Enabling sport to reach professional levels

The introduction by Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli of the anti-doping regulations under the Sports Act late last year was a milestone which, to many, passed unnoticed. For some it was just another piece of legislation but for the sporting community it is far more than just another set of rules and they had better be fully aware of this. It is another step, as well as a push, to encourage our athletes to move towards professionalism – which has come long after our European colleagues took the plunge but which is finally here and we need to reap the maximum benefits from it.

For these regulations to be a success, first and foremost associations need to get to grips with them and invest in the human resources required to lead their athletes forward. This is an obligation on the part of associations, and athletes who want to pursue a sporting career have to realise that this is the way to do so.

For some athletes and many of Joe Public’s family, these regulations control doping tests – and that’s it. In practice, yes, the regulations do control dope tests but one has to fully appreciate the reasoning behind such them and, more importantly, the message they send to athletes.

As a result of this legislation, an athlete is made responsible for everything that enters his or her body, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Ignorance of the rules, or of a happening, is no defence against the declaration of an anti doping violation.

The regulations impose on the Sports Council responsibility for carrying out the groundwork to enable sport to be played in a spirit that is as drug-free and sporting as possible. It aims to instil in athletes the mentality that they carry their sporting responsibility, diligence and care well beyond their track or field of play. It ensures that athletes realise that they remain athletes, even off the field of play, whether in or out of competition. It helps them think and act more professionally and it makes them realise that sport is a profession 24 x 7 and not just when they feel like practising or participating in it.

It necessitates a culture change and a change in mentality in the way we approach and bring up our sportsmen and women – on us as sports people, on us as administrators of the game, on us as participants at whatever level of the sport concerned. The success of this legislation will be measured by the approach that we adopt towards it, which will then be measured by results.

What Joe Public has heard to date about these regulations is that some athletes may have been faced with an adverse analytical finding, in layman’s terms, a positive outcome in the testing of their urine sample for prohib- ited substances. But there is more to the regulations than this. The regulations are not only intended to root out cheats in sport, thus ensuring that the best succeed, they are also intended to protect other athletes and team players from the adverse reactions that drugs may cause. Maradona in front of the television cameras in the World Cup final, which led to his suspension precisely for doping, comes to mind, but they also seek to protect the health of the athlete himself beyond the world of sport.

The regulations oblige the Anti-Doping Commission, which has been established by the Sports Council, to create a registered testing pool. Basically, this should consist of athletes who represent our country in their respective fields and who, after having had their responsibilities explained to them, become subject to monitoring at any time.

Athletes or players who will form part of the national testing pool are those who currently receive funding for the development of their sport. They have subscribed to a professional programme known as the “Adams Programme” by which they have to register their whereabouts for one hour of every day with the Anti-Doping Commission and they remain liable for testing by the commission out of competition at any point during that hour. All other athletes and players are only subject to testing during competitions.

Practicing the sport on a professional level is therefore subjecting the athlete to the realisation that they must be conscious of their actions and of what they ingest at all times.

The Act lists the prohibited substances as published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), commonly known as the WADA Code which, if ingested, would render the athlete who is caught subject to disciplinary proceedings. An athlete is always an athlete, and he or she must be au courant with the substances they cannot consume, with the substances that are prohibited in competition and those that are prohibited out of competition. The sanctions are tough and worldwide and one cannot take risks: in this case, if you play with the bull, you get the horns.

Athletes or players who took prohibited substances to improve their performance are few and far between, and the cases that have resulted in adverse analytical findings have usually been incidents where the prohibited substance revealed was not intended to enhance performance. However, this has never been a defence, and so it will remain.

This makes the dissemination of information and experience crucial, because it will save many sportsmen and women from making sanctionable mistakes: there are no second chances in doping violations.

These rules ensure that Malta and its athletes remained eligible to participate in international meetings, games and competitions but, more importantly, they serve to make that participation more professional.