Alcohol Use by Student Athletes

There is a deeply embedded drinking culture in sport and a need for a greater

understanding of the individual and cultural mechanisms which create and sustain it.

This thesis sought to understand this drinking culture (or ethos) by examining the

alcohol-related experiences of athletes prior to, and throughout, university. This

focussed on the group level dynamics, power relations and perceived value of alcohol,

and the environmental contributors to drinking. To develop a comprehensive

understanding of these phenomena, this thesis focussed on student rugby players in

particular and both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. In study one, an

online alcohol survey was distributed to students attending a single university in Wales,

and in study two, participants were invited to provided follow-up data at three timepoints

(Term 1, 2 and 3). In study three, fifteen semi-structured interviews were

conducted with male (n=9) and female (n=6) university rugby players. In study four, a

season-long case study of a male student rugby club was undertaken which utilised data

from a variety of sources including observations (across multiple leagues and teams),

traditional media reports, social media, conversational interviews, and semi-structured

interviews with male players, a director of rugby and director of student services. This

thesis provides novel evidence that a considerable proportion of athletes may be

inducted into problematic alcohol use during adolescence and enter university with

established drinking habits. Despite this, alcohol use is likely to increase further during

university. Several factors may support this increase. Firstly, alcohol use and

intoxication had symbolic value (capital) in sport, allowing individuals to negotiate a

better position within a social hierarchy. Second, consumption was embedded within a

rigid social calendar as tradition. Third, a plethora of environmental factors, such as

alcohol availability, pricing and marketing may have normalised a heavy drinking

culture. Collectively these factors may interact to prepare athletes for a heavy drinking

culture prior to their arrival at university and normalise this experience thereafter.