Councillors voted on Wednesday to investigate how council could extend the smoking ban on sports grounds from children’s sport to all sport. 

Councillor Belinda Coates said it was worth recognising how quickly the culture had changed, highlighting famous sportspeople who smoked publicly. 

“That’s not in the too far distant past,” she said. 

“The fact people do smoke in and around sporting facilities is sending the wrong message on health outcomes.” 

Michael Flynn from Sports Central and Regional Sport Victoria spoke in favour of the idea, highlighting the difficulty of promoting change in sports clubs from the outside. 

This follows state government moves to stop smoking in more public places – outdoor dining areas in the most recent legislation – and federal price increases. 

The Grampians region has one of the highest smoking rates in Australia.