A case study of alcohol use among male university rugby players

ABSTRACT

In the UK, research has established that student athletes consume greater quantities of alcohol than their non-athlete peers. The published literature suggests the drinking culture in sport is a social phenomenon. At present, however, the evidence does not tell us what the precise mechanisms involved in the production and reproduction of the drinking culture are. To gain a deeper understanding of these mechanisms a case study methodology was used, where a researcher was heavily immersed within a male university rugby environment for a season. Data sources included observation, field-note taking, documentation, conversational interviews, and formal semi-structured interviews. These athletes faced a multitude of pressures encouraging them to drink, and often. Firstly, alcohol use was embedded within athletes’ weekly routine. Over time, drinking became a taken-for-granted ritual of sport. Secondly, specific roles and responsibilities, punishments, and events, were used to ensure athletes complied with the drinking ethos. Thirdly, athletes used alcohol to gain status and reputation. This, however, led to a culture where no behaviours were off limits and led to potentially harmful consequences. Fourthly, institutional factors (such as alcohol price, availability and sponsorship) may have normalised and legitimised a heavy drinking culture. There is a need to confront and challenge the alcohol ethos at this and other similar institutions with a pervasive drinking culture to reduce the potential harm to individual athletes.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• Sport
• University
• Athletes
• Case study
• Culture
• Practice

Introduction

In the UK, research has established that student athletes consume greater quantities of alcohol than their non-athlete peers. Partington et al. (2010), for instance, found student athletes across seven universities in England reported higher alcohol use and were more at risk of alcohol related harm than non-athletes. The authors discovered 79.6% of athletes reported hazardous drinking, compared with 54.5% of non-athletes. Further, team athletes reported heavier alcohol use than individual athletes. Decades of research in the USA, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand support this finding (Zhou and Heim 2014). The literature therefore, suggests hazardous alcohol use by student athletes is a cross-cultural phenomenon.

Recent literature also confirms Collins and Vamplew’s (2002) thesis that the drinking behaviour in sport is a social, cultural and historical phenomenon. At present, however, the evidence has tended to focus more on quantifying the sport and alcohol relationship in higher education than on pinpointing the precise mechanisms involved in the production and reproduction of the drinking culture. That said, a few notable studies have used qualitative methods to explore how individual and collective drinking habits are established and maintained in student sport cultures. In the UK context, Sparkes, Partington, and Brown (2007) identified the way student athletes’ drink, and other ‘athletic identity’ habits could be explained in terms of certain ‘unwritten rules’ or ‘commandments’. These commandments (Sparkes et al. identified 12) included ‘be committed to the social life’, ‘excessive alcohol consumption and associated behaviours are obligatory’, ‘attend socials regularly’ and ‘attend post-match drinking sessions’ (Sparkes, Partington, and Brown 2007, 305). Alcohol use and related behaviours were found to be a cornerstone of measure of social acceptance. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, they theorise that tacit and/or explicit expectations are transmitted through ritualised and routinised practices which provide the student athlete with a ‘template’ for behaviour.

Elsewhere, Clayton and Harris’ (2008) ethnographic research with football players found drinking was a strategic social activity providing group acceptance and belonging. Willingness to engage in ritualistic events (e.g. initiation ceremonies), high alcohol tolerance (e.g. being able to consume an excessive volume of alcohol) and visible presence in shared social spaces (e.g. student bar) were highly valued – elements corroborating with Sparkes, Partington, and Brown (2007, 2010). More recently, Zhou and Heim’s (2016) UK-based qualitative study on student athlete drinking further corroborated the socially functionalist thesis, also finding that drinking practices were strategic activities used to create a collective positive ambience for the whole group. The authors speculated that social identification with a particular group (i.e. a team or sport) provided value, meaning and an underlying rationale for drinking behaviours in this context. This research built on the available empirical evidence that alcohol use served multiple purposes (for instance, showing commitment to the club and drinking for enhanced cohesion), however these purposes were mostly driven by group-level factors rather than by individual attitudes, beliefs, expectations, or motivations.

In North America, Roy and Camiré’s (2017) ethnographic research with Canadian ice hockey players provided novel insight into how socialisation into drinking happened at a young age. Young hockey players, aged 13–14, were consuming alcohol in the presence and with the approval of coaches. By the time players reached junior hockey (aged 18–21), a culture of excessive drinking had been transmitted, valorised and re-established. Players revealed a deep sense of pride in being highly intoxicated and drinking episodes were carefully planned, taking place at set times (post-match), in certain social spaces (locker rooms) and with a certain alcoholic drink (usually beer). Roy and Camiré (2017) found the status of players strongly influenced the level of pressure to drink they experienced. Individuals high in ability but low or no consumers of alcohol experienced much less pressure to consume. In spite of the temporal and cultural difference between these studies they re-affirm Sparkes, Brown, and Partington’s (2010) observation of the special status for sport scholarship students and the elders in these groups who experienced “credit for time served’’ (both groups were entitled to consume less alcohol during social gatherings). In turn these findings support Haslam and Platow’s (2001) conclusions that abstinence for highly talented players was deemed desirable in the interest of team performance. However, players with lower ability needed to contribute to the team in other ways, with one way being consuming large quantities of alcohol, as an indicator of a social performance or ability.

