ALCOHOL SPONSORSHIP ON FOOTBALL STRIPS

THE request by the Health Education Board for the removal of alcohol
advertising from football shirts is superficially attractive. It is hard to
object to the view that children should not be encouraged to associate the
consumption of alcohol with athletic prowess.

The difficulty lies not in the principle but in the logic required to
support it. Is there any credible evidence that young fans are encouraged
to drink when they watch their heroes play in strips which advertise
drinks? And if there is does it even begin to prove that they are
encouraged to drink to excess rather than developing a mature attitude to
an entirely legal product which does no harm at all when consumed in
moderation?

The HEBS chief executive candidly acknowledges that no specific research
has proved a link between alcohol-related sponsorship and excess drinking
among the young. He says that evidence does exist but, confusingly, then
argues that even if it did not "commonsense" alone would make it obvious
that "it is risky and wrong" to allow alcohol sponsorship to appear on
football shirts.

The fact that drinking among certain age groups has become a bigger social
problem during a period when shirt sponsorship by drinks manufacturers has
also grown proves nothing. The number of teenage males deemed to be obese
and less physically fit than previous generations has grown too. Should we
conclude that the massive popularity of professional football has been
directly responsible for creating a generation of couch potatoes?
Commonsense would suggest not.

The HEBS is in danger of advocating repressive regulation as a substitute
for individual responsibility. The argument that drinks sponsorship creates
alcoholism is no more coherent than the one which blames sex education and
the availability of contraception for teenage pregnancies. Alcohol is not
tobacco. It can be used sensibly.

Campaigns to highlight the personal and social costs of excessive drinking
should concentrate on education and persuasion. They should not try to
limit promotion of products which can inject finance into a game which,
except at the very highest level, is starved of desperately needed
investment.