GAA players shouldn’t face drug testing
As a doping controversy continues to engulf Australian Rules and the Essendon club, where 34 past and present players have been handed sanction notices, the outgoing Sydney Swans player believes the same standards in the professional sport should not apply to Gaelic games.
In the Big Interview in tomorrow’s Examiner Sport, the 2009 footballer of the year also talks about his much-anticipated return to Kerry next month five years on after starting an AFL career, which was hit by injury.
As he aims to claim a spot in next year’s Kingdom panel, Walsh has queried the need for elite footballer and hurlers to be tested. “GAA players are amateurs. I don’t think they should be drug tested. They have no contract, they’re not working.
“You want the game to be played fair too. When you run onto the field, you want to be sure that the guy standing beside you if he is going to beat you, he’s going to beat you fairly. Of course, you don’t want to see it but I don’t think it goes on in the GAA and it doesn’t go on here either. I have never in my five years here seen anyone taking anything.”
Walsh has sympathy for the past and present Essendon players summoned in front of a hearing next month. “The big thing over here is the doctor at the club you trust him. You trust him with the details. You take what he gives you and you don’t argue with it. The whole thing now has brought into question that attitude. You need to question the doctor ‘what am I taking?’
“It’s unfortunate for the players because all you’re doing is taking what you’re told and now they’re paying for that. You’re just hoping guys don’t have their careers badly affected by lengthy suspensions because they don’t deserve it.”
