The GAA's chilling nightmare scenario
Their brief is to catch people off guard by arriving unannounced, but they can’t turn up at your home or your place of work.
We’re talking about anti-doping officers who operate on behalf of the Irish Sports Council and, alien as it would have been not so long ago, drug-testing is now part and parcel of an inter-county player’s existence.
To date, there hasn’t been a positive test and understandably GAA leaders are proud of that. However, there’s always an underlying concern that some day, someone will be caught.
The view is that this would likely be due to a player ‘inadvertently’ taking medication for something as innocent as the common cold. Also, as the chairman of the GAA’s Medical Committee, Dr Pat Duggan has pointed out, internet-bought food supplements are another issue. Such supplements could include banned elements, while there’s also available evidence that such products can be ‘spiked.’
“At inter-county level, the level of awareness among players of the dangers of over-the-counter drugs would be very strong,” Duggan says. “Most educated players would realise it’s potentially lethal. The issue is the contamination of supplements.
“In athletics, you’re talking about individuals who may not have as direct a relationship with medics, but every group of inter-county lads will have a team doctor and a team physiotherapist — both of whom can hammer home this message. I think we have been aware of the dangers right from the very start.’’
Newly appointed GAA Operations Manager Feargal McGill emphasises this, saying that education is the key to keeping players clean.
“The big fear that we always have and will continue to have, is that players would inadvertently take some product to help with flu, or an everyday medical ailment, and not realise it’s potentially going to show up in a drug test.
“What we have been doing in that regard is we produced a players’ booklet earlier in the year. And we have been sending text messages to players reminding them that everything they take should really go through the team doctor.
“It’s something players have got into the habit of doing. We’re delighted that someone is asking questions about this because we want to again make the point strongly that players should refer everything they are taking to their team doctor.
“They should at all times be aware of what’s on the prohibited list from the World Anti-Doping Agency.’’
The GAA signed up to the anti-doping code in 2001 and must cooperate fully, since they receive annual funding from the Irish Sports Council (Nickey Brennan quoting a figure of €3.59 million recently). McGill says it’s now part of the landscape.
“Players are getting much more used to it. It’s just part of being an inter-county player and it’s accepted.’’
After another full year of activity, available statistics show that 71 players were tested — 44 after games and the remaining 27 in out of competition testing. These are the latest figures available to Croke Park, but other tests may have been carried out in the meantime.
“I only know what tests were done when they send back the details,’’ explained McGill.
In GAA terms, out of competition testing relates solely to the training pitch. That is the agreed policy between them and the Sports Council. To facilitate the process, officials must provide a “team whereabouts form”, which basically sets out venues and times of the training schedule.
“Testing outside competition tends to take place later in the year, but that’s not a given,’’ he points out. “It can happen anytime. Without giving away the figures about who was targeted and whatever else, it’s fair to say that the longer you are in the championship, the more often you will get tested. That’s just a fact of life.’’
In games situations, it doesn’t necessarily happen that testers turn up every Sunday in Croke Park, but invariably they attend the finals. I recall interviewing a losing captain in an All-Ireland camogie final after she had been chosen (in advance) for a test and how emotional and a degrading an experience it had been for her.
Tests are carried out by anti-doping officers from the ISC and a room is set aside, where players provide samples in private. Often they’re accompanied by the team doctor, but someone else can also be present.
“It’s a random testing process, so they turn up on the day and we facilitate them. You just never know when they come, but that’s the way it should be. If it’s not random, it defeats the purpose. It helps players to be on their guard at all times, and so it should be.
“It’s not an ideal situation that amateur players are subjected to this. However, the players have been willing to buy into it and we are very thankful for that. It’s for the betterment of our games and the overwhelming experience of the last three years is that the games have been shown to be absolutely clean.
“There has been no hint of impropriety. And in the modern sporting world that’s something to be extremely proud of.’’
While McGill praises the players for their cooperation, the process didn’t run smoothly at the start. There were a few hiccups which caused tensions on both sides until players were better educated on the process.
“It was a major culture shock for players at the start. If you had been playing Gaelic games — as some of these players were — for 10 or 15 years, this just wasn’t part of the culture. Then suddenly somebody is coming up to you and asking you to give a (urine) sample.
“It took a bit of time to get used to. But I think that once players realised what it was, and that they had nothing to fear from it, that was the turning point.’’
Regarding one particular food supplement, McGill said the medical welfare committee is preparing a position paper on its use.
“We are going to look into some of the studies that have been done on it and see where it does stand and are players in danger,’’ he commented.
“The idea of people buying stuff over the internet is a huge fear for us. Again, the main thing is that anything the players are putting into their bodies should be referred to the team doctor.
“Go through your doctor. That’s the key message and in virtually all cases it should ensure that a player is safe. It is a worry for us that someone will accidentally get caught, but we are thrilled that after three years there has been no hint of any impropriety by any of our players in this regard.
“And we are quite sure when and if a positive test does show up it will be through inadvertently taking something (that’s banned).
“There is no culture in our games whatsoever of performance-enhancing drugs and that has been proven. We hope that it will keep that way. We have no doubt that it will, but at all times we strongly advise our players to be on guard.”
