February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Among the new recommendations Croke made to the meeting was that “the sale of all alcoholic drinks be strictly prohibited on or near the field in which athletic sports are being held.” Among other things, this week’s controversy about the GAA’s attempts to open 11 bars within the confines of the magnificent stadium that bears Croke’s name placed the association firmly at odds with its own history.
“There is no question of people bringing drinks to their seats or terrace or, in the case of concerts, onto the pitch,” stadium manager Peter McKenna said in defense of the new initiative. “We already sell alcohol to 10,700 fans on match days and have not had any problems. It is always carefully managed and we would not envisage any change. I have seen this operate abroad, in Murrayfield, Twickenham and Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and it works fine.”
Isn’t this the same sporting body that less than a year ago announced it would be phasing out alcohol-related sponsorship and appointing a full-time officer whose role would be to tackle the problem of alcohol?
“The full-time national coordinator is a serious gesture by the GAA,” Joe Connolly, the former Galway hurler and chairman of the association’s Task Force on Alcohol, said last June. “But it won’t succeed without it. Then the 32 county officers will be trained, and ultimately we will have a drugs and alcohol awareness officer in every club in the country. Just like a chairman, secretary and treasurer. And they will be chosen rather than appointed, because it’s that important. And this person will become an integral part of the future planning of clubs.
“But for the youngsters themselves, it’s not about hauling them into the local club or hall and talking to them about the dangers of drink. That’s not the medium they relate to. We need to be very sexy in our messages to them, and speak their language. That’s why we need someone like D.J. Carey on our video, looking straight out at them and saying it’s a good idea not to drink at all if you want to reach the top of your sport. We need all our heroes telling them that they can’t be a hurler or a footballer of repute if you mess around with drink and drugs.”
It’s difficult to reconcile those noble sentiments with the present urge to saturate Croke Park. Either the GAA is serious about battling the societal menace that is alcohol or it isn’t. This looks like a case of them trying to have it both ways. It’s certainly impossible to claim to be trying to educate youngsters about the perils of drinking when they won’t be able to walk 30 feet inside the stadium of their dreams without being bombarded by creamy pints of Guinness. Not to mention that, historically, it’s always been easier for underage teenagers to access cans and bottles at big matches anyway.
“The Republic had the highest level of binge drinking, with 58 percent of drinking occasions among men ending up in binge drinking and 30 percent among women,” reported the government’s Strategic Task Force on Alcohol last year. “Alcohol-related mortality increased in line with the increases in alcohol consumption between 1992 and 2002, nearly