These in-group dynamics, such as perceived player status, may have a powerful impact on consumption by group members, however, this area of investigation remains predominantly unexplored (Harris, Jones, and Brown 2022). If certain characters within this environment do possess substantial resource or social capital, such esteem among peers could be utilised to foster a healthier sporting environment, which is not characterised by excessive alcohol use. Specifically, following, Meier, Warde, and Holmes (2018), there is a need to know more about how drinking practices emerge, persist, and decay over time and their relationship with other social practices. Meier, Warde, and Holmes (2018, 212) thus argue for a shift in focus from ‘individual drinkers to drinking practices, and from alcohol consumption to drinking occasions; specifically, how, when, where, why and with whom drinking and getting drunk occur and vary across time, place and population’. This approach focuses on the performances of routinised behaviours which are shared across groups of people, rather than individual beliefs, expectations, or behaviours (Blue et al. 2016). Consequently, informed by Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this study sought to identify the underlying capital (value) attached to drinking practices in sporting settings and the purpose or use of these for social positioning. Finally, this study aimed to understand the environmental context in which drinking practices exist and the wider direct and indirect alcohol related pressures athletes were exposed to.

Materials and methods

Conceptual framework

The case study methodology adopted followed Miles and Huberman’s (1994, 28) influential rationale of ‘the case as a phenomenon of some sort occurring in a bounded context’ (cited in Fàbregues and Fetters 2019). In our research, the phenomena already identified – but not yet well understood – were the cultural processes that give rise to university sport drinking cultures and our bounded context was a UK university team sport (rugby union) which has a long historical relationship with alcohol use (Collins and Vamplew 2002). Our qualitative and interpretive commitments underpinning this methodological decision are consistent with both Stake (1995) and Merriam’s paradigmatic assumptions that ‘the key philosophical assumption upon which all types of qualitative research are based is the view that reality is constructed by individuals interacting with their social worlds’ (Merriam 1998, 6). Thus, while it is desirable and possible to quantitatively answer the question of whether members of the culture being studied engage in hazardous alcohol consumption in terms of both frequency and quantity, the meanings of practices and processes through which this occurs are subject to a range of interpretations amongst those members which we sought to gather and interpret via a case study approach. These commitments led to us taking a view on the kind of case study we undertook and the reasons why. Following Stake’s (1995) depiction of three types of case study (intrinsic, instrumental and collective), we selected the instrumental. Dillon and Reid (2004) explain that ‘a case study of the particular is drawn upon to address and/or elucidate more concisely some essential, underlying principle, issue or point the author seeks to highlight, even to the extent that general features or lessons may be drawn. It is about deepening understanding and knowledge of the issue at focus’. As such, they remind that the case itself is of secondary interest and plays a supporting role to our understanding of the phenomenon at hand.

Study context and research ethics

This study was approved by a Research Ethics Committee (17–11-01 R). Following each interview, the audio recordings were transcribed, anonymised and a pseudonym was assigned to each participant to protect their identity. Proper nouns were also changed, and a range of details (such as specific numbers, locations, dates, positions and roles) have been deliberately left out to help protect participant anonymity. Evidently, the balance between providing rich contextualised information of a case and the protection of individual, group and institutional identity and integrity was sought. In addition, our focus on an instrumental case study as highlighted above also re-orientates our focus away from the un-anonymised specifics of one context and towards exploration of the phenomenon in context. As such, we were more interested in identifying the process and practices of drinking culture construction. The case study was conducted on a male university rugby club which has been given the pseudonym ‘Bayfields’. The male rugby club at this university has more than 4 teams competing at different levels (from casual to elite) and train up to 3 times per week. The first team compete at a high level and regularly compete in and win tournaments.

Principle investigator

Researcher reflexivity is a core component of qualitative inquiry (Reyes 2020). There is value in acknowledging one’s own background and perspective within a given social context (Braun and Clarke 2023). Elias (1978, 13) explains that “the person who studies and thinks about society is a member of it’. The principal investigator (PI) is a former rugby player and had prior knowledge of some of the alcohol related practices athletes are exposed to in amateur and youth rugby. This prior involvement helped the PI know when and how to approach people, and who to approach. Further, the PI was not entirely surprised or conflicted by many of the extreme drinking practices observed and discussed. They were aware that these were commonplace in sport, and specifically in rugby. The PI did not participate in sport during university and was therefore unaware of the social processes and practices which athletes were exposed to and were a part of during university. This prior experience guided the methodological approach. The research team felt it was necessary to understand if athletes entered the university sport system with established drinking habits, and whether greater alcohol use by athletes could be explained through mechanisms which influence general student alcohol patterns, or if distinct processes were at play.

Participants and procedure

Participants included in this case study were players, coaching staff, committee members, supporters and wider community that entered the field of study. These included opposition players and supporters, the wider student population that entered the environment (i.e. the student union bar or rugby stands) and student union staff. This broad definition of the research setting allowed the researcher to develop a comprehensive understanding of the environment and social processes which may be influencing consumption. There was, however, a key focus on the players. Teams competing at multiple levels (i.e. first, second, first-year) were observed prior, during, and following games throughout the season. This allowed the researcher to gather data from multiple perspectives and explore how players of differing ability and experience interacted with the environment and each other.

