Alcohol sponsorship of cricket a bad influence

Alcohol sponsors are not helping the cause of the future of our young stars in sports such as cricket by their continued backing. Certainly they are the cash-cows for the various sports they back and are needed in this day and age, but surely they should assist in helping sportsmen and women who may fall foul to alcohol problems?

One has only got to look at South African cricket’s dasher and enfant terrible, Herschelle Gibbs, as a case in point, to deduce that the consumption and abuse of alcohol have much to do with the downfall of some of our cricketing and other sporting stars.

Of course, Gibbs who had at some stage booked himself into a rehabilitation programme for alcohol problems that have been widely documented in the media, and in his new autobiography, To The Point, is not the first and the last sportsperson to be caught under its spell.

The presence of alcohol at after-match functions and the sponsors’ influence only fuels the problem, as it concerns our sporting stars.

But it’s not only at the after-match functions where sportspersons are exposed to alcohol. You find it at awards evenings, launch of sponsors’ kit, 20/20 competition launches, and so on.

For example, a young cricketer whose just started out fashioning a career and is averse to the ODD tipple, might at many of these occasions, be it in the dressing-room or an awards evening, feel obliged to have a drink with his more illustrious mates.

Who knows that first drink with his colleagues in such a situation, may be just be the thing that triggers off his or hers eventual sporting demise?

And it’s especially in sports such as rugby and cricket where the alcoholic beverages that are not only limited to coldrinks, are part of the revelry and fun after the match – no matter whether a team’s won or lost.

Okay, some of us might produce the argument that it’s a matter of choice, you choose whether you want the harmless coldrink or the potentially hazardous brandy and coke or beer for that matter.

But that would be diminishing the argument, now wouldn’t it?

The systematic downfall of some great sporting icons of our past, due to exposure and abuse of alcohol – others due to using banned substances – are well documented.

Yes, some sportspersons have realised the error of their ways if they continued abusing alcohol – before deciding to put their sport first to prolong their chosen career.

Did a young Ricky Ponting not have similar problems many seasons ago, before putting it behind him, to become one of the legends of the game of cricket?

Gibbs apparently says he played with a hangover in the 438 win over Australia in that famous ODI at the Wanderers some seasons ago. Now how many more aren’t doing that? Whether it be in a club match, or a provincial game, or an informal duel between two backyard teams?

Cricket sides such as South Africa, (and even Australia at one stage) are being sponsored in the main by big multi-national breweries. So what’s on hand after every game? A cold beer no doubt.

In international cricket for example, viewers are not privy to the beer-swilling antics in the dressing-room. There’s probably a disciplinary code that restricts the Proteas from having a drink on-field after matches. But really, we know the champagne and the beer flows over after matches – especially after a victory. And once some guys are ‘warmed up’ they easily migrate to the harder stuff.

Full marks though to the Proteas sponsor for coming to an agreement with Hashim Amla – a devout Muslim – to exclude him from wearing the breweries’ logo on his T-shirt, as he requested many years ago.

Young cricketers, who are non-drinkers, might learn from this that they are not forced to comply when it comes to the question of alcohol and their sport. The South Africans, I think, even have a breweries sponsor representative that travels with them to provide for their every whim on tour.

There have been instances when a report in the papers has mentioned in passing that the South Africans prefer to take their own brand of beer with them on tours. So what does this say to our kids? It’s okay to have a tipple and play your sport at the same time? But the opposite is quite true.

Alcohol and the abuse thereof as it concerns sportsmen and women, can quickly lead them off the track sytematically.

Gibbs is a case in point.

He has now as he says, rehabilitated. Full marks to him for telling it straight to the point.

The various sporting unions must support our sportsmen and women who may develop problems with alcohol – and it’s time they put structures in place to warn budding stars about the dangers of abusing alcohol. Go to any club cricket, hockey or rugby game on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon – there’s beer in abundance after a game.

The beer flows at the top franchise provincial cricket matches as well – and among the beer-swillers are many a young club cricketer sitting in the stands watching the game. If not nipped in the bud, it’s going to lead to the demise of many a young cricketer.

At international level, ban alcohol from the sports fields, from the after-match parties in the dressing-rooms and let our sportspeople at a young age be made aware of the dangers of the misuse of alcohol.