AFL fans may drink more alcohol when game day starts earlier

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-07-04 03:00

Australia; VIC; WA; NT

Tom Reynolds via Wikimedia Commons

AFL fans who drink alcohol when watching the footy drink more overall when the game they're watching starts in the early afternoon, according to a small study of Victorian fans. 34 fans participated in a series of surveys about their alcohol consumption over three consecutive weekends - where they were drinking, when they were drinking and who they were drinking with. The researchers say the participants drank an average of six standard drinks throughout a game day and were more likely to engage in risky levels of drinking if the game began between 1–3 pm compared to later in the day. The researchers say the difference could mostly be put down to fans drinking more after the game. The researchers note the small size of the study means these findings are preliminary and require more investigation.

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Journal/
conference: Drug and Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: La Trobe University, Burnet Institute, Menzies School of Health Research, Curtin University, Monash University

Funder: The authors gratefully acknowledge the participants for contributing their time this study and field workers who assisted with recruitment, including Michelle Raggatt, Oliver Black, Reece Cossar, Sophia Schroeder and Simone McGill. This study was supported by a La Trobe University internal grant. Michael Livingston is supported by fellowship funding from the Australian Research Council (FT210100656). Cassandra J. C. Wright is supported by fellowship funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1161246).

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