Data sources

The case study data collection strategy included periods of intense observations surrounding drinking events, complimented with interviews with key actors and generated an in-depth understanding of the context of consumption. Case studies apply a flexible approach to data collection, where the researcher avoids pre-fixed procedures of data collection, remains attentive to new sources of valuable information, and adjusts the research steps throughout the research process (Swanborn 2010). There are, however, several sources of information which are deemed crucial (for instance, informants, documents, and observation notes) (ibid.). Methods included observation (Kawulich 2005), field-note taking (Willig 2008), conversational interviews (Swain and Spire 2020), and formal semi-structured interviews (DeJonckheere and Vaughn 2019). In-situ data were captured in a diary and through audio recordings that were transcribed verbatim (Willig 2008).

Method of analysis

This case study adopted an inductive thematic analysis (Braun, Clarke, and Terry 2014). Terry et al. (2017) explained thematic analysis is a suitable technique for a wide range of data types. Terry et al. (2017, 22) argued the most important deciding factor for the suitability of thematic analysis lies in the quality of the data, where ‘rich and complex data on a given topic are the crown jewels of qualitative research, allowing us deep and nuanced insights’. A thematic analysis across time and data sources allowed the researchers to construct the thick descriptions from participants and provide a comprehensive understanding of alcohol use in university rugby. Given the nature of case study research, where each data source guides the collection and interpretation of following sources, the analysis could be described as beginning ‘with the first interview, the first observation, the first document read’ (Merriam 2009, 165) by ‘consolidating, reducing and interpreting in the process of meaning making’ (Merriam 2009, 175). Creswell (2013, 182) describes this approach as ‘moving in analytical circles’.

Data were analysed using Braun, Clarke, and Weate (2016) six-stage approach. A reflexive and collaborative approach was taken with the research team (each author). Phase one involved collating, transcribing, and interrogating the data with the research team. This was an ongoing process, beginning with the first round of interviews and field observations and continued at least monthly throughout the season. In the second phase, once the data collection had concluded, interview transcripts, documentation and field notes were systematically coded with tags related to alcohol use (i.e. where drinking occurred, how people behaved and what they said). The third phase involved clustering codes into themes to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of alcohol use in university rugby. In the fourth phase, each theme was extensively reviewed by the research team and refined, where needed, to provide a more robust interpretation of the relationship between sport and alcohol use. Phase five required a further interrogation of each theme, where the research team probed each theme, its’ underlying message and the suitability of each piece of evidence in supporting this underlying message. In the sixth phase, a coherent story was developed by the research team which best explained the data. While the above are accurate depictions of the process undertaken, the analysis steps taken should not read as if we undertook this as a ‘tick box’ linear or unreflective exercise. Rather, we took Braun and Clarke’s (2019) advice to ‘read beyond our 2006 paper’ and undertook what might be described as a reflexive thematic analysis in which our own ‘conceptualisation of themes’ were ‘stories about particular patterns of shared meaning across the dataset’ (Braun and Clarke 2019, 592).

Study quality and judgement criteria

Several criteria were used to ensure quality within the research (Korstjens and Moser 2018). Firstly, cross-referencing data from a wide array of sources, and over-time, provided a rich and comprehensive description of alcohol use by university rugby players. Secondly, a wealth of interwoven data was presented in this study to explain and contextualise the findings. Thirdly, the first author spent a substantial amount of time observing and conversing with cultural actors through a season. This allowed the actors themselves to validate the researchers’ interpretation of events and added credibility. Fourthly, the wider researcher team acted as critical friends throughout the process, who challenged and offered alternative and supportive approaches to data collection and explanations of the data. Consequently, we would consider the best criterion for judgement of this analysis would be what Sparkes (2002, 216–7, borrowing terms from Blumenfeld-Jones 1995) - referred to as believability, in which there is coherence between the reader’s own experiences of analogous events and the reader finds the analyst’s interpretation of events plausible in re-describing such experiences.

Findings

This study provides more thorough and nuanced insight into the specific reinforcement mechanisms of the culture than has previously been acknowledged in the literature. Four key themes were identified in the data; 1) Routine and ritualised consumption, where drinking was embedded within the everyday practices of playing and watching sport, 2) Enforcement and compliance, which explains how roles and responsibilities, punishments, and events, were used to ensure athletes complied with the drinking ethos (the characteristic tone or sentiment towards alcohol use), 3) Showing off and gaining status, where athletes’ used alcohol to make a name for themselves and build a reputation (symbolic and social capital), and 4) Institutional contributors to alcohol use, which describes how elements of the institution (i.e. alcohol price, promotion, and sponsorship) normalised and legitimised the alcohol ethos.

