Anti-doping chiefs hope fines make GAA teams easier to find

Locating inter-county sides for drug testing is one of the major issues facing the Irish anti-doping unit, according to their annual report.

The 2011 document was launched yesterday in Croke Park by Minister of State for Tourism & Sport, Michael Ring, and the standout figure related to GAA sides and their compliance with testing procedures.

Across all sports, there were 17 unsuccessful attempts where teams were not training at the stated location and while soccer and basketball each had one violation, hockey had three and rugby four, Gaelic games accounted for nearly half the total figure with eight indiscretions.

“It’s a bit disappointing,” conceded World Anti-Doping Agency’s Dr Una May. “What I will say is that the GAA have at least acknowledged it as an issue. They have said they will fine the county and the bill for our attempt to test that team will be passed on to the county board.

“The figure varies depending on where our team of people are coming from, so there isn’t a definite amount. I don’t know how much money teams have at their disposal but some would argue it’s a fairly reasonable deterrent.

“And we think the fine is a strong message of support from the GAA and they clearly want to improve in this area.”

May was unable to confirm if any counties had been at fault twice, although she noted that no team or athlete had ever missed three tests.

However, while that three-strikes-and-you’re-out system applies to individual athletes, she did note that the anti-doping unit is not in a position to sanction or suspend an entire county were they to actually miss three tests.

“The system and the rules don’t work in terms of a ban for an entire team. We use that against individual athletes and players but with teams, that’s not what we do. So what we are trying to do is introduce other ways like the fine and hope that encourages counties to be more co-operative.

“There does need to be more work done though. Right now we try to focus our attention even within the GAA on counties that are higher risk in that they are at a higher level. It’s really one of those things where we have to chip away at and change the culture.

“These days a lot of teams have a text-messaging system and we are trying to get them into the frame of mind of adding us, treating us like a player, so if a venue for training changes, we know about it. It’s all about changing the thinking.”

In total, 93 inter-county players were tested last year, with 51 of those tests taking place out of competition. Only athletics and cycling had more athletes tested, with 84 rugby players and 56 soccer players also screened. All of those GAA players had their urine tested, but there were no blood samples taken because, as May put it, “we don’t consider it to be appropriate at this point in time as we are prioritising the highest-risk sports and the highest-risk athletes. We’ve done a lot of tests for example in rugby but when it comes to the actual profiling we are looking at endurance sports.”

Across the year, a total of five athletes were caught out. The highest profile case was runner Martin Fagan who received a two-year ban while a weightlifter, rugby player, boxer and motorcyclist (although that is subject to appeal) were amongst the others banned from competition for between four months and two years.

Last night GAA communications manager Alan Milton said inter-county teams will learn lessons.

He said: “We have nothing to hide and it’s not being blasé about it, but culturally and historically we don’t have an issue, it’s just about teams notifying the relevant authorities about where they are training and we endeavour and are keen to improve on that.”