The vice-president of drug dependence for Catalonia's Public Health Authority, Joan Colom, has urged the banning of alcohol from public acts of celebration, according to Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

In an interview with local radio station RAC1, Colom said that the sight of Barcelona players drinking in an open-topped bus as they toured the city to celebrate the team's 22nd La Liga trophy had turned the occasion into a "cheap spectacle".

He commented that a change of image should be encouraged and added that he had taken the initiative on a number of previous occasions to write to the club to complain.

Colom claimed to understand that footballers are "young men who are under a lot of pressure throughout the season" but regretted that the celebratory bus parade had become "a private party taking place in public."

He went on to praise the Catalan club for its usual "sensitivity in prohibiting alcohol, tobacco and drugs" and highlighted the fact that drinking alcohol and smoking are not allowed inside the Nou Camp stadium but felt that this positive image was "clearly undermined by the parade."

Colom added: "I think they should think again," because such celebrations "help no-one" and "set a bad example, even to other sports people."