FOOTBALL and rugby teams face being banned from advertising alcohol on players’ shirts and inside their stadiums following a review by the Scottish executive.

An expert group is expected to recommend that sponsorship deals struck between sports organisations and drinks companies be phased out.

Members of the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems (SMACAP) agreed by a majority verdict that logos of drinks firms on sports strips were inappropriate when the executive is encouraging people to drink less.

The committee is expected to publish its findings in the autumn. It will recommend that current sponsorship deals be allowed to continue until the end of their contracts but should then be terminated.

If ministers accept the proposals, football clubs such as Celtic and Rangers — which last year signed sponsorship deals with Carling worth £9m each from 2005-2010 — could have future deals jeopardised. The current contract includes the brands’ logos on strips.

Hibernian could also be affected; it has a sponsorship deal worth £1m over five years with Whyte and Mackay, the whisky producer. Any renewal of Tennent’s lager’s sponsorship of the Scottish Cup and The Famous Grouse’s endorsement of the Scottish Rugby Union would also be threatened. Carling also sponsors Hibernian, and last month signed a five-year deal worth £250,000. This means Carling’s name will appear on the Hibs’ shirts in Europe this season, as advertising high-strength alcohol in European competitions is banned by UEFA.

The expert group — whose members include doctors, health campaigners and members of the drinks industry — is expected to recommend that drinks logos on leisure wear worn by children is the first to be phased out.

Restrictions on alcohol advertising on sportswear would then be introduced over a number of years to give clubs and sporting organisations time to find alternative sponsors.

Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland and a member of the expert group, said: “Alcohol companies sponsoring sports teams and events is something we would like stopped.

“We would like to see the companies’ logos removed from sports shirts and billboards at grounds. Alcohol advertising in sport encourages young people to associate success with alcohol.”

Another group member said: “The health issue is over- riding. A few years ago we wouldn’t have envisaged the ban on smoking in public places. I’m sure we will see a ban on drinks companies sponsoring sports teams and events, although I don’t think it will happen overnight. I think the executive could bring in a long lead-in period.”

Dr Mac Armstrong, Scotland’s former chief medical officer, this year said he would support a ban.

The British Medical Association believes it would help reduce binge drinking among young people.

However, members of the drinks industry made clear they would fight the proposals.

Campbell Evans, a spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association, said: “Scots whisky companies promote golf, equestrian and rugby events and in doing so encourage people to take an interest in these sports and may even encourage people to take them up and lead healthier lives.”

A spokesman for Coors Brewers, which owns the Carling brand, said the company did not believe a ban was necessary.

“We strongly support the alcohol strategies being developed by the UK Government and the Scottish executive, which recognise that the best way to reduce alcohol harm is to target the minority who cause problems rather than penalise the majority who enjoy drinking responsibly.”

A spokesman for Tennent’s lager said: “It is an area we have discussed with officials from the Scottish executive. We would welcome a move to stop putting logos on children’s shirts, but the executive would be barking up the wrong tree if it introduced an advertising or sponsorship ban.”

Earlier this year a study by the World Health Organisation found Scottish girls were the heaviest teenage drinkers in the world, and that by the age of 15, more than a third were drinking spirits at least once a week.

Rising alcohol abuse has been blamed for a surge in violence among teenagers.

In France, where alcohol advertising in sport and on television is banned, drinking levels and deaths from liver disease have fallen by half over the past 50 years.

A spokesman for the Scottish executive said an updated alcohol action plan would be published this year.

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