On my walk recently I overheard a conversation between three people that went something like this:
“Our club went over to their club to play tennis and then they came over to ours… and afterwards we all got really drunk.”
This made me ponder on why people drink alcohol around sport, and why alcohol and sport (watching or playing) seem to go together.
I have observed, whilst attending professional sports games, that spectators’ emotions are heightened when they are drinking alcohol. For example, when the team they are supporting does well they get really excited and jump up and down, and when the team doesn’t do well they get quite despondent.
Indeed, in New Zealand (where I live) it sometimes seems to me that the psyche of the whole country is affected by whether the All Blacks (rugby) or Black Caps (cricket) win or not.
This effect appears to be exacerbated by alcohol because, in my experience, alcohol can bring a false ‘high’ or ‘feel good’ factor – it is false because your state of being at the time is altered by alcohol.
I well remember that when the effects of alcohol wore off, I came crashing down if the team I was supporting lost (I used to feel quite despondent, especially as I was aware my husband felt down about it), and if my team won, the ‘high’ dissipated fairly quickly because it was never enough to fill the emptiness I felt inside me (which was probably why I needed to drink alcohol or watch sport in the first place)… so I reached for the next drink… and so on…
Why is it that alcohol is so closely associated with sport?
- Is it possible that the sport we play or watch is not enough for us, so that we need something more to ‘have fun’?
- Have we disregarded our bodies so much playing sport that we need something to take away the pain of this disregard?
- Is it perhaps because we think we need a ‘reward’ for playing sport because it is ‘good for us’?
- Are we led to believe it is ‘social’ to drink alcohol while watching, or after playing, sport?
- Are we using alcohol to numb how we are really feeling about sport and avoid feeling the harm it is doing our bodies (if playing), or the obvious great harm it is doing to those professional sportspeople we are watching play? Could this be why many cannot enjoy a game of professional sport without alcohol?
- Have we been hoodwinked by the alcohol manufacturers who sponsor sport and are subconsciously brainwashed by them into thinking alcohol and sport ‘go together’, or that we are ‘supporting’ the sport by drinking it?
And yet the fact is, alcohol is a classified poison that is harmful to our bodies (it is a neuro toxin), and it is a well known fact that it alters our state of being.
Indeed, we can all feel the effect that drinking alcohol has on our body and mind and in my experience this effect is exacerbated by drinking alcohol after playing sport, or even drinking it the night before doing so.
I remember when I used to go for long bike rides on a Sunday morning that if I drank even one small glass of wine the night before, I could feel the effects in my body the next morning: I had less energy and it took me a long time to get going and sometimes I even felt a little nauseous.
I also remember just one small glass of wine going completely ‘to my head’ following a game of squash, so that I became really silly. And yet many of us went to the bar and had an alcoholic drink after playing interclub (competitive) squash. For me, it was sort of expected – indeed, as members we had to take it in turns to man the bar at our squash club.
I remember some of the men staying all evening and then driving home drunk – of course the drink-drive limits weren’t as strict then or policed as well as they are now.
So why is it that we still drink alcohol around sport when we clearly feel these consequences? Perhaps it’s because many of us do it, including many professional sportspeople, and therefore we perceive it as ‘normal’?
But what if we were to ponder on the real and true reason we need to drink alcohol whilst watching or playing sport? For me there was an element of having a glass of wine to fit in with the others in my team, so I would be liked. I know others drank as a reward for a hard game, or as a ‘celebration’ for winning or ‘consolation’ for losing.
But could the underlying reason be that we drink alcohol either to stop us from feeling our emptiness or as an attempt to fill the emptiness we feel inside?
For example, why did I have the need to fit in – to be liked? Answer: because I did not feel good enough about myself, which left me with an empty feeling that I looked for someone else to fill. Another person may play sport and/or drink alcohol to cover up the numbness they feel inside, i.e. to not feel the emptiness, or to avoid being rejected by others by seeking their approval.
It is only when we understand why it is we keep choosing a certain behaviour that we want to, and can start to, make true changes.
Indeed, I have found that being truly honest with myself is the only way I can change my behaviours. For example, I stopped drinking alcohol because I didn’t like how I acted when drinking it – I turned into someone else, and I did not like that ‘other person’.
I had known this for a long time, but it was not until I pondered on why it was I chose a substance that I knew would alter me that I was able to (very easily) give it up. You see, in truth I had never enjoyed drinking alcohol. What I realised was that I drank it either because I wanted to ‘fit in’ and be liked (especially in a sport situation), or because I was not feeling confident in certain situations. Once I had this understanding, quite simply, I no longer needed it.
Bringing honesty to our behaviours makes sense, for once we understand why it is we do something, we can more easily let it go.
By Anne Scott, accredited Mediator, Yoga Teacher, Exercise Instructor and Esoteric Healing Practitioner, Auckland, New Zealand
Further Reading:
Healing my Exercise Addiction and Adrenal Exhaustion
Shopper Dockets & Alcohol Abuse – Is There Such A Thing As Responsible Service of Alcohol?
What is addiction and why do we become addicted?
572 Comments
The expression ‘drowning our sorrows’ actually reflects that drinking alcohol sinks us deeper into our problems.
It feels to me that humanity is screaming in the agony of our separation to God we feel the emptiness and as much as we try to fill the emptiness with all kinds of manmade distractions nothing can or will asswage the loss we feel it is an unrelenting agony.
Anne I feel you have raised a great point here
‘Is it possible that the sport we play or watch is not enough for us, so that we need something more to ‘have fun’?’
That we need more and more extreme behaviours to fill the emptiness of our own disconnection to God
I read recently that some people put a pig into a harness and subjected it to a bungi-jump. I would imagine that the pig was terrified and the people that did this got a huge kick out of seeing pain and distress in another animal. Where will we draw the line and say enough is enough?
