Interesting Age Article

[Jarmayhem]

there are no facts - just speculation at this stage

That's right, sorry I'm not jumping to any conclusions, just poor chioice of words on my part.

 

[Mad Dog]

just to follow up - as a general rule it is best not to name or hint at who might be involved in incidents such as these.

Let others in the media speculate and ultimately have to face the music should anyone go looking to someone to sue.


having said that - it's an important issue and one that deserves discussion....

cheers

 

[Damp Squarie]

Whos our fisherman?

FT Fisherman... give me the beauty queens number

 

[noddy]

having said that - it's an important issue and one that deserves discussion....

cheers

Sure does.

Alcohol has always been a big issue among footy clubs Australia wide especially at those clubs from outside the mainstream leagues like the AFL/SANFL where in my experience over the years young players are expected/encouraged to return to the clubrooms after a game to either celebrate a win or commiserate a loss by getting themselves smashed with booze bought over the bar.

Not saying the drug culture is as ripe as the booze culture but to bury our heads in the sand & pretend it's not happening at what ever club we follow is pure folly by all of us.

 

[Malibu#27]

Alcohol has always been a big issue among footy clubs Australia wide especially at those clubs from outside the mainstream leagues like the AFL/SANFL where in my experience over the years young players are expected/encouraged to return to the clubrooms after a game to either celebrate a win or commiserate a loss by getting themselves smashed with booze bought over the bar.

Not to mention footytrips and greenhorns

 

[- PC -]

Its interesting Noddy that we encourage bonding as part of a club culture yet expect players to not drink to excess.

Another forgotten issue is the dutch courage that alcohol gives a young bloke. Every young bloke at some stage gets the dry mouth when it comes to talking to women and its been accepted that alcohol can lubricate the tongue , now imagine that alcohol is taken away from someone whats the next option?

 

[- PC -]

FT Fisherman... give me the beauty queens number

If true you have to wonder why the bloke got depressed...maybe she left him

 

[NikkiNoo]

Just to reiterate MD's post, this discussion is a fairly important one but be very careful about naming names if they have not been published in a paper or even hinting towards them either.

Cheers

 

[NikkiNoo]

Its interesting Noddy that we encourage bonding as part of a club culture yet expect players to not drink to excess.

Another forgotten issue is the dutch courage that alcohol gives a young bloke. Every young bloke at some stage gets the dry mouth when it comes to talking to women and its been accepted that alcohol can lubricate the tongue , now imagine that alcohol is taken away from someone whats the next option?

I actually think some clubs have relaxed the no alcohol rule as often in the shed after the games, some of the players are drinking soft drinks and others have a beer, so I think our club is ok with it as long as they are in moderation.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Does anyone else find this concerning?

http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=39142

No need for special drug investigation: AFL
3 hours, 42 minutes ago | Back

Sportal for afl.com.au

News
The AFL has poured cold water on the prospect of a special inquiry into alleged drug-taking by AFL players.

Herald-Sun columnist Mike Sheahan has urged the league to follow-up claims in the Sunday Age of a culture of drug use among league footballers.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said he believes there's no need for an extraordinary investigation and that the league's existing testing regime is more than adequate.

"We haven’t been sitting on our hands, we've put in place this policy which certainly has provoked its fair degree of controversy," Anderson said.

"But it's because we recognise that this is an issue in society, not just football, every aspect of society, we've decided to do something about it."

Anderson told radio station SEN that 500 tests per year are conducted, but that figures for the past six months were not yet available.

He said testing over the first 18 months starting in February 2005 had revealed 24 positive tests and the offending players had been counselled, educated and warned about the dangers of illicit drug use.

"The policy has resulted in intervention for those players," Anderson said.

"That's a significant number, but what it shows when you compare it with figures the Drug Foundation and others give us is that the use of drugs by players is well below the community average."

"But that's not good enough as far as we're concerned - we don't want any players taking illicit drugs, but we're doing something about it."

Anderson stressed that target-testing of particular clubs or groups was available under the current system where credible information warranted it.

"You shouldn’t assume that that hasn’t already been happening," Anderson said.

"Target-testing has been taking place for two years and will continue to take place but we won't tell you who is being target tested."

The bits in red have I am disappointed with. The AFL made a great deal out of a couple of bets placed by a handful on of players. It even got referred to as scandal. Sure the players broke the rules and should have been punished but the comments on the issue from AFL were flying left right and center.