Routine and ritualised consumption

Alcohol use was embedded within the weekly routine of athletes in two ways. Firstly, consumption was structured around the first team playing schedule. Secondly, drinking was strategically organised around training and playing schedules to ensure it did not impact upon performance. Athletes discussed their drinking routines with a feeling of certainty. On one hand, players were drinking to abide by these cultural rules, although on the other hand, they attempted to go beyond the rules to stand out from the group. Liam, a novice, explained that drinking requirements and challenges were dependent upon one’s position within the team. He explained that younger athletes were told to engage in alcohol related practices. More experienced athletes, however, engaged in more elaborate practices without insistence from others.

It’s the Wednesday nights when there is a home game that you drink the most because you’re told to get two pints and you’re told to get another two. You bring bottles and cans and the older guys, they strap a four pinter of Strongbow to someone’s hands and they have to finish it before the end of the game. – Liam (3^rd year athlete)

The novices, such as Liam, appeared to be drinking because they felt they had to, or because they were being told to by experienced team-mates. The older athletes, on the other hand, required much less encouragement and actively engaged in these more extreme behaviours of their own accord. Notorious drinking practices provided a badge of honour to those who performed them. In Bourdieu’s (1993, 7) words, this ‘prestige, celebrity or honour’ is defined as symbolic capital. The study implies that the awareness that these practices provided symbolic capital was developed as athletes progressed through university. Younger athletes, such as Liam, predominantly consumed alcohol within a sport environment to abide by the rules and rituals of the team. Through constant repetition, following the same rituals on a weekly basis, novices learned that these practices had value to the group. As they got older, this understanding became an over-riding impulse which guided their behaviours. In short, athletes needed much less encouragement to drink because they had learned that drinking was praised and rewarded.

Over the course of the season, it became clear that athletes valued the drinking ethos and endeavoured to maintain it by embedding drinking traditions around first team matches. There was, however, a balancing act between maintaining the drinking ethos and maintaining rugby performance. Accordingly, alcohol use was structured around the team’s training and playing schedule to ensure one did not negatively impact the other. When athletes drank, how much they consumed and in what way, differed over the course of the week. As individuals progressed through the culture these everyday rituals became more ingrained and alcohol use became a taken for granted part of rugby.

You’re a group of friends. You play a game, and it is tradition to have a pint, that’s one way of hanging out together. Especially team sports, you’ve got a lot more extroverted characters, a lot more characters. – Lewis (1^st year athlete)

The drinking ethos had fostered the idea that being an athlete, being masculine, and being extroverted meant one should drink often to build social relationships with those who share similar characteristics. For more experienced players, however, drinking was less of a practice which served to build friendships and more of an embedded ritual. Elijah, Aiden, and Leeroy, for example, felt drinking was not an option, but the ‘done thing’. To these experienced athletes, drinking was a mandatory part of the rugby experience, which seemed to serve little purpose. This suggests that as athletes spent more time immersed within the culture, they internalised the drinking rituals and traditions. As a result, drinking practices which began as helping to bring the team together and foster a more cohesive group evolved into a necessity which needed to be exercised, and they forgot the original purpose of their behaviours.

Elijah (2nd year athlete): Drinking isn’t an option, it’s more of a requirement for rugby. Yeah, that’s the way it would be summed up.

Aiden (Postgraduate athlete): It’s what you do. It’s the done thing. It is sort of expected. You’ve got the culture of initiation sessions as well. It’s all very much based around alcohol.

Leeroy (3rd year athlete): I think that’s the mentality, you think of rugby, and you think drink.

Over-time athletes become caught up in the rules and rituals of their culture and forget the processes which initially led to their drinking habits (Bourdieu 1977). For example, to Leeroy, who had spent over two years within the culture, ‘you think rugby and you think drink’, but for Lewis, who was still in his first year, drinking was a way of ‘hanging out’ with his team-mates. This strengthening of language between athletes occupying differing social positions (i.e. novices vs seniors) revealed how alcohol habits strengthened over-time, and where drinking became a stand-alone practice.

Enforcement and compliance

Alcohol use was embedded into the culture through roles and responsibilities, punishments, and events. To ensure players abided by the drinking culture, the team elected ‘social secretaries’ who were responsible for planning the team’s calendar of drinking events and rituals throughout the season. These individuals had the authority to decide when, where, what, and how the team drank. Observations and conversations with athletes provided evidence of a social hierarchy within the university rugby environment, which was embedded through specific structures. Lewis, also in his first year, added that the dominant group ruled by size, and used their greater numbers to instil fear in the novices and ensure the rules and rituals were followed.

I probably prefer drinking in my flat because it’s people I know. I just think when you go on a Wednesday or what not or initiation, you’ve got older boys who potentially could boss you around because its mass on number as well, there’s a lot of them – Lewis (1^st year athlete)

These discussions with athletes provide evidence for what has been defined as symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1992) – a form of social dominance acted upon individuals or groups with their complicity. For example, the rugby club created a social structure which allowed experienced team members to set rules and issue punishments to those who did not abide. The wider club members then used these rules to display their own dominance over those lower down the social hierarchy, such as Lewis. Thus, the social structures were weighted in favour of the dominant group (the experienced athletes). Those higher up the social hierarchy chose who should set the rules, who in turn enforced the rules through punishments. The dominant group then used non-compliance with the rules they helped create to display their dominance. This process reinforced and sustained the social hierarchy and drinking ethos.

