More women testers needed
Cultural sensitivities around drug testing at this year’s FIFA Women’s Football World Cup, which kicks off in July, are front of mind for Drug Free Sport New Zealand.
32 teams from six confederation will take part in the WC from July 20 to August 20 in nine cities in Australia and New Zealand
The sample collection and testing process was set by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and it should be standard around the world, Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) chief executive Nick Paterson said.
“However, we know some countries are better at it than others,” Paterson said.
“Anecdotally, we do hear of Kiwi athletes having a different testing experience overseas, and part of our role in supporting our athletes is to take that up with our international counterparts if necessary to make sure the process is clear, consistent and supportive.
“There is a standard approach to anti-doping put forward that says an athlete’s first experience with anti-doping should be through education, and therefore athletes should be educated before they are tested.”
With 16 teams based in New Zealand for the WC the agency was prepared for additional pressure on their service as two players from each team would be tested at the end of each match in accordance with the FIFA anti-doping regulations.
The players to be tested could be selected via targeted or random methods by the FIFA anti-doping unit and would have to provide urine samples and or blood samples.
For this tournament, the Doping Control Officers would all be female - a change Paterson welcomed but also acknowledged would require the training of more women for the role.
“Anti-doping can be quite intrusive from a personal privacy perspective, and we need to be sensitive to different cultures and religions,” he said.
“For instance, we know blood is tapu from a M ori worldview, and therefore we need to be sensitive to how we collect and look after the sample, such as not putting it on a table. “In principle, only women blood collection officers are used during the tournament. For other tournaments, we might use both male and female sample collection personnel to provide field leadership and oversight or do administrative work, but again some cultures prefer that men stay firmly away from women about to be tested.”