‘THIS WAS INEVITABLE’
GPA chief says doping offence was ‘inevitable’ but vast
until the process had been concluded. ‘That is disappointing and I think unhelpful,’ said Farrell yesterday. ‘One of our primary concerns in all of this is the well-being of the player and his capacity to deal with a pretty traumatic event. ‘The media attention doesn’t help, and the fact it was leaked before due process was completely unhelpful,’ said Farrell, who predicted his members would support the introduction of blood tests, which will be extended to GAA players for the first time next season. ‘It’s an emotive issue anyway but I think we are all comfortable with the importance of protecting the integrity of our games.’
GPA chief Dessie Farrella dmitted yesterday it was ‘inevitable’ that a GAA player would test positive for a prohibited substance.
With the GAA still reeling from last weekend’s revelation that a Monaghan player was found to have failed an anti- doping test, Farrell insisted that while there was no evidence of systematic doping, it was ‘remarkable’ it had taken this long for a failed test.
Technically, since the GAA signed up to the Irish Sports Council’s anti-doping strategy in 2001, this is the second player to have failed a test, but Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony had a two-year ban overturned after it was accepted he inadvertently had twice the levels of salbutamol in his system after he sought relief from a medical condition prior to playing in the All-Ireland final in 2008.
Players’ boss Farrell pointed out that his members are among the most tested in the game, revealing the 89 tests conducted on players last year were drawn from just 23 squads, with the programme focusing on the top teams in both hurling and football. That meant one in every eight players from those panels was exposed to a drugs test, he claimed. ‘In some ways it is quite remarkable it has taken this long,’ admitted Farrell yesterday.
‘Right from the get-go we have always spoken of the importance to be vigilant even though we never believed it to be an issue. There was that whole concern not to be complacent about this issue and we wanted to do all we could to educate the players.
‘It has been a long, long time since we were first making those statements but there was probably a degree of inevitability that a case would emerge,’ added Farrell.
The Monaghan player who failed the test last February was new to the panel, with Farrell admitting that young players coming into inter-county set-ups were the most vulnerable because of a lack of education and awareness of complying with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s regulations.
‘I would be comfortable in saying that for the vast, vast majority of players it does not enter their consciousness. Would that mean there would not be one or two players who are out there that would be tempted? Of course, it would.
‘I think one of the big issues for us to deal with is the young vulnerable player. It is different if you are 28 or 29 and you are a part of elite sport in the GAA, there is a culture around anti-doping and players are familiar with it, but it is a whole different ball game for new players,’ said Farrell.
Up until now, in a concession to their amateur status, GAA players have endured a less intrusive side of the ISC’s programme, which precludes them from out of competition testing, which means they can’t be tested in their homes and work, while they also have not been subjected to blood testing.
The latter, however, is to change from next year — it had been originally intended for this season — a bombshell that was delivered to the GPA only last week by the Sports Council. Farrell is critical of the timing, claiming more notice should have been allowed to sell the concept to players and to all the other ‘stakeholders’ involved.
‘This is a very new departure and it was unhelpful that it was announced last week. There has to be a com- prehensive education awareness programme put in place so this arrives in the right place among all stakeholders.
‘It’s not just players involved, there’s team doctors, team management and county boards. There’s a number of really important components that need to come together to understand what is involved here to ensure this thing is implemented smoothly,’ explained Farrell.
Despite his reservations about the timing of the announcement, Farrell is supportive of the introduction of blood tests, which allow for a more effective and forensic method of sampling analysis.
Dessie Farrell was speaking yesterday at the launch of the GAA/ GPA Cúl Heroes trading cards.