The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Firm teams up with SFA in campaign
Health: Kick-off for Drink Positive
Scotland’s football chiefs and a distillery giant have teamed up to try to blow the whistle on irresponsible drinking.
The SFA and Diageo have launched the Drink Positive campaign, which will run throughout this season’s Scottish Cup campaign.
The initiative aims to encourage fans, coaches and players to have a greater awareness of the benefits of curtailing boozing to more moderate levels as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
As part of the campaign, amateur football coaches will be given alcohol awareness lessons with the idea being that they can make it a part of their own training sessions, which will reach tens of thousands of players across the country.
Fans will be targeted through the promotion of the educational website Drink IQ, which provides tools like alcohol unit and calorie calculators.
Diageo’s 3,500 workers will also be included in the campaign, in the hope they can also pass on the message on to friends and family.
The campaign was launched yesterday at Hampden Park with Scottish footballing hero, and current assistant boss, James McFadden.
He said: “Alcohol and football are a common pairing but it’s important for fans to recognise the dangers of excessive drinking. Our new partnership with Diageo will help to spread the message to fans of Scottish football that responsible drinking is vital.”
Alcohol is banned at Scotland’s football stadia but remains a major part of the culture before and after the games.
Struggles with addiction have been a part of the Scottish game for decades, with former Aberdeen boss Steve Paterson and ex-Rangers player Paul Gascoigne among those names who have had high-profile battles with the bottle.
Charles Ireland, general manager for Diageo, added: “We want people to really understand the effects of alcohol misuse and to drink in moderation. The power of football to reach people and to connect with them is massive and we are delighted to be working with the Scottish FA to harness that power and use it to positively transform the way people think about alcohol in Scotland and the way they drink alcohol.”