GAA player test positive in drugs test.

[AZOffaly]

You say that you accept that Aidan O'Mahony didn't mean to do wrong, so I assume you accept that he had informed the authorities of the asthma situation and filled out the wrong forms? The panel decided he had used the inhaler in good faith, and the high levels were attributed to inhaler usage, rather than something more sinister.

So why should he be punished? I agree rules are rules, but each case should be judged on it's merits, and in this case I think 'fair play' was obviously done. If it was mandatory sentencing, then you'd be punishing a lad for having the flu and asthma. That'd be wrong in my eyes.

AZ, there was nothing in the ruling that I noticed about him filling out forms wrong. The fact is he took more than he was allowed. In my opinion it was because he had cold/flu symptoms and went OTT on the inhaling.

He has been found guily of cheating - but quite clearly in the opinion of the judges it was inadvertant cheating. There was a range of sanctions open to them having found him guilty, from a reprimand to a 2 year ban. The most lenient sentence was chosen.

It seems to me to have been a fair process and a fair and open result. Of course in my view its only today that we should have discovered the name of the person found guilty.

I wonder what the repurcussions would have been had Kerry beaten Tyrone? Would the result have stood? Would the Tyrone County Board have sought a replay???

Sorry Hound, I don't know what I was thinking, I meant filled in the RIGHT forms. And I have to disagree with JMohan about the black and white of a case such as this. If steroids were found, then by all means throw the book, but where it is prescribed medication, for a known and notified reason, then there has to be lattitude for common sense. Even WADA have downgraded Salbutemol (sp) because of this.

[JMohan]

We're not dealing with olympic Athletes J Mohan or anywhere near it. Thats where you and I differ. There is a world of difference in my opinion between a lifelong asthma sufferer and someone who is an Olympic athlete and develops asthma at 21/22, where its obvious they are doping. The fact that WADA is incapable of making that distinction says an awful lot about them and maybe why the likes of professional cycling in particular are totten to the core with banned substances when the authorities can't even make that distinction.
If a Gaa player developed a case at 22/23 similar to a lot of Olympic athletes, then I 'd agree with you. But I don't in this instance, its very much an honest mistake for someone who was suffering from an a cold as certified by his team doctor at the time.

You're not arguing the correct point.

You see - this is where most of the GAA world sleep walked into this ...

We signed up to drug testing
We have to abide by the rules

Crying about not being Olympic athletes means nothing in terms of drug testing.

Furthermore - stop thinking of Olympic athletes and Tour deFrance athletes - they are also the local athletes (hundreds) in T&F clubs across the country who compete currently under these rules and conditions.

Fair or not doesn't enter into this - we agreed (or were bought with) to the rules for a few hundred euros per player and thus have to live with it now.

[JMohan]

You say that you accept that Aidan O'Mahony didn't mean to do wrong, so I assume you accept that he had informed the authorities of the asthma situation and filled out the wrong forms? The panel decided he had used the inhaler in good faith, and the high levels were attributed to inhaler usage, rather than something more sinister.

So why should he be punished? I agree rules are rules, but each case should be judged on it's merits, and in this case I think 'fair play' was obviously done. If it was mandatory sentencing, then you'd be punishing a lad for having the flu and asthma. That'd be wrong in my eyes.

AZ, there was nothing in the ruling that I noticed about him filling out forms wrong. The fact is he took more than he was allowed. In my opinion it was because he had cold/flu symptoms and went OTT on the inhaling.

He has been found guily of cheating - but quite clearly in the opinion of the judges it was inadvertant cheating. There was a range of sanctions open to them having found him guilty, from a reprimand to a 2 year ban. The most lenient sentence was chosen.

It seems to me to have been a fair process and a fair and open result. Of course in my view its only today that we should have discovered the name of the person found guilty.

I wonder what the repurcussions would have been had Kerry beaten Tyrone? Would the result have stood? Would the Tyrone County Board have sought a replay???

