GAA agrees to out-of-competition drug testing

GAA CHIEFS have agreed a June start-up date with the Irish Sports Council for out-of-competition drug testing - but which body will govern the process is still under discussion.

Negotiations will continue in the new year, but the GAA is satisfied that inter-county players’ will not be tested in the home or at work.

All out-of-competition tests will be conducted at supervised inter-county training sessions, and with a June start-up, the programme kicks in at the height of the football and hurling championships.

However, chairman of the GAA’s anti-doping committee, Dr Con Murphy, welcomed the training session tests.

“The biggest inconvenience for a player is the after-game tests, which can often take up to two hours. That’s a major problem when you have a bus-load of other players waiting to get home after a game. Hopefully, with more tests to be done in training, that may reduce the problem after matches.”

While Dr Murphy said he had some “minor reservations” regarding which body will control the process, he said: “Drug-testing in sport is now a fact of life and you just get on with it.

"I have probably been involved more than any other GAA team doctor, and I would say that players have no great difficulty with it at this stage. It’s no longer as big an issue as people think.

“I discussed it with a number of them on the International Rules tour and they are all now of a mindset to be aware of what they take.

“In terms of Cork, I would always tell players not to take any medicine without consulting with me first.

With the amount of publicity about drugs in sport, no GAA player can really use a lack of knowledge as an excuse for taking a banned substance.”

The testing, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Irish Sports Council, will be confined to periods between National League and Championship games. Since testing after championship matches began in 2001, 92 tests have been performed, none were positive.

Ironically, agreement has been reached amid revelations that the GAA had to apologise to the Irish Sports Council after a Donegal team official berated a drug tester at a game in Enniskillen last year. The GAA said it “deeply regretted” the official’s action.

Other instances have also emerged from ISC files released under the Freedom of Information Act which reveal the frosty relationship between the association and the council over drug-testing.