Following on from the death of 19-year-old Jonny Byrne who took part in the ‘neknomination’ drinking game, Alcohol Action Ireland has warned that the fad is just symptomatic of Ireland’s drinking problem and new games like this will follow.
The social media craze was started in Australia but it quickly spread to England and Ireland with young people uploading videos of themselves downing pints and then nominating friends to do the same. As the game gained popularity, those taking part started to include stunts in the videos, trying to outdo their friends.
Byrne went into the river Barrow as part of his nekomimation but did not make it out. Another young man, 22-year-old Ross Cummins from Dublin, died over the weekend and his death has also been linked to alcohol.
There have been strong calls from groups and government officials for an end to this game. While he urged young people to stop participating in it, Conor Cullen of Alcohol Action Ireland told TheJournal.ie that “there’ll be another neknomination after this – another game of this kind”.
Drinking culture
He said the acceptance here of drinking to excess “provides a culture for something like this to take hold”.
"It’s no coincidence that the countries in which it proved most popular and most harmful are three countries where there is a binge drinking culture."
“We have an environment here where binge drinking and drinking in a harmful manner is normalised. ”
Cullen said we “shouldn’t be surprised” that the game caught on in Ireland so quickly as young people here live in an environment where alcohol is cheap and they are constantly targeted by advertising – on television, at sports events and on social media.
Source: Michelle Hennessy, thejournal.ie, 04/02/14
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