The former captain of the Meath All-Ireland GAA team, Colm O'Rourke, yesterday called for the strict separation of sport and alcohol advertisements.
"Like tobacco, I think it's time to get rid of alcohol advertising relating to sport," he said. "Anyone who says anything about drink in the GAA is looked on as a sort of dinosaur from the past, not part of the scene," said the former football star, who is now a media commentator and a primary school teacher.
"I enjoy a few drinks after a match as much as anybody else - and maybe better than most - but I think that something needs to be done with the teenagers and the role in society that drink is playing for them."
While he could not say there was a relationship between sponsorship by alcohol companies and a worsening of performance among young athletes, he believed studies should be done to establish if there was a link, Mr O'Rourke said, in an interview with RTE's News at One.
He had no doubt, however, the sports performance of many young players was being drastically affected from too much alcohol the night before they participated in events. In many instances they were not able to play at all, and if they did, their performances were very much below par, he said.
Young people in their teens were "going out late at night", drinking and not being able to get up for games the following morning. It was a real problem, he stressed, among teenagers.