‘Zero alcohol’ and on-pitch advertising

The spirt of the rules

Sir, – I love to watch a game of rugby. Even though I don’t understand all the rules, it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the game. One thing that has always impressed me is the respect shown to the referee. You rarely if ever see the officials being surrounded by protesting players when a controversial decision goes against them. The captain might make his views known to the referee but it ends there, the decision is accepted, and the game continues.

It is a pity that the alcohol company sponsoring the Six Nations could not behave in the same way. Rather than abide by the spirit of the rule preventing on-pitch advertising, it saw fit to exploit a loophole by adding “00″ to its product name thus allowing it to revert to on-pitch advertising. I wonder if the alcohol-funded group Drinkaware has spoken to their sponsors about this or perhaps it has zero interest in the matter. – Yours, etc,

JOHN HIGGINS,

Ballina,

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Co Mayo.