Players drink before start of match (4)
I believe the answer is:
team
'players' is the definition.
(sports team)
'drink before start of match' is the wordplay.
'drink' becomes 'tea' (tea is a drink).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'start of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'match' is 'm'.
'tea'+'m'='TEAM'
(Other definitions for team that I've seen before include "Group pulling together" , "Side; match" , "Cooperating group" , "See 22" , "Mate with game group" .)