Play Hard Drink Safe: a pilot project to promote responsible alcohol consumption in sporting clubs in Western Australia

Issue addressed: The Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) established a pilot sponsorship project in five sporting clubs to promote responsible alcohol consumption. In exchange for sponsorship funds, clubs introduced safe alcohol policies, displayed health messages promoting responsible drinking, promoted reduced-alcohol beers and trained bar staff in safe serving practices. Method: The project was evaluated using pre- and post-intervention methods, including structured interviews with bar managers in each club and interviewer-administered surveys of club members, Each club was visited twice unannounced during the intervention and independent observers noted the implementation and visibility of the sponsorship strategies. Results: Approximately one third of club members surveyed spontaneously recalled the sponsorship message post-intervention. At the end of the project, the majority of respondents recognised either the sponsorship message or a related message when prompted. Both pre- and post-intervention, more than 50% of respondents reported consuming more than the recommended safe alcohol limits in their club. Sales of reduced strength beers did not increase and price incentives did not have an impact on beer sales. Conclusions: The sponsorship achieved reasonable awareness, given the poor visibility of the promotional strategies, and demonstrated the feasibility of a small grants approach in promoting safe alcohol messages. So what?: The high levels of alcohol consumption reported in the study underline the importance of interventions addressing this issue in sports settings. (author abstract)