‘Teenagers die from these practices’: Beer bong footage shines spotlight on ‘disturbing behaviour’ in sports club
Footage of an underage Canberra Cavalry baseball player sculling alcohol through a beer bong has prompted health experts to accuse the club of failing in its duty of care.
The video, obtained by the ABC, shows a 17-year-old player being encouraged to drink alcohol through a tube and funnel held by a senior teammate, after a home game in January.
Another player can be heard yelling: "He's going to throw up! Scull you dickhead, come on!"
When the young man finishes drinking, the players applaud him, as one yells: "That was pretty weak, he f***ing threw up after — that's pathetic, give me another one!"
The ABC has chosen not to name any of the players involved.
Foundation for Alcohol and Research (FARE) chief executive Michael Thorn said Canberra Cavalry management had failed to protect its younger players.
"It is just another example of how sport doesn't get the issue of its connections with alcohol," Mr Thorn said.
"We see repeated examples of that through all sporting codes and we see the leadership of those codes failing to put in place systems and practices that prevent this from happening."
He said the ramifications of drinking were much more serious than people realised.
"Teenagers die when they get involved in these practices, obviously not everyone, but alcohol is one of the leading causes of death among young people," Mr Thorn said.
Mr Thorn also described the footage as a reminder of the dangerous relationship between sport and alcohol.
"Sport and sporting identities and sporting clubs are very popular with the Australian public and these repeated examples of bad practice, bad behaviours don't do anything for the health of Australia," he said.
"[It] doesn't do anything for parents who want to see their kids grow up and play sport in safe environments.
"Frankly it's not good enough, and the management and the leadership of these sporting organisations need to be doing much better."
Club needs to take charge of 'disturbing behaviour'
John Edwards is a former Australian Baseball League player, who worked as a development coach for the Cavalry up until last year.
He agreed with Mr Thorn that the club had failed to care for its most vulnerable players.
"It's just some disturbing behaviour," he said.
"These are young kids who shouldn't be exposed to these kind of things. These are kids I've coached, they're underage and they're drinking alcohol.
"This isn't the player's fault, I don't see it as that, this is the fault of the organisation and the guys at the top who just aren't setting the right example.
"The leadership need to take charge and really try to rectify these problems."
Club denies it has failed younger players
In a statement, the club's CEO Donn McMichael said he was "very concerned" by the revelation an underage player was drinking while in uniform.
But he denied the club had failed in its duty of care to younger players.
"The ABL [Australian Baseball League] has strict policies in place regarding behaviour, drugs and alcohol and are included in the contracts that the players sign prior to setting foot on the diamond to play," Mr McMichael said.
"The incident occurred two hours after the game had concluded and there were no fans or members of the public present.
"This however, does not excuse it happening or lessen the responsibility of senior players observing a minor drinking alcohol."
Mr McMichael said any further breaches of the code of conduct would lead to fines or suspension from playing.
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