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Drugs and sport. Two words I absolutely despise seeing side by side, because it makes me begin to question the magic of sport and makes me question the aura of athletes.
Those two words should never go side by side, by within the last few years, its the damn sentence that has been haunting our three football codes. First the drug was peptides, now cocaine.
As a spectator it is ridiculously frustrating. We thought the darkest days were behind us but out of the blue Karmichael Hunt gets charged, then the follow on from the Titans with the likes of Greg Bird, Beau Falloon and David Taylor.
Usually cocaine isn’t associated with sport, but as a stimulant the drug produces feelings of euphoria, invincibility and shades out feelings of anxiety and depression.
As they say, it takes the edge off. The baffling thing about this all, is it actually has minimal effect on performance enhancement, especially as the balance between taking just enough or too much can go on to have detrimental effects on one’s body – especially a body that is already working at a high metabolic rate.
Coke users have often depleted co-ordination and unwarranted levels of aggression. And the side effects are absolutely horrific, especially when you mix it with a footballer’s body.
A lot of the side effects are cardiac related and can often hit the body’s neurological system. I am not saying at all that these players have taken the drug, because it hasn’t been made aware that they have, but these are the effects.
Now we obviously don’t know specifics, nothing has been said about the players using this drug while playing, but over the next few days I am sure more will come to light.
But if these privileged footballers are willing to risk it all, then they really aren’t the heroes we make them out to be. And stricter measures must be put into place, to weed this out consistently not just in one rut during the pre season.
I am sure there is more to come from this saga, and you obviously have to applaud the officials who are sorting this mess, but as a mad sporting nation, this little drug problem is going to be hard to shrug off. Like the saga which has crippled Essendon and the Cronulla Sharks, further question marks will arise.
It is a frustrating thought to consider the amount of drugs now in our rugby codes.
Unfortunately sport will forever be having to share the field with not just talented individuals, heroes and superstars but also drug cheats, drug traffickers, deadbeats who use aggression and morons that don’t deserve to be in the position they are in.
I don’t care what anyone says, once you sign that contract, once you pull on that jersey, and once you step onto that field, you have a responsibility to act in a professional and humane manner. You have a responsibility not to act in the manner that has been displayed by a selected bunch of players over the last few seasons.
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