Sport, alcohol and older athletes

Purpose: To outline new research on the ways in which older athletesincorporate drinking practices into their social and sporting identities.Drawing on research with older Australian athletes, the chapter asks us to reimagine the sport–alcohol nexus to include new sites and subjects that can shedlight on wider articulations of the pleasurable and problematic relationshipsbetween sport, alcohol and social identity.Design/methodology/approach: In the first part of the chapter, key themes insport and ageing research are discussed. In the second, issues of alcohol, older ageand sporting identities are considered, drawing on research at the 2017 AustralianMasters Games. This sets the scene for a fuller discussion and analysis of some ofthe missed opportunities in alcohol and sport research, and their implications forsport and social policy, health promotion and social care more broadly.Findings: The chapter reveals several under-developed opportunities in abroader research agenda on sport and alcohol, including the role alcohol plays inconferring membership and belonging to the sporting communities of older athletes. The chapter suggests that a recalibration of popular understandings of sport,ageing and alcohol – both as separate and as inter-related concerns – may providean opportunity for addressing wider social concerns with ageing more broadly.Research limitations/implications: Discussion of ageing and alcohol, throughthe lens of sport, has important implications for an analysis of drinking practicesand in sport, and for sport and social policy, health promotion and social care