Rugby’s war on ‘party’ drugs
Sport’s guardians in New Zealand think they’ve front-footed the issue, writes Marc Hinton.
New Zealand Rugby is confident the Ali Williams affair is not a pointer to a widespread problem facing the game around illicit ‘‘recreational’’ drugs, and it will soon have the data to confirm or decry that notion.
The arrest of the former All Black in Paris for allegedly attempting to procure cocaine outside a city nightclub has highlighted the thorny area of illicit drug use among the rugby community.
Both national captain Kieran Read and NZ Rugby boss Steve Tew described the Williams incident as ‘‘disappointing’’ and potentially damaging to the All Blacks brand.
But guardians of the sport in this country believe they are ‘‘ahead of the game’’ after a combined initiative between NZR and the country’s players’ association was introduced at the start of the year around education and testing for illicit ‘‘party’’ drugs such as cannabis. methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy.
The NZ Rugby Illicit Drugs Regulations came in as part of the new collective bargaining agreement, with education around the programme beginning in 2016 and a testing regime kicking in from January 1, 2017. The initiative covers players, board members, administrators and management across all levels of the professional game in this country.
NZ Rugby Players’ Association chief executive Rob Nichol hailed the programme as an example of what can be achieved when the game collectively addresses a potential major issue in a responsible and sensible manner.
The initiative is designed to be proactive, rather than punitive, and retains anonymity for early offenders or those who self-report. At this stage there are no direct sanctions for failed tests (to be reviewed in June, 2018), though recidivist offenders would eventually be dealt with as an employment matter.
The programme sits separately to the World Anti-Doping Authority’s own testing regime which targets both performanceenhancing and illicit ‘‘party’’ drugs and is administered in this country by Drug Free Sport NZ.
Nichol said surveys had delivered a clear message that players were concerned recreational drugs had the potential to be an issue in the rugby environment. ‘‘We listened to that. It’s not about punishing people, it’s about identifying either through self-referral or positive tests someone who has a problem in this area and then sitting down and actually dealing with the problem.’’
The first question is whether it’s already a widespread issue around the game. Nichol believes ‘‘we’re ahead of it, but we wouldn’t have wanted to be any later’’.
‘‘It would be naive to think we’re squeaky clean because society is society and we reflect society in so many ways . . . at the same time I don’t think we’ve had significant problems. If there have been issues, they’re more likely to have been isolated one-offs around poor decisions. But this is very timely bearing in mind we started education on it 18 months ago.’’
Nichol acknowledged there had been some initial pushback from players concerned at being given another layer of testing.
‘‘But we asked them to picture a kid who comes from a background in which drugs have been the norm, and he happens to come with it in his system or have a habit in this area but to all intents and purposes is a good young New Zealander looking to make his way in professional rugby.
‘‘Then they test positive in competition and lose their career for four years. How do we feel about that if we could have identified that problem earlier, or had a programme where the player could put his hand up and say ‘I’ve got a problem, I need a hand in this area’, and we could have avoided that?
‘‘The vast majority of players said if that means I have to give a hair sample at training a couple of times a year, but there’s a possibility we might save a player’s career, it’s a no-brainer.’’
Nichol said the hope was to confront the issue early in a player’s career. ‘‘When they first come into the environment they’ll be taken through it, and that’s when they can put a hand up and say ‘I have something I need to talk about’, and they can do that knowing they’re not going to be sanctioned, but supported.
‘‘It’s a cool thing, and just extends the efforts professional rugby is making around working with people to make them better.’’
Nichol, meanwhile, confirmed he had spoken to Williams since his arrest.
‘‘He’s subject to a process, and hasn’t been able to come out [and say anything] prior to now. The acknowledgement of his mistake goes a long way, and ultimately how he deals with the bigger picture will be what people judge him on. It’s in his hands and he knows that.’’
It would be naive to think we’re squeaky clean because society is society and we reflect society in so many ways . . . at the same time I don’t think we’ve had significant problems. NZ Rugby Players’ Association chief executive Rob Nichol