There were also significant events which occurred throughout the season which acted as stand-alone occasions to enforce the drinking ethos. These were drinking socials, end of season drinking events, and most notably the initiation ceremony. These strategic events were used by seniors to display dominance and instil the drinking ethos. Pressure to consume was a weekly occurrence, following training sessions and matches. Organised drinking sessions (or ‘socials’), were coordinated within the rugby schedule to ensure commitment to the drinking culture. The coercion and hazing rituals (i.e. verbal and physical abuse) were commonplace in these events.

You always feel under pressure to go out for a drink. After rugby or after you’ve played a game. It’s more intimidating drinking with the rugby team than with anybody else and that’s just a fact. I have never been as scared as I was at the first rugby social here. I have quite bad anxiety as well and I was sat on the floor, surrounded by second and third years with just freshers around me. Shit being thrown at us, people spitting in our drinks, and we were just like ‘great, this is lovely, this is exactly what I signed up for’ – Benjamin (1^st year athlete)

Initiation ceremonies, in comparison to routine drinking events, were a one-off attempt to ‘keep them [novices] in their place’ (Jeckell, Copenhaver, and Diamond 2018, 561). During this study, initiation ceremonies were banned by the Bayfield’s student union, although the event nonetheless went ahead. The event was strategically placed mid-way through the season to minimise the potential fall-out. Specifically, there was a fear among organisers that holding the ceremony earlier in the season may have resulted in some athletes dropping out of the team. It was evidently clear to mature athletes who organised the initiation ceremony that the event caused negative consequences which could force some novices out of the culture. However, rather than changing the event itself or stopping it altogether, the seniors attempted to mitigate the negative outcomes by holding it later in the season. Thus, there was a strong eagerness among seniors to ensure that this long-standing tradition was maintained, despite it being banned, and even though they were aware the event caused some athletes to withdraw from the group.

Discussions with athletes revealed the extreme nature of these events but also the positive expectations among some players. Liam, for example, described how he was well prepared for a challenging initiation ceremony because of ‘stories passed down through generations’. This is further evidence of the value which is attached to engaging in these practices, and crucially telling others about what one went through. These events were used to portray oneself in a positive light to peers, and therefore some athletes felt a desire to be initiated.

I’ve always known initiation was going to be bad because of stories, but I was always looking forward to initiation because everyone just sees it as a massive drinking sesh were everyone just gets messy. A couple of us got there late and you could just see everyone’s face turn and “ooooo”, and you see this massive fish guts and we had to drink a beer through a fish. Everything was alcohol related, if you were holding a pint and someone said down it, you had to down it, and there was a lot of vomit involved. Disgusting stuff. – Liam (3^rd year athlete)

Athletes, such as Liam (above) and Mason (below) drew attention to the extreme challenges which novice athletes had to go through. Alcohol use was central to the challenges, with athletes having to ‘down’ pints of alcohol in different ways. However, these challenges often aimed to degrade newcomers through humiliating and sometimes sexualised acts, as Mason described:

My initiation, that was quite brutal. Basically, I had to drink a whole bottle of wine through a fresh salmon’s head and then I got slapped with fish guts, so I stank for the rest of the night. Yeah, to be fair I got away lightly, some people got really picked on and I didn’t get picked on too much. We got put in a line and every line had to do a challenge. Mine was we had to stay in a press-up position, we had to drink a pint through a straw with a cookie in our ass and whoever was last to finish the pint had to eat the cookies. I finished mine pretty quickly so. – Mason (3^rd year athlete)

Several studies have drawn attention to the ethical and legal complexities with these secretive events. For instance, Kirby and Wintrup (2002, 50) argue “if we scratch the surface of athletes’ experiences, we find that hazing is a relatively regular occurrence and that an assortment of physical, social, and sexual abuses form a major part of those experiences”. Others argue that hazing is largely about sexuality, aimed at feminising and homosexualizing less experienced players to reassert their own status of power and authority (Jeckell, Copenhaver, and Diamond 2018).Mason’s experience revealed the blurred boundaries at these events, where athletes, because of a culture of intimidation, are willing to take-part. The spectrum of hazing rituals, from alcohol use, to violence, to sexual abuse, have been shown to have serious consequences (Waldron and Kowalski 2009). There is a need to challenge and remove this culture of power and intimidation to mitigate against the escalating practices which take place during these events. The extreme nature of these events also point to a need for researchers to gain access to them. Despite being banned, this initiation ceremony still went ahead. Further, the secrecy surrounding the event made it more difficult to gain access to the ceremony and thus explain what went on and why. Banning these events completely may not be the best policy for reducing the extremity of behaviours and potential harm to those who take part. This study supports the argument that only by engaging with team members will we be able to develop successful interventions that are both culturally and context specific (Lafferty and Wakefield 2018).

Showing off and gaining status

Drinking practices were used by athletes to show off and in-turn gain status and respect from team-mates. This study provides considerable evidence that athletes valued and praised drinking practices. The awareness that excessive drinking was valued within this culture led to athletes using alcohol to make an impression and build a reputation for themselves. Award ceremonies, parties, and celebrating individual achievements (i.e. winning man of the match) all involved drinking alcohol and status competition.

