Madam, – Tom Humphries (Sport, April 26th) suggests that the GAA is not the “thought police” and that providing a healthy alternative to the drink culture is sufficient. No one who has the interests of young people at heart would argue with either of these sentiments, but it’s not that simple.
The problem in this country is that the drinks industry has been allowed over the years to spend such enormous amounts of money on the promotion of its products that sport in Ireland is now inextricably linked to the drink culture.
For that reason, Tom Humphries’s assertion that the GAA can provide a healthy alternative to the drink culture has a touch of irony given that the GAA, like other national sporting organisations, is itself part of the drink culture in this country. This culture has been created and is sustained by a drinks industry that promotes the idea that alcohol consumption is somehow a normal part of our sporting life.
As is well known, the message that drinking is normal even reaches children who associate alcohol with sporting prowess and celebrity status.
While the GAA, by the very nature of its activities, does provide some alternative to the drink culture, nevertheless, the sad fact remains that our Gaelic sporting heritage is used by a powerful vessel interest to further its own ends. – Yours, etc,