Transparency is the only way to go
THIS can’t be the way things are done. It can’t be the case that the way we find out about potential doping violations in the GAA is when we read about them in the Sunday Independent. That, by the way, is no criticism whatsoever of the Sunday Independent. Just the opposite.
The newspaper’s sports editor John Greene – and not for the first time – pulled off something of a journalistic coup last weekend. He did what a journalist is supposed to do: he brought to light information we otherwise wouldn’t have had access to and hats off to him for that. It was a scoop; a genuine sports news story at a time when no actual sport is happening.
Naturally we’re sure that some people won’t necessarily be happy that this information has come to light or by the manner in which it did so, but that’s a bit like giving out about the tide coming in every twelve hours. It’s a small country. People talk. Trying to keep something like this secret is a bit of a fool’s errant.
We can understand why Sport Ireland operates the way it does with regard to its anti-doping policy. To a certain extent anyway. We understand why it wants to keep investigations and deliberations in camera until a decision has been reached for the sake of the good name of the person potentially in violation of the rules.
That’s fine as far as it goes, but it carries the potential for even more scrutiny and discomfort for the person at the centre of the swirling storm if and when it does come to light that they’re under investigation.
Maybe we’re being totally naive and utopian here, but would it not be better for everyone involved if the investigative process was treated a whole lot more transparently? Just release the details of the investigation in as dry a way as possible, so that instead of it being this big deal when it leaks out (as it likely will) it’s instead a bit ho-hum and routine?
When you think about it the vast, vast majority of these GAA potential violation stories end up with the person at the centre of them being cleared of any intentional infraction anyway. No stigma attaches nor should it unless they’re found to be in violation.
The very fact of an investigation doesn’t imply anything other than an investigation is taking place. It’s the very definition of due process. The secrecy surrounding these investigations is, as far as we can see, counter-productive at worst and unnecessary at best.