Call for players to curb booze

'Entrenched' drinking culture target of new campaign

Young sportspeople are the target of a campaign to turn around New Zealand's "entrenched" culture of heavy after-match drinking.

Police, the Alcohol Advisory Council and Sport Canterbury have launched a pilot programme designed to make young sportspeople aware of the damage from alcohol abuse.

Christchurch liquor licensing officer Constable Kerry Lancaster said heavy drinking after weekend sport was a "fairly entrenched aspect of New Zealand society", leading to violence, suicide risk and health and community problems.

A 2004 academic study, co-authored by former All Black Josh Blackie, showed sportspeople drank more than non-sportspeople, and the higher the level of sport, the more "hazardous" the drinking.

The Canterbury programme, initially for sports clubs in North Canterbury, is aimed at players, coaches and managers and will include presentations from leading sportspeople, psychologists and police.

"It's designed to reduce the risks associated with after-game celebrations," Lancaster said.

Sport Canterbury events and marketing manager Johnny Kirkpatrick said the programme – the first combined effort for the three groups – was motivated by drunken incidents last year involving young North Canterbury rugby players.

"They were going into town, often being seen in clubs in their gear getting into fights, and it wasn't reflecting well on the sport."

Kirkpatrick said the programme was not about telling clubs they had a drinking problem but recognising they had a "key captive audience" and were in an ideal position to help change drinking attitudes.

"It's just a pilot. We would love to say we are incredibly confident," he said.

"I think we will have some successes, particularly with the sessions aimed at coaches and managers, but trying to get the players there might be easier said than done."

The sessions were for all sports clubs, Kirkpatrick said.

The organisers hoped clubs would make attending the sessions compulsory, as the Saracens Rugby Club in Rangiora had done.

Saracens development manager John Watson said that while the club did not have problems with alcohol, its under-18 and under-21 players were required to attend a session.

"The organisers are not going to come along and say `thou shalt not drink'. We just see it as being responsible citizens. It's more just to learn about responsible behaviour."

The club had received no negative reactions to the idea, and some older club members would attend to "set an example", he said. "We are not going to put a leash around their necks and drag them there, but there are some awful things happening out there to our young people, so even if this saves one life, it's worth it."

One of the speakers on the programme, mental skills trainer Dave Hadfield, who works with the Crusaders rugby team, said young sportspeople who drank to excess were out of step with their idols.

Drinking by high-level rugby players was much less than even five years ago as the game required so much more fitness and was so demanding on players' bodies, he said.

Hadfield said he would like to see professional players getting involved in education on alcohol.

The first two sessions targeted at players will be held tomorrow at 7.30pm at the Mandeville Sports Club, 431 Mandeville Rd, Mandeville, and on Thursday at 7.30pm at the Southbrook Rugby Club in Rangiora.

- © Fairfax NZ News