People might think we are making a huge fuss about this Springbok “doping” scandal but I guess they do not see the implications of it for us, as sports lovers, and moreso the impact it has on our already tainted reputation as world leaders in Rugby. For me its a major embarassment, especially to think that our whole team may have been exposed.

( Just in terms of the title, a stimulant is a drug, and the players seems to have unwittingly ingested it.)

Personally I am enraged with this whole debacle. We just seem to be dumped deeper and deeper into the shit! It all started with the big fuss the British made during their disasterous B&I Lions tour, then the so-called conspiracy theories during the Tri-Nations, our coach being publically called a clown and out of his depth and now we have “steroid junkies” in the Bok team.  I do not recall that this sort of thing has EVER happened in Springbok rugby’s history, therefore the huge shock to think that our players would go to such lengths. It is extremely concerning and a blight the Springbok brand just cannot afford.

As enraged as I am I have to come up for the players though. I might be idillic but I truly cannot see on face value how Chiliboy and Bjorn would have used the methylhexaneamine knowingly and purposely. Yes, I don’t like Chilli and don’t believe he deserves to be there, but you don’t fix a wrong with another wrong. But it is not like it is cocaine or dagga which you have to ingest with full conscious intent. I find it concerning that people are calling for their heads for even using it unknowingly, while defending sportspeople who use illegal (and also banned) drugs like cocaine and dagga. Hey Herschelle, its ok, its only Dagga…its not cheating! Hey Lawrence, its ok, keep snorting coke, its not cheating! It is as much cheating as using nandrolone because the fact of the matter is, they are just as banned on the WADA list as is nandrolone, ephidrine and Methylhexaneamine. 

Reading up on this it is really perhaps one of the most controversial and risky substances for professional sportsmen and women. This thing is found in all kinds of supplements, essentials oils, medication and in New Zealand they have even made a recreational drug from it.  The problem with this thing is not so much that players or coaches do not read the labels fo the supplements or drugs they use, the major factor, in my view is that it comes in so many different types of descriptions.

I found this interesting piece from the UK anti doping organisation and just have a look at this:

There is a risk that supplements could contain this (methylhexaneamine) or other prohibited substances even if the ingredients listed on the label do not appear on the World Anti-Doping Code’s Prohibited List (WADA list). 

So, you can read the label, have the WADA’s list right in your hand, check everything and then you proceed to purchase the item, because it is safe. In 2009 it was not even on the WADA list until a few Jamaican athletes were banned because the effect was much like that of Ephidrine….And then, not everyone knows the following:

This is because some prohibited substances are referred to on supplement labelling by different names. Methylhexaneamine, for instance, is referred to by a number of alternative names including (i.e not limited to)1,3-dimethylamylamine, dimethylamylamine, dimethylpentylamine, DMAA, forthan, forthane, floradrene, geranamine and geranium oil.

So, the fact of the matter is, no matter how diligent you as sportsman/woman or coach/doctor is when checking the OTC (over the counter) product, you can NEVER be sure that it does not contain this, or some other banned substance.

It seems our players are screwed, unless they send each and every medicine and supplement to a lab to be tested for ALL known banned subtances. Remember that this particular substance only has to be present in the system to return an “Adverse Analytical Finding”. So you could have had a single intake of your daily supplement and it will most likely be traced. Or use a nasal decongestant that you bought over the counter and you are tested postive. How expensive will that be? Best advice, stay away from any supplement and stick to a normal, healty diet. And make sure it is free range/grain fed or whatever the naturalists are calling it these days because you don’t want the “roids” in cows and Bulls (pun intended) to be transferred to you.

If only there was someone who could give us the assurance that what we are buying off the shelf is above board and not contaminated.

Come to the rescue, Informed Sport!  Who are they? 

INFORMED-SPORT is a certification programme for sports supplements, ingredients and manufacturing facilities, which assures athletes that products carrying the INFORMED-SPORT mark have been regularly tested for substances considered prohibited in sport. In addition, INFORMED-SPORT also ensures that products have been manufactured to high quality standards. Responsible supplement companies have made INFORMED-SPORT part of their existing quality assurance systems to ensure their products are safer for athletes to use.

But now….We all know that athletes, and ONLY athletes can be held responsible for what is in their blood. So even IF you check up on www.informed-sport.com you can still not be 100% sure your product is clear. But at least it does limit your risk.

I wonder if our Bok management team made use of Informed Sport when they were treating Basson and Chiliboy. Does any of our players know about this or do the merely rely on the team doctors and management to look after them?

