Sir, – What possessed you to print such an appalling picture of Darren Clarke on your front page this week (July 19th). With so many good pictures of him available, this seems shabby in the extreme. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It was a real pleasure to watch the British Open and to see early in the competition that Darren Clarke had a good chance of winning. Like many others I really wished him well, was absolutely delighted when he won, and was looking forward to hearing his comments afterwards.
I was so sadly disappointed, however, to hear him say, almost immediately after that last shot, and in response to a question from a BBC interviewer as to how long the celebrations would last, that “I think they’ll be very, very long and I’ll be very hung-over.”
He subsequently opened his acceptance speech with reference to the fact that the Claret Jug would be filled with the “Irish black stuff”, and he then went on to sip from a pint of stout during his press conference.
Why do we have to perpetually promote the notion that because we can consume large quantities of alcohol to celebrate something or other, suffer the next day and possibly not remember much of the celebrations, that we’re great craic and are having a great time?
It was a wonderful win, but to link that exquisite moment and occasion to such an extent with alcohol generally, and excessive consumption specifically, was unfortunate. It was also, in my view, a missed opportunity in terms of showing leadership and good example to young people, many of whom are of course susceptible to being influenced by their heroes, including Clarke.
I believe greater efforts should be made to promote the use of alcohol responsibly, and particularly so by people in positions of influence. – Yours, etc,
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Sir, – You must have had your reasons for publishing that photograph of Darren Clarke at the bar in the Bayview Hotel. Would you mind telling the rest of us what those reasons were? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Like many people, I was absolutely thrilled that Darren Clarke won the British Open.
Like many parents, I watched the finish and the presentation in the company of a child. The only bum note for me was Mr Clarke’s numerous direct and indirect references to drink and hangovers in his post-victory interviews and in his acceptance speech.
Darren Clarke and others like him are role models. Children and teenagers do take note of what he does, what he says and what he wears. Otherwise, sponsors would not be queuing up to pay him large sums of money to promote various products.
With his success must come responsibility. Mr Clarke is not a teenager himself anymore and should be moving beyond boasting about how many pints he can drink. In Ireland and Britain we know we have a problem with alcohol, especially with young people.
I hope he is a bit more careful not to glamorise excessive drinking when he wins the next major or Ryder Cup. – Yours, etc,