important social and economic roles.
"We use it to celebrate success, to socialise, to commiserate, to mark important occasions," Mr Carr said.
"Sharing a beer with friends is tied to a tradition of mateship that holds a treasured place in Australian culture."
The police submission suggests other firm measures to clamp down on excess drinking, including banning happy hours and "dollar drinks".
The NSW police association also says the use of designated non-drinkers among a group of friends out celebrating should be encouraged, so they can drive safely, look out for trouble, and tend to people in difficulty.
