Alcohol and sport in Australia

Australia is a proud sporting nation.

Sport is a central part of our national identity, leisure and entertainment, culture and local communities.¹

We are avid spectators and participants in a variety of sports, including swimming, athletics, football, tennis, bushwalking, basketball, golf, cricket, netball, yoga, dancing and surfing.^2,3

Participation in sport and exercise has a multitude of health benefits and can reduce the risk of:

• obesity^4,5
• heart disease⁶
• stroke⁷
• osteoperosis⁸
• and mental health issues.⁹

It may also encourage young people to abstain from, or delay, drinking alcohol and using other drugs.¹⁰

This may be because young people participating in sport are encouraged to pursue healthier lifestyle choices in order to improve their athletic performance. Many children and teenagers who play sport are also engaging in organised leisure time that is supervised by adults, thus restricting time that may otherwise be spent using alcohol and other drugs.

Alcohol and sport – an unhealthy cocktail

While there are many pluses, there is also a problematic relationship between alcohol and sport in Australia.

Specifically: the consumption of alcohol at professional and community sporting events; ubiquitous advertising of alcohol during games; and, alcohol sponsorship of teams and sporting events. There is an inclination for both alcohol and sport to feature in leisure time, with sport perceived by Australians as a ‘legitimate excuse to consume alcohol . . . whether the level of engagement is participation or spectating.’¹¹

Sponsorship of sporting events or teams is a particularly effective way for alcohol companies to market their products to a mass audience.¹² Sponsorship creates positive associations between individual players, teams or sporting codes that are respected and extolled by the public, and the products that they endorse.

Studies have shown that people are less conscious and critical of brand promotion that occurs via sponsorship rather than traditional advertising.¹³

Alcohol companies achieve this effect in a variety of ways: displaying logos in the stadium or on the field or emblazoning them on team uniforms; commercial advertisements during televised or broadcast games; naming rights and exclusive sales rights at games.

How does alcohol advertising and sponsorship work?

Advertising during, or sponsorship of, sport is especially problematic, because it creates an association between sport as a healthy and positive activity, and alcohol; despite the fact that alcohol consumption is linked to cancers,¹⁴ stroke,¹⁵ dementia, infertility,¹⁶ impotence,¹⁶ road injury¹⁶ and organ damage.¹⁶

In general, alcohol advertising normalises drinking and ‘desensitizes the community to the significant harm caused by alcohol use.’¹⁷

Child and adolescent exposure to alcohol advertising is associated with positive beliefs about alcohol and intention to consume alcohol,¹⁸ early initiation of drinking, and greater consumption in existing drinkers.¹⁹ While regulations governing alcohol promotion in Australia prohibit TV advertisements explicitly targeting children or being aired outside the adult viewing hours of 8:30pm to 5am, there is an exemption for sport broadcasts.^20,21

Alcohol advertising can be played during sport broadcasting on public holidays and weekends.

Additionally, alcohol companies can sponsor sporting codes or teams, thus providing them with a platform to advertise their products through logo and product placement.

Carlton Draught, for example, has been a sponsor of the Australian Football League (AFL) since 1877.

Other official partners of the AFL include South Australian winery Wolf Blass and bourbon and whiskey producer Jim Beam.²² Similarly, the National Rugby League (NRL) is sponsored by Victora Bitter and Bundaberg rum; and Cricket Australia by XXXX Gold beer.²³

In addition to sponsoring codes, alcohol companies sponsor teams. A 2019 report found that 16 of 18 men’s AFL clubs accept money from the alcohol industry, with the Western Bulldogs and 2019 Premiers Richmond Tigers being the two notable exceptions.* ²⁴

Industry lobbyists defend alcohol sponsorship and advertising in sport.

Jeremy Griffith, head of corporate affairs at Carlton United Breweries (CUB) claims: “There is no need for new regulation because the industry is well managed and acting responsibly.”²⁵

Both the alcohol industry and governing bodies in professional sport have a vested financial interest in maintaining advertising: the alcohol industry views sport as an opportunity to promote its products and increase sales, while the boards of various sporting codes see advertising as a lucrative revenue source.

AFL Chief Executive Officer Gillon McLachlan notes: “I'm also realistic . . . that by having [the] relationships that we have, money comes into our system.”²⁶

However, the case study of tobacco advertising is instructive: comprehensive bans on advertising have contributed to reduced consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products,²⁷ and professional sporting codes, teams, athletes and events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup (both formerly sponsored by tobacco), have been able to secure ongoing funding from other sources.

Kicking goals

There are some positive developments in regard to alcohol sponsorship and sport.

Baseball Australia has renounced alcohol advertising, and is joined in this stance by politicians, athletes and academics, including Senator Richard Di Natale,²⁸ AFL coach Mick Malthouse and Professor Rob Moodie from the University of Melbourne.

The World Health Organization, Australian Medical Association, Royal Australasian Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons²⁹ and the Public Health Association of Australia²⁹ also support an end to alcohol sponsorship of sport.

The evidence shows that children and adolescents, in particular, are influenced by alcohol advertising to initiate drinking earlier and to drink more heavily.

Alcohol is the most commonly used^30,31 and most harmful drug in Australia. According to the Australian drug harms ranking study, it outranks even tobacco and illicit drugs in terms of the physical, psychological and social harm to the individual user and to others.³²

Banning alcohol advertising is a vital strategy to reduce young people’s exposure to alcohol and the harms associated with it.

Want to know more?

For more information about alcohol advertising or to submit a complaint, see the Alcohol Advertising Review Board.