KEY POINTS:
New Zealand sports team members sponsored by alcohol companies drink more as a result, a study has found.
Athletes from a range of codes including rugby, cricket and soccer were surveyed for the study reported in the latest issue of the international journal Addiction.
The study of 1279 athletes found close to half received sponsorship that included free or discounted alcoholic drinks, and co-author Dr Kypros Kypri said the key findings also applied to Australia and other countries with a similar sport sponsorship culture.
In 2002, Dr Kypri was carrying out research at Otago University when he told the Health Research Council newsletter that work was needed to identify and help prevent young drinkers injuring themselves.
His latest research showed that when free alcohol was provided, drinking rose to harmful levels - which for most participants was more than six drinks in one sitting.
Even free uniforms were enough to encourage players to drink.
Dr Kypri and his co-author Kerry O'Brien said they hoped their findings would stimulate debate about alcohol sponsorship.
Many sponsors provided free alcohol immediately after games and free or discounted bar tabs at their pubs, taverns and hotels.
More than half the players surveyed reported drinking at what the World Health Organisation defines as hazardous levels.
Many said they felt obliged to drink a sponsor's product after training and games.
Dr Kypri said that overall, sportspeople in receipt of industry sponsorship drank more alcohol than those who did not.
"People talk about sport and drinking as being intrinsically linked, only because we've allowed them to be," he said.
Dr Kypri said that governments should withhold financial support to teams receiving sponsorship from the alcohol industry.
An editorial in Addiction said the study was a 'blow to those who claim that sponsorship is not a marketing method similar to advertisement'.
"Sports sponsorship was, to a large degree, launched by tobacco and alcohol executives in order to overcome growing marketing constraints placed upon them with respect to traditional advertisements."
- NZPA
