Boozy culture clash

SPORTING clubs can be fantastic for communities and players alike.

They teach the importance of team spirit and provide an avenue to bring people with shared interests together. They promote physical activities and the importance of a healthy lifestyle. And they provide a place for young people to gather in meaningful, active pursuit under the mentorship of older community members.

But all that makes a sporting club great and beneficial to a member’s both physical and mental health can be so easily undone if the right culture isn’t in place.

It seems the biggest impediment to a healthy sporting club culture is the misuse of alcohol. You would be hard-pressed to find a sporting club that doesn’t have a bar — for both commercial and community purposes. Equally, club fundraisers often rely on bar takings or the appeal of allinclusive drinks to appeal to a wide audience.

But at what point does the reliance on alcohol negate all of the great health benefits of being part of a sporting club? And what message do binge drinking sessions at fundraisers send to the impressionable younger club members?

On Saturday night a reverse raffle at the Geelong Soccer Club ended in violence. As is often the case with fundraisers of this type, tickets to Saturday’s reverse raffle included a twohour ‘happy hour’. It’s not a huge leap to say the free-flowing grog had some bearing on the wild brawl that required police intervention with capsicum spray hours later.

What should have been a great community event and fundraiser ended in violence, the alleged assault of a police officer and an arrest. And thanks to social media, the fallout wasn’t limited to those in physical attendance on the night.

There’s nothing wrong with gathering after a day’s play for a drink and chat with your mates. But when fundraisers include binge-drinking incentives, there is a high chance something will go wrong. And nobody wants to see community events descend into chaos.