It is common-place, normal to go to have a few post-match. You’ve also got award ceremonies and Christmas, Halloween parties … end of season parties. Usually you have to have a dirty pint if you’ve scored a hat-trick or a try, or you are man of the match. It’s everyone trying to out-do each other and impress each other. – Aiden (post-graduate athlete)

Players attempting to out-do one another, by drinking more exuberantly, was a ritual embedded within the culture. Regardless of the occasion, athletes tried to show off more than their peers. These behaviours have been defined as cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986). Across society, cultural markers (i.e. playing video games, enjoying classical music, or visiting French restaurants) enable groups to distinguish themselves from others (Savage et al. 2013). In rugby culture, wearing the club clothing, singing loudly, chanting, and binge drinking were cultural indicators that athletes belonged to the rugby club. Given these practices were a valued form of cultural capital within this culture, they provided status and respect to those who engaged in them.

But there is no barrier or no “we’ve gone over the line now”. As soon as I came here and saw the first social and the stories, we are more pressured to do stuff to fit in. It’s definitely a big drinking culture, like being forced to swim in lakes and get out and down a pint – Lewis (1^st year athlete)

Alcohol tolerance was a show of strength within this environment. Drinking on demand was how one showed respect to senior team-mates and this respect was rewarded with a better social position within the group. Clayton and Harris (2008, 326) have shown previously that ‘the ability to hold one’s drink was a characteristic of maleness’ within university football. Athletes were expected to get drunk and to continue drinking, without showing any adverse effects (Clayton and Harris 2008). This study supports these findings and adds that athletes not only avoid social exclusion by showing they can ‘hold their drink’, but are also held in higher regard by team-mates. This process, however, of athletes constantly attempting to out-do their team-mates, led to an escalation of behaviours over-time.

Mid-way through the season there was a critical moment which drew attention to the alarming status-seeking practices of university rugby players. A national newspaper reported a story of a rugby player ‘filmed hurling himself through bus stop glass’ (Owen and Hayward 2017). An interview conducted with a student union director examined the perceived purpose of these events from the players’ perspective. Chris, a director, described the events surrounding the incident. He explained how the individual was not getting picked for the team as frequently as he would like and that he ‘wanted to make a name for himself’. This athlete felt that breaking through a glass bus-stop was a behaviour worthy of getting picked more often to play for his rugby team.

Three of our senior members had invited two of our freshers around their house to watch the football. They went their own ways and two freshers were walking to the kebab shop, referenced a conversation that the five of them had had earlier, where one of the senior members had said “I saw this really funny video of somebody charging through a bus-stop” and went “I’m going to do that”. Talking about him and why he acted that way, he was to say “I wasn’t getting much game-time, I’m a reasonable player but I wanted to make a name for myself in the club, and wanted to stand out as being somebody, and I thought doing something like that would earn myself some respect in the club. – Chris, a student union director

This one-off incident demonstrated the extremes which resulted from a desire for status among these athletes. However, the attitude and perceptions underpinning it was not isolated to this one event. In a separate event, later that season, an athlete posted on social media ‘Dunno if I’m the worst social sec in the world or the best with freshers ending up in hospital after last night’. These athletes felt charging through a bus-stop, swimming in lakes drunk, and landing their peers in hospital were noteworthy and promotable practices. The athlete who charged through the bus-stop, for example, perceived that the cultural capital attached to this behaviour would enable him to build his reputation. In turn, this cultural capital could allow him to gain a better position within the team. This finding adds strength to previous published research, which showed athletes lower in ability use alcohol and related behaviours to contribute to the team or club values (Roy and Camiré 2017; Haslam and Platow 2001; Sparkes, Partington, and Brown 2007). It also demonstrates the problematic nature of the drinking ethos, where individuals are willing to risk their lives to achieve praise from their team-mates. There is a need to address the underlying values within sport. A culture needs to be developed which places less significance on alcohol and notoriety, and places greater value on performance and support.

Institutional contributors to alcohol use

The final theme presented in this study is that certain institutional elements normalised and legitimised the alcohol ethos and created an ‘intoxogenic drinking space’ – that is, environmental contributions that are likely to result in the maintenance of alcohol behaviour (Brown 2016). The current study identified three institutional elements which are likely to contribute to student conceptions of appropriate drinking behaviours. These were, 1) expectations and approval of player alcohol use, 2) alcohol pricing and availability, and 3) alcohol advertising and sponsorship.

Alcohol use was, to a certain extent, expected and approved of by those who had significant roles in the club (these included coaches and social media administrators). Throughout the season, the coach reinforced the message that drinking was expected and to some degree, approved of. At times, this was more subtle, by greeting players after a match with ‘Hi boys, can I get you a round?’ At other times, this was more direct, by putting money behind the bar, for example.

As head coach, Mike was trying to balance the embedded drinking traditions within rugby and university life, with student welfare and performance. For instance, he described that it was ‘not his job’ to stop people drinking and that it wouldn’t foster a ‘good environment’ to do so. To him, it was better to support the drinking ethos, but do so ‘appropriately’.

