Labour MP calls for alcohol ad ban at sports events

LONDON - Alcohol ads at sporting events should be banned, according to Labour MP Dr Howard Stoate, who claims they are encouraging teenage binge drinking.

In an article in the Fabian Review's forthcoming health issue the Labour MP for Dartford, who is a practising GP, calls for a complete ban on alcohol ads at sporting events, as has already been done with tobacco.

Drinks industry body, The Portman Group, has arranged to have alcohol sponsors' logos removed from football shirts sold in children's sizes but Stoate argues that this is a hollow gesture when big firms such as Carlsberg still sponsor football teams and rugby and cricket clubs.

Stoate said: "Advertising rules say alcohol products shouldn't be marketed to under 18s. It shouldn't be allowed anywhere near live sports events or sport on TV. We allow leading football teams and players, with their millions of young fans, to be sponsored by drinks firms. How can that possibly be right?"

Stoate said that the crackdown was essential to battle the rise in teenage drinking, which has doubled among 11- to 15-year-olds in England since 1990.

He claims that sports clubs are glamorising alcohol and establishing a link between alcohol and success in sport.

Stoate's plan is being considered by ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Portman Group said that the ban would do nothing to tackle harmful drinking and that there are already strict controls to protect the public from irresponsible advertising and sponsorship.