GPA must accept anti-doping responsibilities

THE Gaelic Players Association should be very certain of their case before taking on Dr Una May.

She is not widely known, but the head of Sport Ireland’s antidoping committee is one of the most important figures in Irish sport.

She was quick to respond to outraged claims by GPA chairman Seamus Hickey, alleging inter-county players were being denied their grants by demands for home addresses so Sport Ireland can, in Hickey’s words, ‘come to a player’s house at any time and take a blood or urine sample’.

Not so, said May, who insisted ‘it’s never been our intention’ to routinely test players at home.

If players expect to receive grants, then it must be frustrating when these payments are delayed.

But on the topic of antidoping, the GPA must be aware by now that it is only one more area in which Ireland has changed.

The old days of defending one of our own in the face of overwhelming evidence of cheating are gone. People know more about doping and its dangers now, and the RESPONSE: Sport Ireland’s Dr Una May tolerance for it is very low. That became apparent when a doping case involving a Kerry footballer came to light last year. Bleating about the amateur status of players is an outdated and helpless argument. Players consider themselves elite athletes; that status has consequences, and they are convenient and inconvenient.