Drugs, Rugby and ethics

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Category: Anti Doping

Published on Monday, 29 August 2011 23:57

Written by Sankha DLT/Mevan Peiris

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With every season rugby grows more competitive. Teams need to stay at peak strength and players look to give themselves every advantage to stay ahead of the competition. The fitter stronger players are the order of the day and as such the need for some extra help.  Trying to gain this extra help, Sport has hit an unfortunate foe in the form of ‘DRUGS’ and ‘ENHANCERS’. In Sri Lanka this menace has not just hit rugby, it has hit other sports such as weightlifting, boxing and even cricket.

Performance enhancing drugs have been used by many well known athletes to get the maximum drive during an event or a game. The famous Marian Jones incident which took place in year 2000 is an ideal example of these performance enhancing drugs affecting competitive sport international level. The incident which ended with the US relay team lead by Marion Jones being stripped off its medals after Jones admitted using performance enhancing drugs, was a true testament to these misdeeds.

In some cases, players may be at the mercy of the trainers or even the doctors who prescribe these, but this modern day trend requires that player learns the pros and cons of these drugs and enhancers.

Jivan Goonethilake the current CR coach when asked about performance enhancing drugs stated the following, “This has become more of an obsession where more emphasis has been given to supplements and enhancements rather than the actual training and skill development”. “The players are not to blame it’s the people who guide them – coaches, management, physical trainers etc”. “Speaking about physical trainers how many are actually qualified and certified in Sri Lanka? This is a big issue which is getting bigger by the day”.

“Drugs are becoming an essential element for all sportsmen and sportswomen to perform better in their respective sports”.  “The ‘WIN AT ANY COST’ attitude which is seen in most of the teams around the country is one of the biggest causes of this whole series of events which has unraveled during the recent past in relation to performance enhancers”.

“We have a sports medical unit- have they done any medical research into the content of the products? No one knows what really is in the well advertised package or its long term effects”.

“There’s a big psychological aspect as well! This is mainly created by the coaches and trainers”. “Players tend to think it’s like the ‘magic potion’ and they think they can’t perform without it”. “They have replaced hard work with supplements”.

Rugby which is famously known to be a rowdy’s game played by gentlemen is fast becoming the opposite. Sri Lanka who introduced the anti doping unit this year for the first time has made steady progress in their mission to overcome performance enhancers. The latest incident which evolved was the involvement of two Kandy SC players and a Navy player being banned from competitive local rugby until the inquiry takes place after using performance enhancing drugs at the Asian five nations championships earlier this year.

Dilroy Fernando a leading referee said the following when asked about his views on supplements. “We have to move with the trend. If the international players are using supplements we will be losing out if our players don’t use them. However, players can’t be blamed as they have not been given the proper advice”.

“There is a specialized course being implemented around the world by the IRB titled S&R (Strength and Conditioning), the union is fully aware of it but not one single of those trainings have been implemented in Sri Lanka so far. Our coaches do their own trainings without the proper knowledge of what Strength and Conditioning really is”!

Gone are the days when rugby was played by ‘natural athletes’ who survived purely on nutritious food and working out in a simple manner which included the basic exercises such as dips, sit-up’s, bars, free squats, lunges etc. The world which has been taken over by the breed called the ‘professional athletes’  have revolutionized sports in general giving it a whole new meaning. The amount of training and conditioning has increased and so too has the intake of nutrition which more or less comes in the form of ‘Supplements’. The increasing intake of these so called supplements has taken a toll on majority of the athletes due to the lack of knowledge in the country. The shortage of knowledgeable nutritionists and doctors have lead to sportsmen and women taking unrelated drugs to boost their performances which in the future takes a heavy blow on one’s physicality.

ThePapare managed to speak to the chairman of the selectors Chandrashan Perera with regard to anti-doping, and this was his response. “This is a multimillion dollar industry and there is a big potential and that potential has been created by our people who are willing to take everything and anything.  The players are not at all educated or informed with regard to anti-doping and whatever they take is based on what they have been told to take. There is free information on the web which no one bothers to read. The WADA (world anti-doping agency) has a web site of its own stating the illegal/legal substances etc. The sports ministry together with the local rugby body has to come out with a program to educate the sportsmen and women about the effects of performance enhances. The medical unit too has to get fully involved in order to prevent this cancer from spreading further in the local sporting arena”.

“And why do school boys think that they need something extra in order to perform beyond their capabilities? The main reason behind this is the lack of information and awareness”.

The current generation which is called the ‘Y’ generation has been bought up in a world where every sport revolves around nutrition (supplements). Very rarely do you see any of them eating a good ‘Mallung’ or having some ‘Daal’ or “Kadala”. The replacements have come in the form of Supplements which is now in demand for almost all sportsmen.

Heshan Guneratne (Current CR & FC player) speaking on the topic said, “In today’s context and especially in rugby which is a contact sport, protein is absolutely necessary (however not steroids or banned substances). I personally used only protein supplements and don’t use stuff like ‘NO EXPLODE’ which can have harmful effects for the future. This whole thing has a big psychological impact as some of my own team mates tend to doubt their performance on a day they haven’t taken ‘NO EXPLODE’ or their usual supplement. If you give water mixed with something else and says it’s NO EXPLODE I’m sure their performance will be better as they think they can perform only with those supplements”.

“If you take the Kandy players, most of them are used to eating a lot of fish and manioc and natural food like that. I feel that they play a much better, physically fit game because of this. It might be difficult for the players from Colombo to adapt to that, but we should definitely make an effort”.

“While we were touring Australia from school, we met some of the old national players who strongly advised us not to use supplements especially at school level as it can have after effects later in life. This is absolutely true, we don’t really know the technical details of the content and players are easily misled”.

When inquired about their thoughts on an idea by ThePapare to push the authorities to carry out a certification process for trainers and also products, all four answered – “Definitely”.

Speaking to the head of the medical unit Dr. Geethanjana Mendis  has this to say on the topic – “We have requested all 8 clubs to attend a seminar regarding anti-doping prior to the season to educate the clubs and the players, but only 3 club representatives showed up”. We have taken every precaution to evade these issues in both the domestic and international level, but there has to be some sort of coordination from the clubs as well in order to diminish this problem”. He also mentioned that all schools bodies and clubs are well educated with regard to anti-doping issue.

The question lies not on how you take it but what you take in to your system. An athlete or a weight lifter might take a supplement to get the burst to be quick off the block in a sprint or to get the explosive power to lift weights. What happens when that same supplement is used in a sport like rugby or football which spans for nearly 90 minutes and is played at a rapid pace? The player will unsurprisingly have an artificial burst which will help him to play at his peak for some time. Naturally the supplement which is consumed for short burst will wear off and this in turn will bring the player to an abrupt halt.

In most cases the athletes concerned have the wrong perception towards the game as well as the outcome. They have more or else gone for the ‘easy way out’ and not concentrated on uplifting themselves as athletes.

The schools circuit which is under the watchful eyes of the Anti Doping unit will have to maintain consistency and get the message across to the rest of the players, administrators etc. The biggest question is on where rugby in Sri Lanka is going. Will the intake of performance enhancing drugs be a common component in an individual’s life only time will tell?

 

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