Heartland Rugby Provincial Unions (PU\u2019s) are this year kicking off with the\u00a0 Alcohol and Sport \u2013 Breaking the Link programme run by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.<\/p>\n
Heartland PU\u2019s have joined forces with the Alcohol Harm Prevention team at Health\u00a0 NZ to improve the health and wellbeing of their players and supporters and to reduce\u00a0 alcohol harm in their communities. The Alcohol and Sport \u2013 Breaking the Link\u00a0 programme is all about the denormalisation of alcohol and changing our drinking\u00a0 cultures in sports settings.<\/p>\n
This new partnership has been formed ahead of the 2024 Bunnings Warehouse\u00a0 Heartland Championship with all PU\u2019s standing behind the kaupapa.<\/p>\n
Wellbeing will be a key aspect for both players and wh\u0101nau, with players able to help\u00a0 deliver health messages to the wider community as sporting role models. Clubs will\u00a0 also hold wellbeing workshops, provide alcohol-free areas at games and remove\u00a0 alcohol advertising at grounds.<\/p>\n
Horowhenua Kapiti RFU CEO, and Heartland Secretariat PU\u2019s Chair Corey Kennett\u00a0 stated, \u201cWe are incredibly excited about the partnership with Health NZ. Through the\u00a0 partnership and greater understanding, we recognise that a better relationship with\u00a0 alcohol involves low risk consumption, which can enhance social interactions and\u00a0 culture change without leading to negative consequences. Through changing\u00a0 drinking behaviours, we can foster a healthy lifestyle which contributes to overall\u00a0 wellbeing and community harmony. To have all 12 Heartland Unions join the\u00a0 partnership with Health NZ, is groundbreaking and shows the Heartland unity and\u00a0 support for the collective kaupapa\u201d.<\/p>\n
The alcohol harm minimisation platform we will use is \u201cAmohia te Waiora \u2013 We\u2019re\u00a0 stronger without alcohol\u201d which is a call that can be owned and championed by\u00a0 communities, wh\u0101nau, and people who are unified by the need to change the place\u00a0 of alcohol in our society. It is about breaking the cycle of alcohol harm in Aotearoa,\u00a0 by providing information, advice, research, and resources to support ourselves,\u00a0 wh\u0101nau, and communities.<\/p>\n
We are especially grateful to the Alcohol Harm Prevention team at Health NZ who\u00a0 have been great partners throughout this process. Mark Lyne, Principal Advisor\u00a0 Alcohol and the team have been especially pivotal in building relationships across\u00a0 the Heartland PU\u2019s. Sport is a healthy, positive activity that attracts thousands of\u00a0 people of all ages: players, administrators, fans and community. It plays a big role in\u00a0 influencing the health of New Zealanders because of the sheer number of people\u00a0 involved.<\/p>\n
NZR General Manager Community Rugby Steve Lancaster: \u201cWe\u2019re really pleased to\u00a0 see the Heartland Unions championing responsible drinking in their communities.\u00a0 Rugby brings people together and is part of the social fabric of our country. We\u00a0 always encourage anyone who chooses to drink to do so in moderation and with\u00a0 others in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
For further information please contact:<\/p>\n
Corey Kennett,
\nChief Executive Officer,
\nHorowhenua Kapiti Rugby Football Union,
\nHeartland Rugby Provincial Unions Secretariat Chair,
\ncorey@hkrfu.co.nz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heartland Rugby Provincial Unions (PU\u2019s) are this year kicking off with the\u00a0 Alcohol and Sport \u2013 Breaking the Link programme run by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. Heartland…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buller-ru","category-heartland-championship","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8213,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions\/8213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bullerrugby.co.nz\/wp4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}