Be gone with babying of binge drinking players

Rugby league has a drinking problem, and it's time for last drinks says Darrell Halim.

Former test half-back and rugby league great Allan Langer has recently expressed his thoughts on the highly-publicised drinking problem in his beloved sport.

When Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett recently stood down from his role as Australian coach and learned of Ricky Stuart’s appointment as his successor, Bennett spoke of the stains that a binge-drinking culture is leaving on the National Rugby League.

“I’m sick of the drunks and I’m sick of our game being dragged through every media outlet in the country every time some guy behaves badly,” said Bennett.

The issue of drinking among Australia’s high-profile rugby league players was brought back into the spotlight when it was revealed that Kangaroos manager John Hayes had made a brief mention of binge-drinking among players in his Tri-Nations tour report to the Australian Rugby League.

Hayes has said that he feels the issue has been exaggerated by sections of the media, but later reiterated his claim.

“Some players did shock me with the amount of alcohol they drank,” he said.

Losing the Tri-Nations for the first time in 27 years probably didn’t help. Being thumped 24-0 in the decider against New Zealand doesn’t help either.

Since then, ARL chairman Colin Love has denied claims that the Kangaroos binged on alcohol during the recent Tri-Nations tour.

Love also described suggestions that Stuart’s appointment as the new Australian coach was because of Bennett’s inability to control his players as being way off the mark.

Whether these suggestions are true or not, it would be an absolute disappointment if the ARL gave heavy weighting to a coach’s ability to control his players’ drinking in selecting Stuart as coach. We can only give Love and the ARL the benefit of the doubt.

Langer’s approach to the problem is straightforward and he says the solution to the demeaning publicity rugby league receives is simple – don’t drink.

“Young players are different these days and [must] control what they do,” Langer was reported as saying.

But people drink all the time – after work, at a barbeque, whiles watching sport, after playing sport – and it is part of the overall Australian culture is it not?

The problem should not be avoided and broadened as some commentators have insisted. Instead, it should be dealt with within the community in question, which in this case is the rugby league community.

There is no question that Australians enjoy an alcoholic beverage or two or three… and there is nothing wrong with that at all, but when it comes to those who can’t handle their alcohol, it’s a different story altogether.

It is even more different for those who are constantly under the public eye, which happens to include elite sports people, including rugby league players.

Maybe, for high-profile sportspeople, it is a bit different. Perhaps it is like a child in a classroom, where everything you do is being monitored so closely by the person of authority – the teacher.

When a child is released at lunch time or at the end of a school day, this is the time when their stored-up energy is vented. Similarly, when a player is excused from training or a team-related meeting or event, it is their time to enjoy a bit of “team-bonding” over a beer.

In the case of high-profile rugby league players though, the coaches, team managers, and team security are their persons of authority, but they also have to contend with the presence of fully-equipped media who always seem to be on standby in case a player drops his guard (or his pants as has been the case).

But as Langer says, “The media is out there and you can’t get away with things these days which we used to.”

“If they can’t handle their drink, then don’t drink,” he added.

So is it really that simple for these players to give up the drink? Of course it is.

I’m not going to sit here and suggest ways to go about doing this. I will leave that to the so-called experts. All I know is that if a player is having trouble putting down his drink, then he needs to be advised to seek more qualified help.

Totally prohibiting players from having a beer with the boys is not the solution. However, a line needs to be drawn.

Something obviously needs to be done as news on rugby league should be all about the on-field drama as opposed to what is happening at the leagues club or local pubs. It should be about Sattler’s chase and Benji’s flick rather than a player’s involvement in an alcohol-driven incident or other unlawful events.

If a player does not want to be accused of drunken incidents, then they should do everything in their power to avoid putting themselves in such situations. If that means to minimise alcohol consumption, then why not do it.

Whatever the solution may be and for all lovers of rugby league, let’s hope that the issue dies down, fingers stop being pointed, and the 2006 rugby league season is as exciting and glamorous as 2005.

With all this in mind, the bottom line comes down to the very reasonable point that Alfie Langer quite frankly made – team management shouldn’t have to play dad.

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