Now we have allegations of widespread use of recreational drugs amongst footballers and we are hearing this crap from the AFL.

An AFL club has 38 players on its senior list plus 4 rookies. Thats 42 players on average over 16 teams. Thats 672 players in total and they only carry out 500 tests in a year. I mean seriously!!!!! You would have to be one unlucky dude to be tested during the season and the chances of getting tested twice in a year... well lets just say you have more chance of getting the lotto numbers right

Not only is the 500 tests per year a significantly low number, the results are not available from last 6 months. What a JOKE!!!!

Now in the last 18 months, 24 players got tested positive. An Average of 1.33 players per month. Considering that these recreational drugs are out of the system within 24 hours, those 24 can consider themselves very unlucky to be caught.

I get the feeling AFL are making it look like they are doing something with this piss poor drug testing policy but what they are really doing is sweeping it all under the carpet because if the allegations made in the press ever get proven to be correct the competition will be in ruins.

AFL are dead set gutless here and then people wonder why they cop so much ****!!!

Piss poor

 

[Mad Dog]

well said Stiffmeister ol' boy.....

The "scandal" is in the lack of consistency in treatment of these issues by the AFL...

laughing. stock.

 

[- PC -]

I mentioned that as well Stiffy, and it does boggle the mind. Plus I have heard that they do seem to target those they think have a history more than others, so the odds get even higher

 

[rayven]

They made a stand on betting as that could only by insuation be a blight on the games reputation for along time.

The drug issue they only wanna know about when its in there faces,yet they still protect the caught ones.

A reflection of society me thinks, Drug use is always ignored as much as possible, but everyone talks about the gamblers we know.

 

[Crow-mo]

Now in the last 18 months, 24 players got tested positive. An Average of 1.33 players per month. Considering that these recreational drugs are out of the system within 24 hours, those 24 can consider themselves very unlucky to be caught.

nail hammer etc.

 

[rayven]

Testing there hair shows near exact hooch use some 12 months later

 

[Blue Dawn]

well said Stiffmeister ol' boy.....

The "scandal" is in the lack of consistency in treatment of these issues by the AFL...

laughing. stock.

Tend to agree. They're happy to undermine the great intensity and drama of our great game by suspending blokes for a month for a hip 'n shoulder YET just aren't interested when a recent premiership player 'flatlines' - apparently due to an overdose - whilst overseas.

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

can someone please give me the link or a pM saying who it may be

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

never mind just found it.

Not the player I had been told about.

 

[Crow-mo]

Testing there hair shows near exact hooch use some 12 months later

which makes it next to useless.

it takes approx 4 weeks to filter through the kidneys and out the bloodstream. the thing is this also makes it impossible to pin down, when the consumption took place. it is a frequent and successful defense.

now if you propose something that it is present 12 months later (which I don't believe, but that doesn't matter) then you have no way of tieing that down to offseason, in game, whenever.

 

[King Elvis]

The current Administrators at AFL House are ruining our game.

They're screwing up the rules completely, they're crucifying people for a few bets, and they're ignoring drug use which is repeatedly being labelled as wide-spread.

It smacks of an Administration lacking balls - they go after the betting scandal because it makes them look tough, yet they ignore a way more important problem.

 

[rayven]

which makes it next to useless.

it takes approx 4 weeks to filter through the kidneys and out the bloodstream. the thing is this also makes it impossible to pin down, when the consumption took place. it is a frequent and successful defense.

now if you propose something that it is present 12 months later (which I don't believe, but that doesn't matter) then you have no way of tieing that down to offseason, in game, whenever.

Its present quite early in the hair and it takes 12 months to leave the hair, it can show quite clearly the useage of that drug, whether strong, frequent or minor.

American companies introduced it as you simply cant hide your habit.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Is there anybody that thinks "game results" could have been different because of a high player(s) X?....no not umpires

Do we test for social drugs and all performance enhancers?

Are the tests foolproof or is it simply " Here you go I need a urine sample, go away and fill the jar"?

