The GAA and FAI are showing leadership when it's needed most.
Alex White is like a dog with a bone. His bone is alcohol sponsorship in sport and like any good dog with a bone, he's not letting go.
Alex White is a junior minister in the Department of Health and he doesn't just have right on his side, he has righteousness too. In a culture such as ours, where the messages around alcohol are so confused, creating any kind of link – no matter how artificial – between drinking and sporting excellence is an easy target, a gimme for anyone in search of a legacy.
So Alex White has right on his side. But when you are a leading member of a socialist party which is going into an election on a low-tax agenda then having right on your side is not as black and white as you might think.
And Alex White thought that the death of a young man in Carlow from a grotesque drinking game was a good time to remind the rest of us of the dangers of alcohol sponsorship in sport. In last Saturday's Irish Independent, he wrote: "We do not have a final decision yet on the proposal to phase out alcohol sponsorship of major sporting events. I remain firmly convinced that this should be done, even allowing a relatively lengthy lead-in period to help sporting bodies to find new sources of funding and sponsorship."
The value in financial terms to sport in Ireland from alcohol sponsorship is thought to be around €30m – a significant sum, and all the 'lead-in' time in the world won't make it any easier for Irish sport to replace it, not unless the government is prepared to step up to the plate.
The State could easily assume responsibility for the void that the ban would leave but it just won't do it. All it takes is a little imagination but sadly when it comes to the contribution sport makes to society our legislators too often have a one-track mind. Our leaders don't seem to get the holistic stuff at all.
Source: John Greene, Irish Independent, 16/02/14
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