Yesterday we found out that NRL coaches and their players are seeking any kind of advantage they can get their hands on, and some of those options may not be legal.
Before we fly into a ‘roid rage about this, let us remember something important.
Taking PEDs (whatever they are) does not threaten the integrity of the game of rugby league.
So does that mean I’m saying anything goes?
No. I’m saying we need to investigate and solve the problem (if it exists) because it threatens the integrity of bodies and minds.
This is the message that gets lost in the hysteria steeped in buzzwords like “integrity” and “cheating” and the game being “compromised”. Let’s keep it simple: steroids and most other PEDs (whatever they are) usually turn out to be bad for you.
Which is why kids and former kids who are now adults should not be using them.
Is it cheating? Yeah, sure, if we’ve laid down clear rules prohibiting certain substances.
But the fact that players are “cheating” should be an afterthought- remember, this is not baseball, where players’ contributions are transformed through the use of steroids and human growth hormone, at least as far as we know.
Rodney Howe and Adam MacDougall were already good players when they were caught using steroids and both continued to be representative players after those incidents.
I recently wrote a column deriding Phil Rothfield’s love of the Superbowl and the American Way. Widespread PED use in our major sports leagues is another trend we must not follow.
One only has to turn on the NFL to see skin stretched dangerously taut over bulging, fake muscles, not to mention an overdose of hyper-aggression after every tackle that wouldn’t be out of place in 28 Days Later.
These are the reasons why we need to crack down on this stuff. It’s unhealthy for the players, physically and psychologically.
Every time we make it about the “integrity” of the game and “cheating”, we dilute the only message we need to be sending to our kids on this issue.
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