Schools fail to join anti-doping drive

Top rugby institutions say they have yet to be invited

NONE of South Africa’s top 10 rugby schools have signed up for an initiative that will grant the country’s anti-doping body permission to test players for steroids.

This is despite a strong call from the South African Rugby Union (Saru) six months ago to schools with a strong rugby tradition to support the testing programme introduced by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

Only five of the 59 schools that have so far joined the programme are Afrikaans-medium. In contrast, Englishmedium schools such as Kearsney College, Rondebosch Boys’ High, Pretoria Boys’ High, Hilton College, St John’s College and Michaelhouse have signed up.

But the 10 schools at the top of official rugby rankings are not part of the programme. Traditionally seen as a breeding ground for future Springboks, they include Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool in Pretoria, Paarl Gimnasium, Hoërskool Outeniqua, Grey College and Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen.

The anti-doping institute confirmed that Paarl Gimnasium and Grey College had been invited to workshops attended by about 65 schools in four provinces between January and February. Hoërskool Monument, one of the top 10 rugby schools, attended a workshop organised by St John’s College on January 29. Saru also attended one of the institute’s workshops.

After signing up to the anti-doping protocol, principals may call on the institute to conduct tests on pupils whom they suspect of taking banned substances. Sanctions for those testing positive range from a one-year ban from sport to expulsion from school.

The institute will conduct tests on pupils for anabolic agents, hormone and metabolic modulators and diuretics. Samples will be sent to the University of the Free State for analysis.

Neither the names of pupils who test positive nor their schools will be disclosed.

The institute said it would foot the bill for the tests, which are estimated to cost about R2 000 each.

It can only test pupils participating in events organised by national sports federations, such as the annual Craven Week and the national junior swimming championships.

Khalid Galant, chief executive of the institute, said it had not tested junior elite athletes outside of competitions. “The out-of-competition period is the highest risk for steroid use,” he said.

Seven school pupils, including four who played rugby, tested positive for banned substances between March 2011 and February last year.

He said rugby had “a risk for doping”, adding: “Our national testing figures consistently show rugby as one of the top five sports to which we

If we are approached, we will certainly not hesitate to join

allocate a high number of tests.”

Galant said he could not say why some schools with a strong rugby tradition were not signing up or embracing the testing programme.

“The sports minister [Fikile Mbalula] has certainly come out in very strong support of this initiative. We have certainly budgeted for this activity. In the interim, we have applied to the National Lottery to support the school-testing programme.”

Galant said the institute — which Mbalula praised last week for its efforts — was trying to resolve the issue of testing devices before commencing with testing. The South African Schools Act recognises only 10 devices that may be used to test for banned substances at schools. A device used by the institute, known as GC-MS, is not on the list. It uses a combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometer technology.

The principals of some of the top 10 rugby schools said they welcomed the anti-doping institute’s initiative, but had not been approached to take part.

Deon Scheepers, principal of Grey College in Bloemfontein, said: “We have not, to my knowledge, been approached by them to join their initiative. If we are approached, we will certainly not hesitate to join.

“We are currently not performing any drug tests on our boys, because the top sportsmen are subjected to tests when they represent the province. We are quite happy for them to undergo these or any other tests.”

Grey College was ranked fourth in South Africa at the end of last month, according to Rugby15, a website that rates school rugby teams on a weekly basis.

Hannes Pretorius, chairman of the governing body of die Hoër Tegniese Skool in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, which is ranked seventh, said the school had to agree for players to be tested for banned substances to participate in the NuPower-Tuks under19 series that was played in May. “As yet, no players from HTS Middelburg were selected for testing,” he said.

JP du Toit, principal of Hoërskool Monument until his retirement last month, said his school had not yet received an invitation to join the programme. Asked whether Monument would agree to adopt the protocol, he said: “Of course, we are one of the top schools in the country. Why wouldn’t we sign up?”

Wikus Naudé, principal of Hoërskool Generaal Hertzog in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga — which is not one of the country’s top ten rugby schools — confirmed that his school had not joined, although it supported the programme. “We need more information before we can go ahead and sign. We need clarity because there’s lots of grey areas, for example, how it impacts on the South African Schools Act,” he said. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.timeslive.co.za