I’m not here to stop people drinking and it’s not my job, it’s not my role. I’ve got to be seen as being responsible and I’ve got to be trying to cultivate an environment which supports academic study and elite sport but where does your role stop and start. I think you’ve got to be careful in terms of the role you take. Does it serve a role, or do I recognise the social interaction as being important for the team? For me, I would rather not be somebody who is there and saying “no drinking” which I don’t think lends itself to a good environment. I’d far rather support it, but appropriately. - Mike, Head coach

Mike felt alcohol had a role in rugby. For instance, he explained alcohol was one method which could be used to create a ‘team culture’. In other words, it helped to facilitate team cohesion. Mike, however, was also aware of the problematic culture which this study has drawn attention to and was attempting to address these issues.

I see alcohol, as one form, of a huge array of different things that you can use to generate a team culture. What I’m trying to do is get people to support each other, look after each other. So, one session I’m going to do is on how you look after the first-years. - Mike, Head coach

These anecdotes draw attention to the difficulties when trying to change the drinking culture which is embedded within rugby. On one hand, coaches such as Mike are aware of and are trying to root out problematic elements of the ethos, through educational interventions such as workshops. On the other hand, however, they approve of, and to some extent, encourage alcohol use. According to Vamplew (2005) there are many contradictory practices within sport, when it comes to alcohol use. For instance, ‘players know that drinking alcohol might adversely affect their performance, yet they find that their employers are tolerant of a drinking culture’ (Vamplew 2005, 406). McLaughlin (2005) argues there can be both an ‘intended’ ethos and an ‘experienced’ ethos. The intended ethos is aspirational, where leaders or institutions set values that they expect or encourage a group to aspire to. The experienced ethos, in contrast, describes the reality experienced by those groups. It defines the actual tone or sentiment experienced. In the context of this research, the head coach wanted players to drink responsibly and held sessions to educate his players on how to behave (the intended ethos), however, he also offered to purchase them alcohol after a match (the experienced ethos). Jones (2016, 49) argues ‘it is possible, but difficult, to bring an experienced ethos in line with an intended ethos. This requires significant changes in habits, routine behaviour and attitudes and may take a long time’.

On this university campus, alcohol was easily accessible, in close proximity to where people played sport, studied, and lived, it was cheap and heavily promoted. For example, on-campus accommodation (an environment of high alcohol use) was situated less than 500 metres from the student union bar, sport training facilities were located less than 100 metres from the bar, and playing facilities were sited under 200 metres from the bar. Previous studies have shown that alcohol outlet density at universities was related with heavy drinking, frequent drinking, and drinking-related problems (Weitzman et al. 2003; Young, Macdonald, and Ellaway 2013). For instance, in a recent study, Hobbs et al. (2020) found close proximity to alcohol outlets was associated with increased risk of hazardous drinking. Hobbs and colleagues found students who lived less than 292 metres from alcohol outlets were at greater risk of hazardous drinking than those living between 292–525 metres from outlets, who in turn were at greater risk of hazardous drinking than those living between 526–868 metres, or greater than 868 metres away. The recent study of Hobbs et al. (2020), combined with other findings showing that the closer one lived to a bar, the more likely they would be to report risky alcohol behaviour (cf. Connor et al. 2011; Halonen et al. 2013), suggest that the close proximity of student athletes to alcohol outlets (i.e. the student union bar) may have contributed to excessive drinking. It is clear, however, that this would be one further contributor to the multitude of factors identified throughout this study.

The second campus contributor to student athlete alcohol use was price. Alcohol was available at the student union bar at low cost. For example, a pint of premium lager could be purchased for £2.85, lower strength lager for £2.45, cider at £2.65, spirits between £1.20 and £1.75 per 25 ml and alcopops for £2.50. Academics have argued that of all alcohol sold, cheap alcohol products play the biggest part in driving alcohol-related harm (Anderson et al., 2013). Several studies show that increasing price at a population level is a simple and effective way to reduce consumption, and thus alcohol-related harm (Meng et al. 2014; Burton et al. 2016). Others have suggested this impact may be especially pronounced among students, who may have less disposable income than older populations (Kuo et al. 2003). Research in university settings has found that increases in alcohol prices are accompanied by less alcohol consumption (Morrell, Reed, and Martinetti 2020).

Further exacerbating the potential impact of low-cost alcohol on student drinking, alcohol was frequently and heavily promoted throughout the campus. Throughout campus, noticeboards were covered with posters and flyers advertising ‘Happy Hour’ promotions between 4 pm and 7 pm every evening. The link between exposure to alcohol advertising or promotional activity and subsequent alcohol consumption in young people is well established (Smith and Foxcroft 2009). For instance, an independent review of the effects of alcohol pricing and promotion on young people in the UK found price promotions increased binge drinking (Booth et al. 2008). Further, the availability of large volumes of alcohol, low sale prices, and frequent promotions and advertisements at both on- and off-premises establishments have been found to be associated with higher binge drinking rates on college campuses (Kuo et al. 2003).

