GAA clubs across Britain have warned players not to take part in the ‘neknomination’ binge-drinking craze which proved fatal in Ireland over the weekend.
The dangerous drinking challenge requires participants to film themselves ‘necking’ a pint of alcohol before nominating two further candidates to take on the task and post the clip online.
The fad has gone viral across Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks, featuring heavily on feeds connecting Irish people in Britain and Australia with their friends back home.
Increased competitiveness has also seen the number of pints being consumed and their alcoholic content rise dramatically — with some drinking numerous pints or a cocktail of alcoholic beverages in one go.
But the ‘game’ took a fatal turn over the weekend when it claimed the life of 19-year-old hurler Jonny Byrne.
On Saturday the Carlow and Naomh Bríd player drowned after jumping into the River Barrow in Carlow Town while completing his ‘nek nomination’.
Later that day his heartbroken brother Pat — who was with Johnny at the time, but was unable to save him — posted a Facebook message warning others of the tragedy.
“My young 19-year-old brother died tonight in the middle of his nomination,” he said.
“He thought he had to try and beat the competition, after he necked his pint, he jumped into the river. If people have any decency and respect they will refrain from anymore of this stupid nek nomination”.
The death of 22-year-old Ross Cummins in Dublin on Saturday has also been linked to the drinking game, which is thought to have originated in Australia, although authorities have yet to confirm the report.
As news of the fatalities spread, GAA clubs in Britain issued statements and warnings to their members to refrain from accepting ‘nek nominations’, yet a stream of players have already taken part in the challenge.
Jonny Byrne drowned on Saturday after taking part in a ‘NekNomination’Among them five members of the St Gabriel’s hurling club in London were filmed downing a pint of Guinness and ‘chasing’ it with a shot at the Man of Aran pub in Harrow on January 27.
The teammates went on to select the Kilburn Gaels and Galway MIT hurling teams as next in line to take up the ‘nek nomination’.
St Gabriel’s PRO Conor Sexton told The Irish Post: “I am aware of the video posted online, but it’s not something the club organised. It’s something individuals in the club decided to do, but it was not something actively organised by the club and not the sort of thing we would condone or organise as any sort of event for our team.”
Ruairi Mulkere, PRO for Kilburn Gaels, confirmed that the team had not taken up the nomination.
He said: “We would not condone anything like that. This sort of thing is stupid and it is dangerous and more than anything else, now it has proved fatal.”
Man of Aran owner Ambrose Gordon claims he will no longer allow the drinking game in his pub.
“That day the five lads came in fresh and drank a pint of Guinness, so I did not think it would have much of an effect on them,” he said. “But I would not condone it now. I would just say ‘no lads, look at what happened at the weekend in Ireland’ and that would be the end of it.”
GAA Clubs across Britain and Ireland have lent their support to campaigns launched this week to ‘break the chain’ of nek nominations.
On Monday the Oisin CLG club in Manchester tweeted: “In line with GAA Alcohol & Substance Abuse policy the club wishes to strongly discourage partaking in the nek nomination trend.”
Ulster’s Robert Emmets GAC Slaughtneil said: “We strongly encourage our members to refrain from the latest “Nek nominations” craze that is spreading across various social media platforms.
“There have been some cases on the news of this ending in tragic circumstances. We urge our club members not to get involved and do their bit to break the chain.”
A representative for the London GAA board added: “We ask our members to drink responsibly and be aware of the dangers of excessive/binge drinking.”
On Monday Irish Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte confirmed that he would call on Facebook to ‘take down’ all ‘nek nomination’ pages.
Describing the trend as a “stupid and silly game”, he claimed ‘it would be helpful if Facebook intervened’.
