Nicole Sapstead – UK Anti-doping’s Chief Executive
Steroid abuse is “off-the-scale” in Welsh grassroots and semi-professional rugby, it has been claimed.
UK Anti-Doping figures reveal players from Wales make up 33% of all sportsmen and women serving drugs bans.
An ex-player, who took drugs, said he is surprised more have not been banned.
But WRU chief Martyn Phillips is not “overly concerned” because the number tested is proportionately higher than in other rugby unions and sports.
The player, who would not be named, said: “It’s totally off-the-scale. I think people are probably blind to it and if the truth came out I think there would be probably a lot more players who are banned from playing.”
The numbers caught are a small percentage of the thousands that play rugby, however 17 Welsh rugby union and league players, from grassroots to semi-pro, are currently banned, with the majority found to have traces of anabolic steroids in their systems.
10 Of those banned are from rugby union and form the majority of the 16 players banned from the sport across the UK.
UK Anti-Doping said the other 7 are among 14 players banned from rugby league.
The programme questioned 100 players from grassroots rugby union clubs and found 15 admitted to using some form of performance enhancing drug.
Only 5 of that 100 said they had been drug tested in the past 3 years.
Anti-doping expert Prof Yannis Pitsiladis, from the University of Brighton, said: “They can be quite confident when they go into testing that they won’t be caught because the current testing will not be able to detect those drugs, because they are no longer in the system.”
But he said improvements in anti-doping technology and the ability to now keep samples for up to 10 years means athletes currently cheating may be caught in the future.
UK Anti-Doping’s chief executive Nicole Sapstead admitted keeping up with drug cheats is a constant battle.
“I think if people really want to cheat the system they’ll find a way,” she said.
“In an ideal world we’d be testing all sports all the time but that’s not a reality for any anti-doping organisation in the world.”
Last week Merthyr Rugby Club player Owen Morgan, 25, and Glynneath RFC’s Greg Roberts, 28, were banned for 4 years and 2 years respectively.
Mr Morgan tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone and the stimulant benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
Mr Roberts tested positive for tamoxifen, which can be used for cancer treatment.
WRU’s Mr Phillips said: “It’s a problem in society to start with.
“I wouldn’t sit here and say that it’s not an issue in rugby because the fact that one player getting banned is one too many as far as I’m concerned.
“So the challenge for us, not just in rugby but in sport generally, is we’ve got to try and get it out of the game. I don’t think that’s going to be easy.
“The fact that we’ve caught people suggests there’s an issue. So my job now is to get closer to that and to make sure we just become the best we can be to try and remove the problem.”
Chris Thair, chief operating officer of Wales Rugby League, called the figures a “wake-up call”.
He said: “It’s a spike in the figures compared to previous years and it’s not a great situation for the sport to be in.
“It’s not just a rugby issue, it’s a huge global issue for all sports, and it’s a challenge for everybody and we’ve got to do more.”
bbc
This is a scourge in our game but so hard to root out, just too many players in too many games and too few testing resources I think so it means many seem to be willing to take a chance in the knowledge that there could be a small chance of getting caught. What to do about it, don’t know perhaps impose stiffer bans hopefully the knowledge that in the slim chance of being caught you may completely lose out on playing could be a bit more of a deterrent. Perhaps something like a 10 year minimum ban in a case like Owen Morgan who is 25, that would mean instead of being able to return to the game in four years time when he is still in his twenties he would be out until his mid-thirties and possibly then not come back to our game.
Anyone able to watch on BBC Wales 1 the program – Week In Week Out, Rugby: Dirty Steroid Secret? will be on at 22.35. Going to try and see if I get it here and record it.
Way back in 1996 with the summer Olympics in Atlanta a South African media man remarked:
“The muscles of these athletes cannot be of gym-work alone”
With the recent Russia accusations in this regard indicates that the use of banned substances is indeed far, far greater that one can imagine.
Just by the way: Somewhere around 1997/98 Johan Ackerman was found guilty using steriods.
3 @ dWeePer:
Hi dWeePer yes the use and cover ups of forbidden substances in Athletics has been very much in the foreground at the moment. Seb Coe seems to be trying really hard to sort things out.
Recall something about Johan Ackerman but not the details, what was he found guilty of taking and what ban if any did he get? Looking at his playing career it seems there is about a 3 year gap between his time at Blue Bulls and Lions.
I suppose when Nigel Owens the Welsh referee admitted to being addicted to steroids at one stage of his life, then nothing will surprise me regarding performance enhancing drugs abuse in Wales…
Bulscot, it is a long time ago. He was tested during a January get together in Cape Town of national players where he was tested positive for steriods. He did denied it. In the end it resulted in a 2 year ban. He never played for the Bulls again.
I reckon this is only the tip of the iceberg and until the authorities become really serious to deal with the problem, players will take their chances and get away with it.
In cycling the authorities have admitted that there is a problem and took action and as a result the sport has been cleaned up to a large degree. A world class cyclist like the English sprinter Mark Cavendish, who has recently signed to ride for a South African registered team, is tested about 60 times per year.
How many times do they test a top rugby player per year?
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