The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has finally blown the lid on the seedy underbelly of Australian sport that leading codes have been fostering for far too long.
The ACC report details how Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs), namely peptides and hormones, are widespread in a number of professional sporting codes, facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff with organised crime identities and groups involved in their domestic distribution.
These drugs range from products not yet approved for human consumption to, as one NRL player admitted, calf blood and, seemingly, everything in between.
This development comes on top of recent headlines surrounding the Essendon ‘supplement’ scandal and new and extensive worldwide match-fixing cases, with local police warning international match-fixing syndicates are “grooming” Australian sports stars as part of long-term plans to infiltrate local competitions.
According to the ACC report: “There are clear parallels between what has been discovered in Australia and the USADA investigation into Lance Armstrong, which underlines the transnational threat posed by doping to professional sport, both from a ‘fair play’ perspective and as a broader integrity issue.”
And just like the Armstrong example, it’s going to take investigative work of governments, anti-doping agencies and independent commissions to unravel this mess, as opposed to doping tests which, as history has shown, can’t keep pace with the rate of performance enhancing drug developments.
While sporting codes represented a united front in response to this investigation, with hundreds of Australian athletes supposedly involved across multiple codes, there were clearly different messages coming from different codes.
Cricket and football officials were quick to distance themselves from the doping allegations with suggestions they were not implicated in the investigations, with the NRL and AFL, in light of recent developments, the clear targets for PIED usage.
The cross-code implication was a minor PR win for the two leading footy codes.
Yet on the other hand, A-League, the Big Bash League and so forth face a big risk in the likely interest from betting and match-fixing criminals given their games’ popularity in Asia.
According to the report, the difference to the Armstrong doping cases is that the Australian threat is current, crosses sporting codes and is evolving. With so much of the AFL’s players, clubs and brains trust, for example, concentrated in Melbourne, think of the pervasive way doping and bad influences can infest multiple clubs in such a short amount of time.
This unraveling of the underbelly is long overdue and there has been enough warning signs in the NRL and AFL in the last 24 months or so: Ryan Tandy’s betting scandal in the NRL, Essendon’s supplement development, West Coast Eagles’ illicit drug problems and underworld links, Adelaide Crows and Melbourne Storm salary-cap evasions, Melbourne Demons tanking, remarkable recoveries from major muscle, knee and ankle injuries and so forth.
Strip away the shrouded language and it’s case after case of cheating, doping and match-fixing.
Yet it is a culture codes have allowed to grow through inaction and masking of the underlying problem.
The AFL, for example, recently admitted that unnamed players have been forced to miss matches as a result of breaches to its illicit drugs policy. The ‘three-strikes’ policy, where it’s only after a third positive test that offenders’ names are made public and they face the wrath of the AFL with a reported loophole in which players can avoid recording a strike by self-reporting drug use.
In response to players and club officials’ concerns that clubs were being left out of the process and that some players were exploiting the loophole, a summit was held with no rule changes made.
When such a prominent sport encourages a culture of secrecy and tolerance, then a wider doping culture can foster in a “win at all costs” environment whereby athletes can gain an unfair advantage and yet believe they can subvert the system and avoid punishment.
As has been suggested, often the providers of performance enhancing drugs are the same as illicit drugs. As a recent newspaper report suggested, “AFL players have been picked up on phone taps purchasing narcotics and talking of drug use.”
So don’t encourage a practice whereby on the one hand illicit drugs are tolerated within a certain parameter, yet expect players to stay away from performance enhancing drugs.
Could more have been done, therefore, by codes and clubs to warn off players? Absolutely. As Richard Hinds writes, “The effort taken to scour old records and check systems will be far greater than that taken to ensure the scourge was kept at bay.”
Yesterday’s events are merely the first groundbreaking steps to crack Australian sports’ very own “omerta”, with the unraveling of individual cases sure to follow – NRL and AFL clubs already being implicated.
As the ACC report states, “This report does not provide a comprehensive summary of all relevant activity of concern in all sports, or all sporting clubs and franchises in Australia.
“Rather it represents a snapshot of the activity, derived from the intelligence, which formed the original basis of the inquiries and the need for the ACC to focus on the role of organised crime in the PIEDs market. It is likely, given the level of demand for PIEDs and the diverse sources of supply, that the use of WADA prohibited substances is more widespread than identified in this report.”
In the meantime, reforms can’t come soon enough: zero tolerance for an athlete or support staff on banned substances, a tougher stance on recreational drugs, and a strengthening of Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s resources and investigative powers, working independently of governing bodies.
As countless examples across the globe prove, there will always be athletes and clubs who seek an unfair advantage through any means possible. And young athletes with impressionable minds and dispensable income will become easy targets for the shadier figures in society trying to gain a financial benefit and connection into the riches of sport.
Therefore, governing bodies mustn’t follow the UCI’s (cycling’s governing body) example and turn a blind eye and allow such practices to flourish.
Australia has always had a holier than thou attitude when it comes to their athletes. No way they could dope or cheat to the extent of “the others”.
That naive theory has allowed the environment that the ACC details to flourish and has now been blown out of the water. As a result, Australian sport may never be the same again.
