GAA, ISC drug test issue persists

A NUMBER of unspecified issues remain to be settled between the GAA and the Irish Sports Council (ISC) relating to the introduction of “out of competition” drug-testing of inter-county players.

“There are still a few things up in the air between ourselves and the Sports Council, but we understand that they will be resolved to our satisfaction,’’ GAA spokesperson Ciarán O’Neill said yesterday.

This was confirmed by Dr Con Murphy, Chairman of the Drugs & Medical Advisory Committee in Croke Park, who pointed out that talks were “ongoing”. He will meet with Sports Council Chief Executive John Treacy to finalise matters in the near future.

Mr O’Neill, Legal and Insurance Manager in Croke Park, with responsibility for anti-doping, stressed that the procedures apply to senior players only. And, out of competition testing will be confined to League and Championship games and to “recognised” county training venues.

Making it clear that they would not tolerate “needless persecution” of their players outside of these arrangements, he said he doubted that the ISC would have “this in mind” in any case.

The Carphone Warehouse-sponsored GPA yesterday backed the recent amendments to the procedures.

“On the basis that a drug test must be recognised by each and every inter-county GAA player as a requisite and inevitable feature of elite amateur sport, the GPA is comfortable with the procedures that have been introduced to incorporate testing at official GAA training venues,’’ said Chief Executive Dessie Farrell.

Acknowledging that the culture of drug testing within Gaelic games was a recent phenomenon, he pointed out that the longer term implications of “an efficiently administered policy” to a fully educated playing body were positive in the context of promoting drug free performance in all sports.

“The immediate requirement for the existing playing base to acclimatise and rationalise the new testing procedures will require a formal and continuous process of education which we trust the GAA will endeavour to assist with,’’ he added.

Meanwhile, Tyrone captain Peter Canavan will miss the beginning of the Allianz NFL as he undergoes an operation on a long-term ankle injury.

However, manager Mickey Harte emphasised that there was absolutely no question of Canavan calling it a day and that he was looking forward to having his skipper back in the team before the end of the league.

Canavan, one of eight Tyrone players to receive Vodafone All Star awards, damaged the ankle during the All-Ireland semi-final win over Kerry last August.

“It didn’t heal the way he expected it to do naturally,’’ said Harte.

“He needs surgery to get the ankle right and to be there again. That should fix the difficulty and then it will only be a matter of getting it right.

“I would be very confident of having him back in action before the end of the league.”