We never do a behaviour that is abusive because we are content and settled within ourselves. Being honest with how we feel about life, bring in self-care reduces and cuts out that negative relationship with ourselves. Then giving up abusive behaviours, activities, substances is easy because we know we are worth more.
“Bringing honesty to our behaviours makes sense, for once we understand why it is we do something, we can more easily let it go.” So true. Without honesty we are just deceiving ourselves.
“This effect appears to be exacerbated by alcohol because, in my experience, alcohol can bring a false ‘high’ or ‘feel good’ factor – it is false because your state of being at the time is altered by alcohol.” yes I agree Anne. I witnessed the same at parties and in myself back in my twenties and I never drank a lot. These days it just saddens me to see people behaving in such a way- still learning to not react.
Great questions Anne, and adding to the conundrum, could it be we play sport because we have never really learnt to live together therefore we had fights or war that divided us and these things happen even with our own family? And sports are a simple way of not fighting unless you are boxing etc. that is seen today as okay.
Fact alcohol is a poison, so why do we choose to drink poison? ‘the fact is, alcohol is a classified poison that is harmful to our bodies (it is a neuro toxin)’.
It would be a very wise decision to take a closer look at the harmful effects of our indulgence alcohol has on health and wellbeing, and the subsequent extra costs to NHS, police, etcetera, as a result of these indulgences.
‘Have we been hoodwinked by the alcohol manufacturers who sponsor sport and are subconsciously brainwashed by them into thinking alcohol and sport ‘go together’, or that we are ‘supporting’ the sport by drinking it?’ Yes, and ‘hoodwinked’, by so much more than this area!
“So why is it that we still drink alcohol around sport when we clearly feel these consequences? Perhaps it’s because many of us do it, including many professional sportspeople, and therefore we perceive it as ‘normal’?” A good question Anne. It seems that no celebration can pass without the imbibing of alcohol. If you don’t drink its surprising the number of people who want you to take ‘just a sip’…… Would that make them feel better because deep down they know that alcohol is really a poison and tee-totallers reflect a different way of living?
What a crazy ‘normal’ we have, playing sports, the competition of it, the emotions watching it, the alcohol consumption that goes along with it… all is an abuse of this fine tuned body we have, not only the alcohol is the poison but everything around it is too. So I agree Anne, ‘Bringing honesty to our behaviours makes sense, for once we understand why it is we do something, we can more easily let it go.’
Gambling on an outcome has now been added to sport and alcohol for people to get an extra’ kick’ and excitement from the competition to beat the opponent.
I remember growing up in New Zealand and the absolute focus of sports and alcohol, I did it and at the time was kind of into it only really because everyone else was doing it and I thought that is what you do. Later on in my late teenage years I started to see the bigger picture and that I really wasn’t into it at all. Today now living in London people always go you must be into rugby and when I say not interested in sports they are floored. It’s not just New Zealand it is Global and it really is a destructive ‘social behaviour’ that creates separatism and aggression. That’s why I can’t get into it at all.
“Have we disregarded our bodies so much playing sport that we need something to take away the pain of this disregard?” This question is very pertinent to the topic of sport in this blog but it also applies to any form of disregard of our sensitive and expressive nature. I know for sure when I ignore, dismiss or squash this my first reaction would be to have or do something to avoid feeling the fact. Yet the more willing to be aware I am, the more I understand what’s at play and the less I react. It will be interesting to observe what happens to Sport when we all start choosing to be aware and honouring of this naturally sensitive and expressive nature.
There are lots of great points here, but one that stuck out for me to day is, is the sport not enough that we need to drink to make it more memorable….then it in itself feels pretty empty…and this we could say is how many of us use alcohol, we feel that emptiness and lack of purpose in life and try and distract ourselves….
Sport takes us away from who we are – far away even and this tension can be resolved by temporarily numbing ourselves with a proven downer (the opposite of an upper like caffeine) that pleasantly (for a while) numbs us.
I used to love watching rugby, and then one day when sitting at a match I realised as I looked around and saw all the drunk people around me that it was like being at a giant pub with 50,000 plus people. That was the last time I went.
Its the world cup at the moment and everyone is really ‘happy’ that England has got through to the next final – If we scratch a little below the surface we will see the domestic abuse rates that soar during a match and the after match violence that happens, with this awareness we have to ask ourselves is it really worth it?
With the world cup now on I wonder how much rise in alcohol sales there will be around the world –
I also wonder how much of a rise in domestic abuse there will be and street violence.
There is quite a rise in domestic abuse. A study found that it rises during Australian Rugby League’s state of origin matches which are big events in Australia.
Great blog Bryony, reading your blog has brought to my realisation how I used to feel, and I remember I would often feel foggy in my mind, since changing my diet my head is so much clearer these days and I feel so much more vital in my body, this is definitely something for me to appreciate, the making of self loving choices.
Alcohol, junk food, paraphernalia, all lead to ways we can fill the need to buy, consume and barrack for a sport that sooner or later leads us returning from the low reaching for another high.
And yes… The hundred million dollar study on alcohol in the United States was just revealed as being mostly funded by… You guessed it … the alcoholic history
It’s a but bizarre that we associate alcohol with sport because if we break it down, sport is meant to be a healthy activity , therefore it would make sense to promote a healthy way of living by not drinking.
When we don’t like ourselves or the way that we are living or what we are doing we can drink alcohol to forget all that we do, temporarily that is. Just having one glass of wine or beer can take the edge off and lull us into a sense of ‘well-being’. We begin to believe that this is good for us. Some doctors even advocate drinking wine for ones health. I feel sure though that at a deeper level we all know what it is doing to us and that in truth it is a poison and has no place in a body that is actually precious and sacred.
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