Preventing alcohol-related problems in community sports clubs: The Good Sports program

Community-based sporting clubs in Australia are often sites of unregulated, problematic and unsafe drinking. The Good Sports program, initiated in Victoria in 2001, offers such clubs a model of incremental change designed to eliminate harmful drinking practices and establish safer norms of alcohol use. The Good Sports model was developed in situ over a period of 5 years and is currently operating in 1600 sporting clubs across Australia. It has strong face validity and is supported by sporting organizations and key stakeholders including public health, law enforcement, road safety, and local government. The article outlines the model, explains early evaluation results, and identifies challenges for the future.