Objective: To examine: alcohol and fast food sponsorship of junior community sporting clubs; the association between sponsorship and club characteristics; and parent and club representative attitudes toward sponsorship. Methods: A cross‐sectional telephone survey of representatives from junior community football clubs across New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, and parents/carers of junior club members. Participants were from junior teams with Level 3 accreditation in the ‘Good Sports’ program. Results: A total of 79 club representatives and 297 parents completed the survey. Half of participating clubs (49%) were sponsored by the alcohol industry and one‐quarter (27%) were sponsored by the fast food industry. In multivariate analyses, the odds of alcohol sponsorship among rugby league clubs was 7.4 (95%CI: 1.8–31.0, p=<0.006) that of AFL clubs, and clubs located in regional areas were more likely than those in major cities to receive fast food industry sponsorship (OR= 9.1; 95%CI: 1.0–84.0, p=0.05). The majority (78–81%) of club representatives and parents were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain alcohol sponsorship practices, but a minority (42%) were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain fast food sponsorship practices. Conclusions: Large proportions of community sports clubs with junior members are sponsored by the alcohol industry and the fast food industry. There is greater acceptability for prohibiting sponsorship from the alcohol industry than the fast food industry. Implications for public health: Health promotion efforts should focus on reducing alcohol industry and fast food industry sponsorship of junior sports clubs.

Objectives Systems approaches are promising yet under-utilized methods for tackling complex public health problems. This paper explores how systems approaches are understood in the public health literature, how they have been applied in Canada, the insights, and implications for future practice. Methods A rapid review of the literature, including a content analysis and cross-case comparison, was conducted. It was used to distinguish concepts of systems approaches and identify case examples of the application of systems approaches in Canada. Seven cases with a population health perspective (non-health care related) were prioritized for analysis. Results Systems approaches are a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods that aim to understand a system of interest. Most case examples demonstrated systems thinking methods. Systems science methods were applied predominantly in health care. Only one case of systems science for the social determinants of health was found. Findings indicate that systems approaches were utilized because traditional methods were proving ineffective. These approaches can introduce new ways of thinking, enable collaboration across diverse stakeholders, identify where best to focus action and with what intensity, and provide more robust evidence for decision-making. Conclusion There is a need to build capacity among practitioners for more widespread adoption and use of systems approaches. Population health professionals need to move beyond reductionist approaches, generate more case examples, and use an iterative evaluation approach that prioritizes the application of processes. This will provide further insight into the usefulness of systems approaches as effective methods to address complex health problems.