Use of supplements give plenty of food for thought

Kerry adopt a ‘Food first’ policy with supplements exactly that - an add-on

“IT’S become a dirty word, like there’s some sort of negative connotation attached,” was Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s appraisal of the recent coverage of the use of food and nutrition supplements. “A supplement is as it sounds, it’s an add-on, not a replacement, in someone’s diet.”

If Fitzmaurice knew little or nothing about supplements in his playing days he certainly knows plenty about them now as a manager, and this last week has been a further education for him.

Eye-brows were raised in some quarters at list of supplements, vitamins and minerals Brendan O’Sullivan declared to be consuming on the day he was called for testing by Sport Ireland anti-doping personnel. Items such as ‘Pharmaton’ and ‘pre-fuel’ and ‘caffeine gels’ read as vague and exotic and, even, suspicious additions to a player’s body even though they are all, of course, completely legal and deemed do in the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) code.

Even the terms ‘poly-pharmacy’, which appeared in the Sport Ireland report, and which applies to the use of four or more medications being taken concurrently [and is most associated with elderly people over 65], threw Fitzmaurice, who admitted he had to do his own internet search to find out what it meant.

“Kerry has a food-first motto, ie, the players get their nutrition from food as much as they possibly can. However, because of the nature of how hard and when they train, sometimes they are advised on supplements they can take if they wish to aid their nutrition,” he explained in relation to the Kerry’s players’ use of supplements.

“For example, after a gym session where they’ve expended a lot of energy, the players will have a protein shake or a bar to get as much protein into their system as quickly as possible. If they were to be eating the amount of chicken, fish, and other foods they need to refuel, they’d be eating a huge amount of food every day to get the requisite calories in. I know that’s what WADA advise, but in the real world, particularly for people that are working, it’s very hard to eat that amount of food and calories. The supplement comes in as an add-on.

“Every one of those supplements has to be certified by InForm Sport, which guarantees there are no contaminated substances present. Every player would be so advised and entitled to take this stuff which is perfectly legal, and there’s never been a problem.

“Brendan’s mistake was that he went and got something from outside the set-up and took it without seeking the advice of (team nutritionist) Kevin Beasley or our doctor. We alerted the players since this thing became a problem. We obviously advised them: You don’t take anything except what comes from inside the camp, and if you are about to take anything, please consult the nutritionist or the doctor.”

Fitzmaurice was keen to outline the exact role of Kevin Beasley, whose name he felt had been used a lot in the recent commentary with his role with the Kerry team being properly defined or understood.

“Kevin is a volunteer, and this isn’t the usual GAA cloak and dagger volunteer — he’s a volunteer. As is everyone in our set-up bar our medical staff. The doctors are also volunteers, the physios are the only ones that are paid. Kevin is at training every night. We were away on camp last week, he was working all day while we were training and in the evenings he had the younger members of the squad in a chalet teaching them how to cook food. That’s the level he goes to.

“To show you how careful he is with regard to these products, last year prior to playing Monaghan in a league game in Clones, our supplier hadn’t managed to get the caffeine gels to us on time. One of the county board lads, trying to help out, went off and bought a supply of the caffeine gels over the counter in a shop and gave them to Kevin. He wouldn’t use them because they didn’t have the proper certification, and he wouldn’t take the risk. My point is, that’s how careful he is with everything the lads take.”

On a general point about the modern-day practice of GAA players taking supplements Fitzmaurice said: “It’s the whole move towards professionalism. Things move on, just like the blanket defence. That’s progress, for good or for bad, that’s what happens, things develop, things change. The game has changed on the pitch, never mind anywhere else, so much since I took over in 2013. When I was playing is the stone age in comparison to what’s going on now.”