Business Of Sport: We've all seen how far Paul McGrath has fallen in recent weeks with his court appearance in Manchester last week and there is hardly a family in Ireland that isn't affected by alcohol.

So why are there are no specific support structures in place in Ireland to help sports athletes deal with addiction problems?

With all the brow-beating from Minister Micheál Martin on the ill-effects of alcohol advertising in sport, what is actually being done to treat those who play the game and yet suffer the abuse of addiction?

Next week, Tony Adams's Sporting Chance Clinic is going to Sligo for a first-of-its-kind seminar to be given to coaches and players on alcohol awareness in sport.

The Sporting Chance Clinic has been invited over by Robert McNabb, a coach at St John's junior club in Carraroe, Sligo, to give players and coaches in the Sligo area an awareness of the dangers of alcohol. It is, as he says, "a pre-emptive strike" and a chance to enlighten teenagers on the realities of alcohol while also educating the more senior players.

However, what is more disturbing is the scrimping and saving that has gone on to try to bring Sporting Chance Clinic to Ireland. McNabb is working in conjunction with the Sligo Sports and Recreation Partnership to raise funds as well as cajoling local businesses for their support. The Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI) in their financially limited capacity have given a contribution which has been matched by the FAI.

Chief executive of Sporting Chance Clinic and one of the speakers at the seminar (along with former Arsenal footballer, Lee Dixon and former West Ham player George Parris), is Peter Kay.

Kay is a recovering alcoholic who lost his pancreas to alcohol and was given just three years to live after coming out of a three-week coma. That was 12 years ago and since then he has set about becoming an expert on alcohol awareness and giving educative seminars.

He met and befriended Tony Adams, the former Arsenal and England captain, when he was going through his treatment and recovery.

In September 2000, Adams founded Sporting Chance Clinic to provide support, counselling, treatment and aftercare to sportsmen and women suffering from addictive illnesses such as alcoholism, drug abuse and compulsive gambling.

Remarkably it is the first such clinic in England and has been instrumental in getting footballers' careers back on track.

Kay says there are plans to establish themselves in Ireland and reckons that it is imperative Irish athletes have the opportunity to deal with their problems via a clinic like theirs.

"Professional athletes by their very nature have obsessive personalities," explains Kay. "To get to where they are in sport requires single-minded determination, a narrow focus and an obsessiveness to succeed at all costs.

"These very qualities mean that sportsmen and women are more likely to develop addiction problems and it is something they have to be very much aware of."

Irish football is going through a hard time of it at the moment - witness McGrath's self-destruction, Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Barry Ryan testing positive for a recreational drug just recently and the PFAI trying to help one of their own members, a leading National League player, overcome his alcoholism.

Next week, perhaps, will see the first steps being taken in this country towards real and meaningful action on education and increasing awareness of addiction problems facing Irish sports men and women and how to deal with them - the question now is will the sporting bodies be willing to fund such ideals and help the Paul McGraths of the present and the future?

dairesport@eircom.net