Alcohol and the beautiful game

If football wasn't big enough already with the premier league's domination of the Champion's League last season, the 2009/2010 season is set to be the most exciting yet. With England already qualified for the World Cup in South Africa, football fever is sure to grip the nation.

Whether it be the league, FA Cup or enduring England's journey through the finals, fans across the country may find themselves drinking more to help them through those tense big games. When it's finally all over, fans and players alike will sink a few pints to celebrate or commiserate.

Stoke City FC survived the drop last season and survival again is the name of the game. We spoke to club captain Andy Griffin about his relationship with alcohol

“I only drink about once every seven weeks – I don’t like the taste,” he says. “Plus, it’s not like it used to be 10 or 20 years ago when you’d hear stories about players drinking whiskey at half time. I don’t think there is a drinking culture with footballers anymore.

“We know that to be a professional footballer, you can’t be drinking huge amounts of alcohol. You won’t be as fit for training in the morning because you’re dehydrated and there’ll be others wanting to take your place.

“We’re role models so it’s not professional.”

So, rather than gambling and drinking away his training-free afternoons, dad of three Andy, picks up the kids from school and takes them swimming.

It’s a far cry from the typical image of a premiership footballer.

Only human

You’ll probably remember seeing pictures of Gazza and England team mates in the infamous “dentist’s chair”. They took it in turns to have tequila poured into their mouths in a Hong Kong bar just before Euro 1996. The tabloids are always publishing pictures of celebrity footballers, such as Chelsea players Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, coming out of clubs in the early hours. But that’s pretty normal for 20-somethings and it doesn’t mean they’re playing drinking games until 4am.

Ex Chelsea player Paul Canoville, who recently won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for 2008 for his autobiography Black and Blue, says that because footballers are in the public eye, people think they should know better. But he says they’re only human and make mistakes like anyone.

Pressure’s on

“I don’t drink much but others did to chill out after a game,” says Paul who played top flight football in the 1980s. “Being a professional footballer, there’s lots of pressure. You have to look after yourself; you have a lot of free time on your hands.

“I had a drug problem but I’ve talked about it and sorted it out. People like Paul Merson and Tony Adams talked about their drink problems and have tried to sort them out too.”

Sporting chance

In fact, former England captain, Tony Adams, has set up his own charity to help sportspeople, professionals and amateurs, overcome drink and other “destructive behaviour” problems, largely through counselling. Staff at Sporting Chance go into every premiership club to talk about the effects alcohol will have on players’ careers. They take along a player who has had drink problems to tell their personal story. According to chief executive Peter Kay, back when the charity was set up some clubs used to turn them away.

But there’s been a change.

“Managers used to see players’ alcohol dependency as a moral weakness. It takes one minute to fire a player and hours to deal with their problem,” says Peter. “Now managers are supporting players and see them more as individuals, which is quite wonderful. We’re welcomed into clubs now.”

Changing football times

Peter puts this turnaround down to a number of factors. Firstly, the magnitude of foreign players in British clubs who come from cultures where drinking is not so much a part of society. Secondly, he says it’s down to managers like Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger. They invest time in their players, especially the young ones, providing them with boundaries and grounding. “They have a fatherly energy,” says Peter.
Finally, Peter says it’s helped that players like Tony Adams have talked about their problems with drink: “Players know the effects of drinking too much – they won’t do as well or they’ll simply stop playing.”

Football is a religion

Of course, the football and heavy drinking association doesn’t only apply to players. The image of the typical British larger lout has unfortunately lasted through the years. Peter says there’s “a whole science behind the reasons why – you can do a degree in it”. He thinks football is like a religion for many people and it provides a sense of community, a sense of belonging.

“Your local pub also provides that sense of community: ‘This is my local, these are my mates’,” he says. "Football is very tribal, so there’s a link between the two.”

Drinking tradition

Andy at Stoke City says the link is there because of tradition, “and it’s very hard to break tradition”. It’s one that isn’t necessarily negative, if kept in check.
“I had garlic bread with cheese for my lunch today but I wouldn’t have it every day because I’d put on weight, lose my fitness and my place in the team!” he says. “It’s all about moderation.”

Page last updated by

Root User, 19 Apr 2010.

Page checked on

26 Aug 2009