News

Sharks team felt they learnt something new about the effects of alcohol

Sale Sharks tackled on alcohol in first league wide initiative

Monday, December 7th 2009

Players including Charlie Hodgson and Ben Cohen from Sale Sharks have welcomed an innovative new programme from Premier Rugby and Diageo, to provide alcohol information to players.

Last month, 61 members of the squad took part in the first ever league-wide initiative designed to inform players about alcohol and its effects on the body and behaviour, making them more aware of the choices they make when drinking.

The results of the programme were extremely positive and now Sale Sharks fans are being reminded to drink responsibly too. This weekend (5th and 6th December) premium drinks company Diageo will run ‘Bite to eat’ activities at all home Premiership clubs to remind supporters to eat between drinks.

Based on the DRINKiQ programme created by premium drinks company Diageo, the programme was tailored by Premier Rugby specifically to connect with rugby players around scenarios and issues that are directly relevant to their health, career and life as a professional athlete. They were encouraged to discuss their personal experiences of alcohol in a safe environment and given rugby specific scenarios in breakout groups, identifying how behaviour can deteriorate with irresponsible drinking but also looking at strategies to ensure that they approach their nights out in a responsible manner.

All 12 Guinness Premiership clubs - 716 players and management in total - have now attended sessions, run during the last two months, and the response from Sale Sharks has been overwhelmingly positive:

• 91% of players/managers said they learnt something from the session.
• 98% of players and management would recommend the training to other players.
• 86% of players believed that the programme had been very good or excellent.

Charlie Hodgson, Vice Captain for Sale Sharks, said: “Before doing the programme, I wasn’t aware of all of the potential effects alcohol can have on the body including making someone more prone to injury.”