School doping rocks SA rugby

South African rugby has been shamed by a schoolboy drugs scandal with parents found to be involved in injecting steroids into the young players.

Drug testing at the annual Craven Week tournament, South African’s premier secondary school festival for 16-18-year-olds, recorded six positive findings for steroids.

The Times reported there was also evidence some players were starting to take banned stimulants as young as 14 in the hope of bulking up to make a professional career in the game.

The six offenders have received bans ranging from three to four years, and some have lost the professional contracts secured before they were caught.

Khalid Galant, the chief executive of the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport, said rugby needed to confront an issue that showed no signs of disappearing.

Galant told The Times: ‘‘Unfortunately South Africa rugby does have a bit of reputation and it probably starts from school age. We thought we would see a plateau or a decrease in positive tests so it is a great concern, as is the fact that each one of the boys tested positive for a cocktail of steroids.

‘‘The deterrent effect of testing seems to have had no effect, and it is also concerning that it appears in some cases the steroids were being injected through a needle.

‘‘Parents and coaches also appear to be complicit. In one case a boy’s mother wrote an affidavit saying she injected the kid with ampoules as she thought it was vitamin B.’’

Some cases involved using different anabolic products like nandrolone and testosterone. There was also evidence that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen was being used to counteract a sideeffect of steroids that involves the development of breast tissue.

Galant admitted that it was the ‘‘stupid doper’’ that was being caught rather than the sophisticated one who could use a system to avoid detection.

He called for schools and rugby’s governing bodies to ‘‘to take more responsibility for the behaviour of coaches and parents’’.