Testing’s fine but GAA must act on causes of doping
THE easy assumption to make is that the leaking of the news that a Monaghan footballer failed a drugs test made it a black weekend for the GAA. The hope is otherwise and far from this being a black weekend, if anything it may prove to be an illuminating one, shining a badly needed light. There are still some places where that light has not penetrated, not least by those who seek to hide beneath the blanket of amateurism. There is merit to the amateur argument in this instance, but it can’t become something to hide behind. The merit is found in that the consequences for the reputation and the career of a GAA player who has failed a drugs test are so devastating, they far outweigh what possible advantage could ever accrue. And there is the real prospect that players run the risk of failing a doping test inadvertently, as with Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony — there was acceptance that he had not sought an edge in the 2008 All-Ireland final but merely relief from a medical condition, which saw a two-year ban overthrown. Worse than that, there is the risk of a positive recreational drug test, and the ramifications potentially for a player’s career prospects, for example as a teacher or garda, going up in a haze of illicit smoke that had nothing to do with enhancing one’s performance beyond the nightclub. These make for powerful arguments as to why the GAA should turn their back on this, but that ignores the reality that this is not an option even if such a political will existed for a number of reasons. There is the obvious money issue; the Irish Sports Council are hardly going to allocate funds to a constituency association that fails to subscribe to a core policy. The ISC’s governance of the GAA’s player welfare grant only serves to underline why the GAA is locked into this, although that is a terribly mean-spirited way of looking at their participation in the anti-doping programme. After all, it does not exist to discommode, intimidate or humiliate the GAA’ s inter-county playing community but rather to protect their welfare — surely one’s health is the ultimate welfare issue — and the integrity of the sport that they play. There are those who whinge that the estimated €5million invested by Irish sport in co-ordinating their anti-doping programme would be better spent elsewhere. But if health and integrity are not worth investing in, then pray tell what is? The other argument against the GAA’s participation is that they are officially considered to be a ‘low level’ risk borne out by the evidence that since signing up in 2001, this represents just a second failed test, despite GAA players being at the top end in the most tested groups. Surely, that amounts as justification for the scrutiny, awareness and education that this programme has gifted rather than a basis to suggest that GAA is above this sort of thing. Indeed, there is hardly room for complacency. It is fair to surmise there is no doping culture within the GAA, but it is hard to believe that along the way individuals have not had their heads turned by short-cuts which would accelerate recovery and increase their capacity to prepare. God knows, it is not as if the GAA does not provide a culture to tease players down this route. We are currently bogged down in a debate for the most modest of fixture reform, playing all competitions in the calendar year, which did not go half far enough in the first instance, but now faces further dilution. We tie our elite young players to a treadmill — the documentary evidence is there in terms of overuse injuries and burnout — asking them to serve multiple masters without a close season. We treat their bodies like meat and then make the assumption that when we push them to the limit, they will not look into some dark corner for a crutch. That is the worst assumption to make. The GAA need not just be tough on doping, they need to be tough on the causes of doping.
‘If health and integrity are not worth investing in, then pray tell what exactly is?’