LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
Sport Ireland and IRFU to meet over the fallout from Cronin suspension
THE IRFU will meet with Sport Ireland next week to discuss the ‘lessons to be learned’ following the James Cronin doping case.
Munster prop Cronin tested positive for the banned substances prednisolone and prednisone following Munster’s European Champions Cup game against Racing 92 at Thomond Park on November 23.
Following an investigation by tournament organisers EPCR last month, the 29-year-old was handed a one-month ban due to an ‘unintentional anti-doping violation’. Independent judicial officer, Antony Davies, accepted Cronin’s evidence that he had taken the substances by mistake due to ‘a dispensing error by the pharmacy and that the anti-doping violation was entirely unintentional.’
Sport Ireland weighed up appealing the length of the ban, with CEO John Treacy agreeing that the punishment was lenient. However, the organisation later decided not to appeal although Dr Una May, Director of Participation and Ethics at Sport Ireland, said that Cronin’s one-month ban ‘was a very short sanction’.
And IRFU chief executive Philip Browne confirmed that both organisations will meet soon to discuss the fallout from the case.
‘There’s always lessons to be learned, and I think at the end of the day, there has been a
thorough review within Munster in relation to all aspects of it and the IRFU have been involved as well,’ he remarked.
‘Rod McLoughlin obviously has been involved as (IRFU) medical director and we’ve had to take those lessons and readjust how we do our business accordingly.
‘So we’re sitting down with John Treacy and Una May next week and we’ll go through those learnings, and will make sure everyone comes away with a better understanding of how we deal with things on an ongoing basis.’
On Friday, Browne revealed the IRFU’s precarious financial situation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The organisation’s 500-plus employees, including players and coaching staff across all four provinces, are currently on wage deferrals ranging from 10 to 50 per cent.
The union is set to lose between €15million and €20m if this season’s Six Nations and autumn internationals aren’t completed, and Browne has warned that the sport will take a generation to get back on its feet without some support from the government.
However, with the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis taking its toll, Browne accepted that some of Ireland’s top players could be enticed abroad in the coming years.
‘It’s a possibility. At the end of the day, we all have to live within our means,’ he suggested.
‘If that actually means that there are better offers elsewhere that players are likely to take up then, I think, so be it.
‘But I actually think that, outside maybe one or two markets, you’re going to see a pretty significant readjustment of the market as a result of all this.
‘Even at club level, looking at the UK and France, there are some serious difficulties at club level.’