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Alcohol expert attacks stadium deal

Jul 02, 2013
Players in action at Hindmarsh Stadium - to be renamed Coopers Stadium.

Players in action at Hindmarsh Stadium - to be renamed Coopers Stadium.

The State Government’s deal with Coopers to sponsor Hindmarsh Stadium is a “slap in the face” to soccer and the Federal Government, a leading alcohol advertising expert says.

The State Government announced yesterday local brewer Coopers had sealed a deal for naming rights on Hindmarsh Stadium, which will now be known as Coopers Stadium.

The deal allows Coopers to get around a $53 million no-alcohol-advertising agreement between soccer’s A-League and the Federal Government.

Details of the deal

Lance Barrie, an alcohol advertising researcher at the Centre for Health Initiatives in New South Wales, said the sponsorship deal was in obvious breach of the spirit of that agreement.

“[The Australian National Preventive Health Agency] put this agreement in place essentially because there’s a clear link between alcohol advertising and alcohol marketing and influencing young people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards drinking,” Barrie told InDaily.

“Going against this agreement, and having an alcohol sponsor as the stadium’s major sponsor, is a slap in the face to ANPHA and the Football Federation of Australia.

“The research tells us the more a child is exposed to alcohol marketing the earlier they’ll initiate drinking, and the more they’ll drink in the long term.

“It goes completely against why ANPHA put these regulations in in the first place.

“The regulations are there to protect young people from alcohol advertising. It’s directly going against the body of evidence.”

Any form of alcohol advertising – from shirt-front sponsorships to stadium naming rights – would promote alcohol consumption, Barrie said.

The link alcohol companies sought between their product and sport was particularly dangerous to young peoples’ health.

“They’re trying to attach themselves to something that’s very healthy, and something that has a very good image in the Australian community – and sport makes that link possible – whereas in reality alcohol has many serious consequences, such as alcohol-related violence, hospital admissions and also alcoholism.

“Those are the things the alcohol companies are trying to steer clear of. So by linking it to sport and a healthy behaviour, it brings out some of the quality that the sport has.”

South Australian sport minister Leon Bignell defended the deal.

Asked if the arrangement was within the spirit of the NBDS, Bignell’s office said it had no bearing on “business arrangements”.

“The National Binge Drinking Strategy is an agreement between the Commonwealth and individual sporting clubs,” it said in a statement.

“It has no bearing on a business agreement between a stadium manager and a sponsor.

“Coopers Brewery is a well regarded South Australian business which sponsors many artistic, sporting and cultural events.”

 

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