GAELIC GAMES/DRUG TESTING ISSUE: Seán Moran looks at the procedures and rules regarding drug testing and gets the Waterford view of Sunday's debacle in Thurles
The controversy triggered by Waterford hurlers' initial refusal to give samples to the Irish Sports Council drug testing officials will run for a while yet.
Although two players did in the end give samples after the Cork-Waterford Munster championship match in Thurles, this did not take place in the official Doping Control Centre and was almost certainly outside of the 90-minute limit within which such samples are meant to be collected.
The report of tester Al Guy who acts on behalf of the ISC had not been forwarded to Croke Park by yesterday evening. Ciaran O'Neill, secretary of the GAA's Anti-Doping group, is on holidays but the office of director general Liam Mulvihill confirmed that no details had been received from the ISC.
According to Appendix B of the GAA's Anti-Doping Code: "A player who fails to arrive at the sampling room within the specified period, or refuses to provide a sample shall be deemed to be in breach of the Anti-Doping Code."
The punishment prescribed for such breaches are a maximum of a year for a first offence. That there is an element of discretion attached to this provision is good news for Waterford players Paul Flynn and Brian Flannery but until the ISC report is communicated to the GAA, there will be no further development on the issue.
If required the GAA's Disciplinary Committee, constituted under Article 1, Chapter IV of the Code, meets to "hear cases where the ISC has provided evidence that a doping infraction has taken place". The committee of three is drawn from a panel of individuals "expert in medical, legal and pharmacological matters".
Yesterday Waterford manager Justin McCarthy defended his players who, according to county chairman Paddy Joe Ryan in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's match, were said to have decided two weeks ago that they would not co-operate.
"They hadn't been planning any non-compliance," said McCarthy yesterday. "But they were very confused about the whole thing. I wasn't made aware of this and the players were just pulled to one side by two people without any identification. I had asked everyone when the match was over to report back to the dressing-room because I wanted to talk to the players so they both refused to go there and then.
"It's just a pity the procedure wasn't better organised. When we were informed what was happening, we were available afterwards but no one came in so we left for our hotel."
According to an ISC source, the usual procedure involves players being approached and informed that they have been randomly selected for testing. Although they don't have to go directly to the Doping Control Station, they are supposed to be accompanied by an ISC official from the time they are first informed of the test.
In a radio interview yesterday Waterford chairman Ryan described what had happened next: "Everyone was locked out of the dressing-room. I discussed the matter with Al Guy and when I got back to the dressing-room the players had gone home, back to the hotel in Thurles. I told Al Guy that I would contact the players.
"The team bus was held up in traffic. I got on to it, contacted Al Guy and the test was held in the hotel."
Drug-testing procedures have been criticised in recent weeks, as the first championship to be subject to the code has got under way. Many of the complaints from players and management related to the inadequacy of many GAA venues from a testing point of view. The Doping Control Station is meant to be a private room in the dressing-room area where players can be taken to give samples. Few grounds offer this sort of seclusion and players have to be taken through the departing crowds to whatever venue functions as a test centre.
There have also been complaints about the level of information provided to players about prohibited substances. The GAA's educational campaign is based on seminars for officials who are then charged to go back to their counties and brief managements and players. In addition information leaflets have been distributed but there have still been reservations about the level of preparedness for testing. Seminars organised by the GAA, for instance, have not been well attended.
"I think the county board did go to the recent meeting," according to Justin McCarthy, "and we've leaflets and information but you can't be with players morning noon and night. Some are at home with families or living with their parents and the girlfriend or wife or mother might give them something for a cold without thinking. It's all new to us.
"There is a professional way to do this. Pulling players to one side after a match is not on. We have to have procedures that are better than that. This is the Munster championship, a special occasion and there was a lack of communication and understanding and a lot of confusion."