In a more direct form of alcohol industry pressure, a popular city centre nightclub, Dixies, sponsored each university sport club, providing they met certain conditions. Benjamin, a first-year athlete explained the rugby club would receive £1000 of funding if they held social events in the student union each month and attended the nightclub afterwards. To further persuade teams to attend the nightclub, significant club members (i.e. captains and managers) were provided free entry.

They would drink every single week and have socials in the SU every single week because in order to get your Dixies (nightclub) sponsorship you had to have so many socials. They put a £1000 into each teams’ pot if they have so many socials in the SU (student union), and then captains and team managers have a card where they get entry for free into Dixies. – Benjamin (1^st year athlete)

This direct link between the alcohol industry and university sport clubs raises important ethical questions. Studies have shown alcohol advertising and sponsorship is associated with stronger intentions to drink, and higher levels of alcohol consumption in early adulthood (Smith and Foxcroft 2009; Brown 2016). For instance, research from New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom found athletes in receipt of alcohol industry sponsorship were more likely to be hazardous drinkers (O’brien and Kypri 2008; O’brien et al. 2011, 2014). Given the growing evidence of the potentially harmful impact of sponsorship, policy makers should consider whether the harms outweigh the financial benefits (O’brien et al. 2014).

Strengths, limitations and future directions

To develop a rich and comprehensive understanding of the drinking culture within university sport, this research focussed on an instrumental qualitative case study of a single university setting. This single setting was investigated extensively through a plethora of methods and data sources. This intensive methodological focus on a single university, with a breadth of complementary data collection techniques, provided a deeper understanding of how drinking patterns within sport, and particularly rugby, are produced and reproduced. Collectively, these findings offer important insight into the various micro and macro level contributors to sport-related drinking cultures and suggest previous attempts to reduce consumption may have oversimplified the relationship and over-emphasised individual level drivers.

It is important to acknowledge, however, that there are certain limitations which need to be considered when interpreting these findings. Firstly, it is possible that the findings of this study may differ at other institutions, or even other clubs within the same institution with differing club practices, student demographics, environmental drivers (such as alcohol availability and pricing), and university policies and practices. The group level contributors to alcohol use (such as power relations, social hierarchies, and the symbolic nature of alcohol use) may also differ at other university sport cultures and between different sports. Institutional and environmental contributors are likely to vary substantially between institutions with varying policies towards acceptable alcohol use, regulation, and promotion. There is a need to explore these findings across multiple institutions. It is likely that alcohol management policies and practices will vary considerably between institutions, therefore understanding the impact of these alternative approaches would be worthwhile. Further, there is need to develop a rich understanding of the social mechanisms underpinning alcohol use between institutions with varied alcohol prevalence rates.

Existing interventions aimed at reducing alcohol use among student athletes have been relatively unsuccessful (Partington and Partington 2021). By taking a holistic view of the drinking culture within university sport, this study provides novel insight which can help inform interventions aimed at developing a more moderate drinking environment. This research provides evidence of a plethora of social and environmental factors which contribute to alcohol use by student athletes. It is plausible that each of these constituent factors could jeopardise attempts to reduce or control usage if they are not addressed collectively. Based on this conclusion, interventions which recognise the interconnectedness between the several contributors within the entire university sport system may achieve more substantive change than has previously been achieved. There are several factors within the university sport system which could be targeted to reduce alcohol use among student athletes. Some of these factors, such as the prevailing alcohol ethos, appears to occur wherever that sport takes place. Others however, such as availability, promotion, and sponsorship, may vary substantially between different institutions with differing policies.

Conclusion

This study has revealed features of the student-athlete environment which normalised and legitimised a drinking ethos. This research has shown how alcohol use was embedded within the athlete’s weekly routine when playing sport, training, and watching first-team athletes. Over time, drinking became a taken-for-granted ritual of university sport. Specific roles and responsibilities (i.e. social secretaries), punishments (i.e. drinking forfeits) and events (i.e. initiation ceremonies) were used to ensure athletes complied with the drinking ethos. Further, athletes used alcohol to gain status and reputation. This, however, led to a culture where no behaviours were off limits and led to potentially harmful consequences. Finally, this case study provides insight into the way the institution itself normalised and legitimised the drinking ethos by expecting and approving of excessive alcohol use, and in some cases actively encouraging it through low cost, easily accessible and heavily promoted alcohol. These athletes faced a multitude of pressures encouraging them to drink, and often. These findings suggest that a whole system approach is needed to address the drinking culture at this and other institutions with an embedded drinking ethos. This should focus on collectively addressing the physical, commercial, sociocultural, and political contributors by bringing stakeholders, including players, together to develop a shared understanding of the challenge.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marc Harris

Marc Harris is the Head of Research at Intelligent Health and Senior Researcher at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Marc is an experienced researcher in public health interventions, physical activity, gamification, alcohol use and image enhancing drug use.

Carwyn Jones

Carwyn Jones is a Professor of Sports Ethics at the School of Sport and Health Sciences – Cardiff Metropolitan University in the UK. His current research interest is in sport, moral development, mental health, and addiction. He is a qualified counsellor and works privately and in third sector addiction services.

David Brown

David Brown is a Professor in the Sociology of Sport and Physical Culture in the Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University. David’s current area of focus involves examining sports, physical culture and sustainability.