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It was not long ago the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority represented world’s best practice in the fight against performance-enhancing substances in sport. It has now become a model for how not to undertake such battles.
With reports doing the rounds that ‘show cause’ letters are imminent for as many as 40 Essendon AFL players and 17 from the NRL’s Cronulla Sharks, the glacial speed of ASADA’s investigation has been brought again into sharp focus.
On 7 February last year, the ministers for sport and home affairs fronted an explosive media conference, flanked by the CEOs of the country’s major sporting codes.
Australian sport was rocked to its foundations by allegations that a 12-month long investigation by the Australian Crime Commission – code-named Project Aperio – had unearthed evidence that organised crime was behind the increasing use of performance-enhancing drugs by “multiple athletes” and there were strong beliefs that match fixing and manipulation of betting markets were also widespread.
Former CEO of ASADA Richard Ings proclaimed it “the blackest day in Australian sport”.
Fifteen months hence, little substance has been presented to support those seismic allegations. In fact, they could presently be measured in angstrom units. The public was told that state and federal law enforcement agencies were pursuing strong leads, but those probes have produced nothing to substantiate the headline-grabbing claims from early last year.
Running parallel to the police enquiries has been the ASADA investigation into the use of banned substances. ASADA’s journey to unearth the truth has moved with the speed of molasses down a sand hill.
Since announcing investigations into several major areas of concern within the AFL and NRL we have seen the passing of an entire season for both codes and a two-month journey into the next.
ASADA’s bite thus far has been akin to a mouse with dentures.
Essendon, joint holder of the AFL’s all-time record of 16 premierships, was denied a tilt at another in 2013 following its removal from the finals series having finished the home-and-away season in seventh spot.
At the same time, the AFL Commission levied a raft of penalties against the Bombers including a 12-month suspension for coach James Hird, the loss of draft picks and a $2 million fine.
Much of the basis for those steps was predicated on an interim report from ASADA with respect to its investigations. That interim report was released in the first week of August last year.
More than nine months on, the final report is yet to reach the printers and it would take a man of greater powers than Nostradamus to predict a date.
After more than 60 weeks of investigation and interviews just one man – Canberra Raiders winger Sandor Earl – has been served an infraction notice. That occurred nine months ago, 48 hours after he allegedly made admissions about having used a banned peptide.
Incredibly, he is still waiting to find out what his penalty is.
He is currently floating like an Arthurian spirit in the mist, having been deregistered by his code without yet knowing the length of his ban.
It is unconscionable that Earl is still awaiting his official fate three quarters of a year after being handed a provisional suspension by the NRL. It is the sort of ineptitude that Australians would normally associate with other countries’ handling of doping cases.
We were always regarded as a nation with a rock-solid base in the battle against performance-enhancing substances but unfortunately the foundations now appear to comprise more talc than granite.
Australian sporting authorities have often cast aspersions on the operations of overseas anti-doping organisations. It is high time that some of them looked into a large mirror and reflected on their efforts in the past 18 months.
If they are honest with themselves, they will not like what they see. Neither does the Australian sporting public.
Here’s hoping that the Harlem Globetrotters theme doesn’t become ASADA’s anthem.