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This might just be me, but I read with interest about Manchester City player Kolo Toure being suspended by his own club overnight following a positive drug test.
According to English media reports, Toure has been given time off the pitch to think about his actions after he tested positive with an A-sample as part of a regularly-scheduled test.
“City acted quickly after being informed by the Football Association that the former Arsenal defender is facing a range of punishments up to a two-year ban,” said Dan Taylor and Owen Gibson in The Guardian.
WADA would only state that it is most likely that Toure’s positive test was related to “a credible, non-doping explanation.”
In other words, Toure may have taken an illegal substance without knowing, perhaps as part of a diet pill or regular chemist medication.
But that’s not the point. He may lose his place on the team – which, in the high-stakes world of the EPL also means his job.
“He [Toure] has been suspended from participating in all first-team and non-first-team matches pending the outcome of the legal process,” said City in a statement released to the press.
Toure can request a B-sample test and try to explain his actions to the English FA if he chooses.
Multiple English media outlets noted that the penalty awaiting Toure could be anything from four months to two years, depending on how the legal processes pan out.
The Guardian noted that then-Sheffield player Paddy Kenny was banned for nine months after taking the wrong cold and flu tablets.
Of course, the Australian Football League has continued with it’s “three strike” drug policy – the first positive test for illicit substances results in a player receiving a visit from a medical officer and a potential fine, the second requires counselling and a possible six-match ban.
Only the third means a trip to the AFL tribunal, potentially rubbing out said player (on evidence, obviously) for up to 12 games – plus the other six previously hanging over their head, plys a $5000 fine, according to AFL.com.au’s drugs policy information.
In other words, the player could miss an entire season – but only after they’ve been caught for the third time. The first two results remain secret.
Toure’s name hasn’t been kept secret. Far from it, in fact – every English paper knows it’s him. They can even spot him in a match-day photograph. Fans could probably spot him down the street in Manchester.
That’s the AFL’s stance on out-of-competition testing. On match day, the full World Anti-Doping Agency penalty of two straight years away from the game may apply. But why not at any other time?
The testing process, in the lab, may well be in line with WADA standards, but what about the terms of the penalty.
Even the NRL apparently slugs any positive-tested player a fine to start with, then the subsequent positive costs them a 12-week stint on the sidelines.
As late as September 2010, the AFL continued to support its policy, even after Hawthorn’s Travis Tuck copped the 12-week suspension following a drug overdose. According to ABC news reports at the time, the Hawks were not made aware of the Tuck’s first two positive test results.
Why?
Because the AFL respects player privacy, said operations manager Adrian Anderson. Maybe so – and that is a noble aim – but it presumably means that it is possible that a player may be out on the field under the influence of an illegal substance without the opposition knowing.
For weeks at a time if all they’re required to do at strikes one and two is get checked by a doctor and talk to a counsellor.
“It is incredibly frustrating – the position they’ve [Hawthorn] found themselves in, but at the end of the day the primary focus has got to be on the player and this policy would not exist were it not for the confidentiality and that principle must be preserved at all costs,” Anderson told the ABC on September 1 last year.
Hawthorn club president Jeff Kennett reckoned that clubs should know from the first test about any player under its payroll.
True, Toure is not alleged to have ingested anything illicit – perhaps no more than a poorly-ordered chemist treatment. But at least Manchester City instantly pulled the pin – as required under the competition’s regulations – on Toure’s on-field appearances until things are sorted out.
They’ve reacted properly, and with appropriate speed – something that AFL fans still don’t see happen in local drug cases.
If the B sample option is taken by Toure and turns up a negative result, then that’s the end of the matter, said the Daily Mail‘s Ian Ladyman and Matt Lawton.
But if it comes back with a plus sign, then it could result in a ban from the sport of up to four years.
Most other international sportsmen and women don’t get three chances. They get one. Should that one strike – including an automatic player suspension – be enough in the AFL, too?
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