AFL is on the case to end binge drinking
PIPPA GRANGE September 26, 2009

RECENT international statistics suggest that alcohol kills more than six times more people than all other drugs combined. In Australia it causes about 3000 deaths and 65,000 hospitalisations every year. Between 1998 and 2005 there was a 39 per cent increase in presentations for behavioural or mental health issues associated with alcohol.

Dr Andrew Rochford, registrar at Sydney's North Shore Hospital, reports that as much as 50 per cent of weekend night-time presentations in emergency are alcohol related and they take up to 70 per cent of staff time. The estimated cost of alcohol-related social issues runs to more than $15 billion annually.

Excessive drinking creates financial, relationship, physical and mental health, cultural and social costs - and they are unacceptable. Risky drinking is a problem in Australia.

The kind of risky drinking we see in AFL is binge drinking. The home-and-away season is about getting the absolute best out of each player as an elite athlete and there is very little place for hangovers, dehydration or reduced training capacity caused by alcohol. The game is more ruthless and more professional than ever, and each man is accountable to his teammates and to his jumper. . . . . . .

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