I do not believe that 99.99% of sportsmen are dishonest and use banned substances to enhance their performance. I would think perhaps more in the region of 15% but that’s just a wild guess. But with the pressure to be stronger and bigger, I am 100% certain that all sportspeople use one form or the other of nutritional supplements to supplement their existing training and dieting regimes to reach peak condition. But, as Informed Sport will tell you, there is no 100% guarantee against the risks of being contaminated.

If someone wants to villify Bjorn and Chiliboy at this stage, consider the following incidents:

http://www.ukad.org.uk/news/supplements-warning :

British shotputter, Rachel Wallader, received a reduced ban of four months following appeal after methylhexaneamine was found to be present in a urine sample provided on 1 May 2010. The period of ineligibility ran from 5 June to midnight on 4 October this year.

Two other athletes have tested positive for the substance in recent months; their cases are ongoing.

26 October 2010 – (about 1.5 weeks before the Ireland test)

http://www.ausport.gov.au/news/ais_news/story_397972_australian_sports_anti-doping_authority_warning_methylhexaneamine

Australian athletes are being warned by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to carefully consider their use of supplements following nine positive Australian test results for the prohibited stimulant methylhexaneamine.

There has been increasing evidence that methylhexaneamine is present in supplements and other products and this spike in positive test results is a timely reminder to the sporting community to exercise the utmost caution in checking the contents of supplements and other products that athletes use.

During the commonwealth games, 9 Australian athletes tested postive for this stimulant and were banned.

In both the UK and Australian anti doping web pages, there have been clear warnings issued in the last couple of weeks about the potential of supplements containing the stimulant in its various names. Note, only in the last few weeks, this whilst the stimulant has been on the list since December 2009. Our test against Ireland was not even 2 weeks ago, so our players might well not have been aware of this new INCREASED risk that was suddenly identified by the UKAD and the ASASA, because nearly a year after the stimulant was banned, advanced countries like the UK and Australia only realised the implication it had for their athletes.

Our team doctor, Craig Roberts, admitted that he has been using the same medications for a very long period and never had any problems. Well Dr Roberts, perhaps you should have a re-look at your little first aid box, because methylhexaneamine and all its alias’ has only been banned THIS year and have not been there for a long time. Some of those ingredients in that magic spray might even contain one of its buddies. Your first aid box may be well over its due date. Have a serious look!

Unsurprisingly, the South African Institute for drug free sport has not caught on. No warnings were issued and our players have been exposed to the severe risk. No press releases, nothing on their webpage (http://www.drugfreesport.org.za/) , just nothing. Look at the UK and Australian pages how it should be done.

Of course, these are not excuses that will get Chiliboy and Bjorn Basson off the hook. They are ultimately responsible in their own individual capacity and a minimum 4 month ban is on the cards if the UK bans are anything to go by (http://www.ukad.org.uk/violations/ see cases for ephidrine and methylhexaneamine).

It is a highly unfortunate and disturbing situation but I think there are lots of reasons to believe that the players were not aware of what they ingested, although this doesn’t get them off the hook. But I doubt any other nation can look down on us for this as they have had much more cases of illegal substance use cases than we’ve had. A quick browse of the UK page will show 114 pages of finalised cases with about 4 cases per page. If the UK and Australia could not avoid it, why do we think we would be more diligent? Anyways….

If anything comes from this, I hope our Country as a whole have gotten a wake up call on the banned substance issue and that organisations like SAIDS will get their act together and quit the apparant policy of policing rather than guidance in this country.

Chiliboy and Bjorn will pay the price for their apparant ignorance. But it could just as well have been Victor, Bismarck, Lambie, Aplon, and Juan Smith.

And considering that lots of people are asking for John Smit to lose weight, maybe even he have been exposed to it, unknowingly…not too long ago. Slimsure was marketed as a guarantee to lose weight. Lots of people lost a lot of weight and swore by it. What they didn’t know was that the OTC product contained a Schedule drug, Ephidrine, and was in fact illegal. The label apparantly did not even indicate this.

So, if you think your supplement is safe. Think again. Especially if you have aspirations to become a pro sports star.

PS: Last night Darren Scott interviewed Victor Matfield and Matfield stated that next year the substance is off the list while Scott wouldn’t have known any better. I hope someone can get the message through to the Bok camp that it is in fact NOT off the list, it is merely being reclassified as a specified substance rather than an unspecified substance, resulting in less serious bans, but still it is banned. It is this type of ignorance that got them into trouble in the first instance.