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.
Sharminator
Roar Rookie
I think something to keep in mind is the famous survey carried out by Robert Goldman, M.D., Ph.D. It was conducted biannually from 1982 to 1995. It asked elite athletes if they would take a drug that guaranteed them an Olympic gold medal but would kill them in five years. Every time Goldman administered the survey, more than half those surveyed said they would. The point is, when you are competing at the highest level, dedicating all your time to being the best, to wining at all costs, no matter what the consequences are, can become an obsession. This is why the media need to distinguish better between Legal Supplements and Prescribed Substances. There is a lot of confusion about this in the media and amongst politicans, with people saying that Sports Supplements should be banned, that Sports Scientists should be banned etc. There are plenty of substances that can help you to gain muscle mass, increase endurance etc that are completley legal and harm free, from creatine to protein to amino acids to natural testosterone enhancers like tribulus terrestis. The WADA tends to ban substances that have harmful short and long term effects from pro-longed use. Why? because it dosnt look good when someone like Florence Griffith Joyner, former world and Olympic 100m champion, dies in her sleep at just 38 years old from an epileptic fit ... and everyone says .. well it must have been the steroids. If Performance Enhancing drugs can have harmful effects, their use needs to be banned or at least controlled, so that athletes dont have to choose between winning today and their health tommorrow. However, I think the biggest thing that needs to happen in Australian sport is simply more education. Remind athletes of examples such as Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones. At one stage they were rich and on top of the world due to sporting success, but they doped, lied, were forced to admit their drug use, stripped of their titles, and are now discredited and living in shame. No sports star would want that to happen to them.
solly
Guest
You are not going to eradicate drugs from sport. You cannot expect 'more and more' from athletes, and give them 'more and more' for it, and not have drugs eventually become involved. After all, human nature is human nature. In my opinion, the only solution is to legalise their use when under appropriate medical supervision. However, there are far too many fantisies, far too much romanticising of sport and what it supposedly represents for this solution to ever be given the serious consideration it deserves. I am going to have to add that my views on this is not an endorsement of taking drugs in sport. But it also doesn't mean that I think it is 'wrong'.