GAA's first anti-doping case result welcomed

THERE WAS a broad welcome for the outcome of the GAA’s first anti-doping case, announced yesterday. The GAA, aware that the Irish Sports Council (ISC) would be taking particular interest in how their new procedures worked, were pleased with the response from that body.

In a statement the ISC welcomed the “announcement by the GAA’s Anti-Doping Hearings Committee in its determination in the case of Aidan O’Mahony. It commends the GAA for thorough and fair process and accepts the adjudication in full.”

Feargal McGill, the GAA’s operations director, said the case showed that the education process needed to improve. “It needs to be better. Even before this happened we knew that we needed to hammer the message home. There’s been a renewed interest from team doctors and we’ll be working to make sure that everyone affected has all of the necessary information.”

McGill took issue with the charge that the process had taken too long. “Procedures can only move as fast as the parties involved want them to move. It is the right of players involved in these cases to have legal representation and make sure that they are happy with the process but that will also mean that there will be hold-ups along the way.

“A lot of the urgency was reduced when Aidan O’Mahony won his appeal to be allowed play pending the outcome of the hearing but despite that everything went ahead quite quickly for this time of the year and considering that the committee members involved are acting on a voluntary basis and are busy in their own lives.”

GAA president Nickey Brennan said he was glad the matter had been finalised. He thanked the members of the Anti-Doping Hearings Committee.

Kerry chair Jerome Conway told RTÉ that the county was pleased with the outcome. “Yes we are very happy indeed. It is as we had always maintained that Aidan’s adverse finding was easily explained by the fact that he was taking Salbutamol for his asthma complaint and also because it was exacerbated because he had flu symptoms the weekend of the All-Ireland final. The panel agreed that although he was over the limit it was in no way intended to be performance enhancing.”

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) also welcomed the conclusion of the case. “The GPA welcomes the fact that this matter has now been brought to a close and that the findings of the committee state clearly that use of the substance was not intended to enhance the player’s sporting performance or mask the use of a performance-enhancing substance.

“Following publication of the committee’s findings, the GPA would like to reiterate to all players, the importance of strict adherence to the provisions of the Anti-Doping Rules.”