Fred
Guest
Titus, I stated the links as I dont believe anyone should be comfortable with the position of their sport or club. Essendon have asked for an investigation, but if they are found AS A CLUB to have undertaken an ILLEGAL supplement then yes they are disgrace. But I wouldnt do that as yet, even though we all think it is more than likely. Football and League are the two major codes targeted yes, but the media statement said there were other sports. We have already seen with Lance Armstrong that its like a stack of cards when people start naming names in order to get reduced penalties. The links that football and league have with other sports mean that any sport could be vunerable.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
BOOM!!! Finally, journos are doing their job ... Aussie journalist Jacquelin Magnay, who won a Walkley award in 2004 for her articles on drug use by Australian Institute of Sport cyclists, says AFL & NRL administrators intimidated reporters and allowed cheating to fester. Full story: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/more-sport/australian-journalist-jacquelin-magnay-claims-football-codes-allowed-cheating-to-fester-by-refusing-to-address-obvious-issues/story-e6frfglf-1226573478014
Kev
Guest
You're not the only one. I'm sick of seeing Tom Waterhouse's smug dial all over ad's and I'm sick of seeing and hearing about the odds of a game. If people want to gamble let them, there are phone apps that allow for this so there's no need to plaster it all over TV and radio.
Evan Askew
Guest
Given the respective interests of those four individuals which would be anything but unified and the drug related subjects at hand, I would say that photo is more representative of the Let it BE era rather than the Hard Days Night era.
Titus
Guest
Fred.....Football and Cricket are going to be more susceptble to match fixing purely because there is a lot more money involved. All the FFA can do, short of the government banning gambling, is be prepared. You should be careful before you accuse A-League clubs and players of being involved without anything to back it up other than some guy in China making a big bet........so how about we get back to the real issue..........Essendon are cheats and a disgrace to Australian sports.
Fred
Guest
Those already stating they are 100% certain that the A-League is not involved. http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1140084/Football%E2%80%99s-dirtiest-threat Additionally, one should look at Twitter and see who in sport knows who. Plenty of a-league players know sportsmen in AFL, NRL, Tennis, Cycling etc.
Kev
Guest
You can't even stay on point. I took issue with you whining about rival codes standing in the way of the FFA trying to get the World Cup here as if to say that the AFL and NRL have a duty to help soccer, not the problem of illicit and performance enhancing drugs in those respective codes. If there are clubs and players found to be doing either of these things, and based on reports in the last 2 days it seems like the ACC has serious evidence, then all of them deserve to have the book thrown at them.
mahonjt
Guest
Dear RedB, 1. Report yesterday was rightly the unclassified version. 2. Crime Commission does not do the law enforcement - the member organisations do. 3. Real work begins now as player/scientist behaviour changes reflecting the knowledge that member organisations have been investigating them. 4. These "bozos" appear to have blown open the AFL and NRL on a massive scale. 5. Latest attempt to draw football in has not worked and from here on in AFL/NRL are standing out like spare dicks at a wedding. 6. You are a clown. The end. *gets popcorn and TV remote ready to watch the show unfold over next 2 - 3 years*
Crown77
Guest
The truth hurst does it? Why are you blaming Me I'm not the one on drugs. I hate AFL and NRL, I can't express my opinion now?
Redb
Roar Guru
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/victoria-police-say-criminality-of-doping-unclear-as-match-fixing-in-australia-described-as-imminent-by-top-victorian-cop/story-fnez46xc-1226572450675 Gallop is playing semantics re match fixing. #notyet Enjoy the popcorn.
Fred
Guest
Oh great another negative media story. Whenever football is in the international media its always negative and written by prone who have no idea about football. Probably never watched a football match in his life!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
CEO of the FFA, David Gallop has just said, on ABC News24, that: 1. A-League matches are NOT being investigated for match fixing; 2. ASADA is NOT investigating A-League I'm off to buy a case of popcorn, as I watch the bullies of AUS sport squirm.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Please report fellows like Charlie, as soon as possible. There's no need to tolerate that. We're all here to enjoy good debate. Some guys push the boundaries, and we drop notes at times or remove comments. Those people who go right off are another thing entirely. Be aware we do put in pretty strong moderation, but we don't want to move to moderating every comment. Your help to keep this place that we work so hard on free from flaming and trolling is appreciated.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Redb I have The ACC Report: "Organised Crime and Drugs In Sport" in front of me. On which page is the A-League mentioned in this Report?
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Well does the report mention the A-league or not redb?,genuine question i havent read the report.
me, I like football
Guest
They didn't use the same sports scientist at all, the only connection with the GFC is the strength and conditioning coach Robinson. Which I admit is still a bit dodgy but all speculation at this stage. http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2013/02/07/358819_gfc.html
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Thanks Fuss. That is the first time I have seen it properly explained. With just the information given public I was wondering what the big deal was. The existence of the Classified Report..... now I see why this story is news.
Kev
Guest
Ask Crown77.
Kasey
Guest
I think you were correct above, HAL more likely to have to worry about match fixing rather than a systematic doping problem. My gut feel is that HAL football teams just couldn't afford the 'cutting edge' spend on their football departments, hence why the ACC focused on the 2 biggest sports with the most money to spend getting their athletes right. Of course without access to the classified report we are just all speculating, but now that it is out in the open, we should be thankful that the bright spotlight of concerned Australian sports fans has been focused on these issues. Gives us a chance to clean everything up before any permanent harm is done to our sporting culture.
Redb
Roar Guru
Steady Ian you'll burst a blood vessel. Your sounding like Caroline Wilson. I think you'll find Hird is no different to many coaches and does not know enough or has put too much faith in sports science gurus. Malthouse and Hardwick have both conceded they would be in the same boat as Hird. This Dank bloke has alleged criminal connections and supplies a lot of the supplements through associated entities. Nuff said. I think the smokey is in fact Bomber Thompson, if Hird is guilty of anything its relinquishing too much control to Bomber who clearly has misjudged Robinson and by extension Dank.