www.uibhfhaili.com

For those of you who've been hiding under a rock, moves continue to be taken towards a ban on alcohol sponsorship in sports - the most recent update being that an agreement was supposedly reached over the weekend. http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingne ... 01936.html

I'd have a few thoughts on this and I'd be interested to put a story together on it. I'm doing some research on the whole aspect of whether or not sponsorship from drinks companies increases aggregate sales (in which case then a ban is legitimate) or whether it just moves around market share. What I mean by that is this - I don't doubt that Guinness sponsored the hurling championship for business rather than altruistic reasons. They didn't do it to support hurling, they did it to sell stout, and I'm sure they sold more on account of it. However I would personally suspect that the person that bought stout on account of that sponsorship was probably going to buy a pint of lager beforehand - I don't think that they converted too many 7up drinkers. Yet I have no facts on that, and I want to dig deeper, which I will do.

However the accepted argument out there is that there are always more sponsors to be had - and if we're talking about the hurling championship, then that's true. But in some cases, there aren't more sponsors - there is only one sponsor. To give the kind of example I'm talking about, last night I was covering a Westmeath IFC game between Caulry and Rosemount. Caulry were sponsored by a local pub, Rosemount had no shirt sponsor. I know from my involvement in local clubs, both GAA and other sports, that without the pubs chipping into every fundraising event, things would be a lot tougher.

I can't seem to find any public information about whether or not such local pub sponsorship would be affected and if so, how would clubs be compensated, in the spirit of the link above.

So what say ye? What do ye think of the idea, where should the line be drawn, and what should be done for small village clubs where quite literally, the local pub is the only business in the club's area? Needless to say if there are club treasurers out there who want to talk, that would be interesting too.

Will this effect Pubs sponsoring club jerseys etc?

I would imagine so, however if you think about it, this should not be applied to Junior B down. Imagine a bloated goalie with "The Fill Inn" plastered across the front, all young lads would stay away from the premises as a result!!

Genuinely Daleamar, no-one seems sure. It's something that could do with being clarified.

If pub sponsorship gets banned on the basis that they sell alcohol, this could affect supermarkets like Super Valu and Centra who also sell alcohol.

A similar ban in France has failed to reduce alcohol consumption. In fact it continues to increase.

Look at the situation with cigarettes. As many people as ever smoke, regardless of bans on advertising etc.

For me the sponsorship is mostly aimed at market share. Banning it will not stop young people drinking, but cutting off the sponsorship could adversely effect sporting organisations, and may in fact be counter productive.

joe bloggs wrote:A similar ban in France has failed to reduce alcohol consumption. In fact it continues to increase.

Look at the situation with cigarettes. As many people as ever smoke, regardless of bans on advertising etc.

For me the sponsorship is mostly aimed at market share. Banning it will not stop young people drinking, but cutting off the sponsorship could adversely effect sporting organisations, and may in fact be counter productive.

Just out of curiosity, you hardly have studies or statistics verifying the first line to hand? I believe the same myself, but I'm finding it fierce hard to either prove or disprove the theory.

Afraid not. Heard it mentioned on a radio debate that drinking among young people there was on the rise. A figure of 14% was mentioned, whether that was by volume, or the numbers drinking wasn't stated.

There should be no ban I think, Guinness have done great work at promoting hurling down through the years with some great adverts and im sure the GAA were happy to take their money. I watched the two hurling games Sunday and each time RTE went to an ad break there was an advert for some sort of drink, Miller, Guinness and some of the supermarkets were all advertising drink during the 4 hour period RTE were broadcasting. Theres not to many companies that would be willing to sponsor much nowadays, Bud sponsor the FA cup in England, Heineken do the rugby, cant see the problem .

I cant see that the ban could apply to public premises. If this was true the implication is that that the only products they sell are alchoholic. Of course that is not the case, you could have a soft drink, cup of tea or coffee just as easily and most are pubs have moved with the times in terms of broadening their product and service range - a lot do lunches etc. and offer music plus the now traditional pursuits of pool, darts, cards etc are all catered for "down at your local". There is a marked difference of course when the name of a particular alchoholic drink brand is used.

Too many 'do-gooders' in the this country

If consumption of alcohol is the problem, then tackle the real problem and change the system for buying alcohol

a - no off licences at filling stations
b - off licences lose their licence for a set period if they serve underage alcohol
c - off licences in supermarkets must be in a seperate shop to the grocery section

Shocked to see the empire of solid drinking emporiums, Ballycumber, flaunting McDonalds across their geansies! And Gavins doing Pizza's and rolls, and Gussies advertising his deli for miles around. Talk about selling out!