I know people who keep jars of clean urine in case a test is needed at work...maybe the same opportunitys to swap samples are possible.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Read the pharmacological picture, it says it all really.


http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21465310-23211,00.html

WADA threat looms for Cousins
By Chip Le Grand
March 29, 2007

AUSTRALIA's anti-doping authorities are circling Ben Cousins, with West Coast officials under pressure to reveal exactly what they knew about his use of banned substances in July last year, and whether he may have breached the World Anti-Doping Agency code by playing an AFL match under the effects of cocaine or methamphetamine ice.
Richard Ings, chief executive of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, declined to comment on the specifics of the Cousins case, which has resulted in the 2005 Brownlow medal winner being suspended indefinitely by his club.
But he affirmed ASADA's powers and preparedness to investigate suspected anti-doping offences in the absence of a positive test, and said his agency was closely monitoring public comments from coaches and officials in the wake of the Cousins affair.
"People need to remember that these illicit drugs are also prohibited doping substances under the WADA code if athletes use them on match day or traffic them to other athletes," Ings said.
"Should there be any evidence that comes to light that an anti-doping violation might have occurred in any Australian sport, then ASADA is in a position to investigate it."
Cousins has not failed a match-day test for either cocaine or amphetamines, and it is not known whether he has tested positive to either drug under the AFL illicit drugs code.
But a week after his battle with drugs became public, WADA is being drawn to Cousins's case.
According to West Coast coach John Worsfold, chief executive Trevor Nisbett and chairman Dalton Gooding, the Eagles first became aware that Cousins had a serious problem last July.
Gooding said last Friday he then had "an inkling" the problem was drugs. This is now thought to have involved regular use of cocaine and ice.
From July 29 last year to the end of the home-and-away season, Champion Data statisticians recorded a dramatic spike in Cousins's on-field performance.
From having averaged 23 possessions per game, Cousins began winning more of the ball than any player in the competition. From compiling just three Brownlow votes up to round 16, Cousins polled 10 votes in the final six rounds.
The common refrain from footballers and former players - most recently Adelaide's stand-in captain Brett Burton - is that no player would try to take the field high on drugs. The assumption is that whatever Cousins took, he took strictly after matches for recreational purposes.
While the illicit nature of cocaine and ice prevents systematic research on their effect on elite sport performance, the pharmacological picture is revealing.
Andrew McLachlan, a professor of pharmacy at the University in Sydney who specialises in drug testing, said that cocaine had the potential to deliver improved oxygen supply, enhanced mental awareness and a feeling of invincibility.
The potential effects of amphetamines are similar, with ice having the additional benefit of improving anaerobic performance. The effects of amphetamines last longer, providing benefits - and associated risks - for up to three hours.
"When you are tired and exhausted, these medicines give you the potential to refocus, remain stimulated and keep fighting on in a match," McLachlan said.
While the performance-enhancement qualities of cocaine were challenged in the New South Wales rugby wing Wendell Sailor doping case, and are reportedly being reviewed by WADA, there is no such debate about amphetamines.
Methamphetamine is a particularly potent form of amphetamine.
John Mendoza, the former chief executive of the Australian Sports Drug Agency , said there was no reason, in theory at least, why a footballer could not gain enhanced performance in the middle of a four-day ice binge.
"They go on a bender, don't sleep, crash and then three or four days later, start the cycle again," Mendoza said.
"During that period, their performance as an individual is much higher than it would normally be.
"Amphetamine is well known to be a performance-enhancing drug both in the sprint context and in road cycling.
"Why would that not translate into enhanced performance for an AFL midfielder who is all over the paddock?"
As Ings put it: "They build your aggression, they build your stamina, they make you fearless. They are the reasons they are banned in competition."
Worsfold is under intense scrutiny for his public admission last week that the club knew about Cousins's problem midway through last season yet allowed his star midfielder to play an instrumental part in the Eagles' premiership campaign.
"The thing that is a concern to me in all of this is the coach admitting he knew there was a problem," Mendoza said.
"If they knew what the substance was, they have failed their primary duty of care by allowing him to continue to play. He is very much at risk of cardiac failure."
Worsfold said yesterday that he did not know the details of what drugs Cousins was taking when he began to miss training sessions last year.
The fact Cousins was able to produce his best football despite an interrupted training schedule has also aroused suspicion.
Western Bulldogs recruit Jason Akermanis yesterday became the first player to publicly question whether Cousins had taken performance-enhancing drugs.
Other sports figures have also raised questions.
"You have got someone who has been out of sorts and by the admission of his club, hasn't been training properly yet he is playing out of his skin," one prominent athletics figure said.
"How do you get that sort of range if you haven't been training? Unless he is the most talented footballer who has ever walked the earth there has got to be something else in the mix."
Mendoza said: "If I was in ASADA's position right at this moment, I think that is worthy of investigation."