Gym steroid culture rise puts players at high risk

THE head of Ireland’s antidoping system has warned about the growing dangers posed to sport by the use of steroids.

Dr Una May, Director of Participation and Ethics with Sport Ireland, told this newspaper that while the GAA is not considered a high-risk sport in an antidoping context, players could be vulnerable within a culture in which steroid use in gyms is now a ‘huge problem’.

‘I still don’t think GAA is a high-risk sport,’ Dr May said. ‘I do believe society has exposed everyone in this country to risks, and the use of steroids in the gyms in this country is becoming a huge problem.

‘There are more steroids coming into the country now than some of the traditional street drugs.

‘The risk of an athlete getting caught up in the middle of that culture is getting higher and higher and higher. The fact that GAA players are, more and more, starting to focus on strength and conditioning, they’re going into the gyms more, they are going to be exposed to those risks and I have no doubt there will be players out there who could be taking something, not because the sport has a culture of it but because of the environment.’

Dr May also said Sport Ireland would be ‘very happy’ to increase its rate of testing among GAA players if the Association pays for it.

The case of Kerry’s Brendan O’Sullivan has seen the GAA thrust into the anti-doping debate again. This prompted GPA chief executive Dermot Earley to say in recent days that he would be ‘open to discussing’ the prospect of more drugs tests being paid for by the GPA or GAA.