Excessive alcohol use by non‐elite sportsmen

This study was designed to first, provide a profile of alcohol consumption patterns of young Australian men aged 16 to 34 years who participate in non-elite sport and secondly, to explore the factors associated with excessive alcohol consumption by this group. There were 1613 male participants in the study. The type of sport played, smoking, age, whether their sporting team had a licensed club and country of birth were associated with drinking above safe recommended levels. The excessive levels of alcohol consumption by some non-elite sportsmen in this study suggest a need to educate sports administrators, coaches and participants about safe alcohol consumption. Men were more likely to drink excessively when socializing with sporting team mates compared to drinking on social occasions with other groups.