Sorry Hound, I don't know what I was thinking, I meant filled in the RIGHT forms. And I have to disagree with JMohan about the black and white of a case such as this. If steroids were found, then by all means throw the book, but where it is prescribed medication, for a known and notified reason, then there has to be lattitude for common sense. Even WADA have downgraded Salbutemol (sp) because of this.

I agree it's harsh - but once more - we agreed to this.

EVERY other athlete under these rules must agree to it - why should we be different?

The reason they are so stringent is that once you make a grey area athletes jump into it and try and get right up close to the line and get away with it. I'm not going to list all the examples - but we've many cases - even in our own small but sullied history of doping in Ireland.

[AZOffaly]

You say that you accept that Aidan O'Mahony didn't mean to do wrong, so I assume you accept that he had informed the authorities of the asthma situation and filled out the wrong forms? The panel decided he had used the inhaler in good faith, and the high levels were attributed to inhaler usage, rather than something more sinister.

So why should he be punished? I agree rules are rules, but each case should be judged on it's merits, and in this case I think 'fair play' was obviously done. If it was mandatory sentencing, then you'd be punishing a lad for having the flu and asthma. That'd be wrong in my eyes.

AZ, there was nothing in the ruling that I noticed about him filling out forms wrong. The fact is he took more than he was allowed. In my opinion it was because he had cold/flu symptoms and went OTT on the inhaling.

He has been found guily of cheating - but quite clearly in the opinion of the judges it was inadvertant cheating. There was a range of sanctions open to them having found him guilty, from a reprimand to a 2 year ban. The most lenient sentence was chosen.

It seems to me to have been a fair process and a fair and open result. Of course in my view its only today that we should have discovered the name of the person found guilty.

I wonder what the repurcussions would have been had Kerry beaten Tyrone? Would the result have stood? Would the Tyrone County Board have sought a replay???

Sorry Hound, I don't know what I was thinking, I meant filled in the RIGHT forms. And I have to disagree with JMohan about the black and white of a case such as this. If steroids were found, then by all means throw the book, but where it is prescribed medication, for a known and notified reason, then there has to be lattitude for common sense. Even WADA have downgraded Salbutemol (sp) because of this.

I agree it's harsh - but once more - we agreed to this.

EVERY other athlete under these rules must agree to it - why should we be different?

The reason they are so stringent is that once you make a grey area athletes jump into it and try and get right up close to the line and get away with it. I'm not going to list all the examples - but we've many cases - even in our own small but sullied history of doping in Ireland.

I understand where you are coming from J, but even WADA have downgraded this particular drug, so I don't see any issue in using common sense when dealing with it. The Sports Council of Ireland have agreed with the decision themselves.

[Billys Boots]

On Morning Ireland this morning, a medic implied that the Sports Council hadn't acknowledged receipt of O'Mahony's forms, and in fact don't acknowledge anyone's 'exclusion' forms, so team doctors don't and can't know what players can and can't take.  Oh, they don't acknowledge the forms, becuase it would be too expensive to do so - and the breakdown of the system's the GAA's fault??

[JMohan]

You say that you accept that Aidan O'Mahony didn't mean to do wrong, so I assume you accept that he had informed the authorities of the asthma situation and filled out the wrong forms? The panel decided he had used the inhaler in good faith, and the high levels were attributed to inhaler usage, rather than something more sinister.

So why should he be punished? I agree rules are rules, but each case should be judged on it's merits, and in this case I think 'fair play' was obviously done. If it was mandatory sentencing, then you'd be punishing a lad for having the flu and asthma. That'd be wrong in my eyes.

AZ, there was nothing in the ruling that I noticed about him filling out forms wrong. The fact is he took more than he was allowed. In my opinion it was because he had cold/flu symptoms and went OTT on the inhaling.

He has been found guily of cheating - but quite clearly in the opinion of the judges it was inadvertant cheating. There was a range of sanctions open to them having found him guilty, from a reprimand to a 2 year ban. The most lenient sentence was chosen.

It seems to me to have been a fair process and a fair and open result. Of course in my view its only today that we should have discovered the name of the person found guilty.

I wonder what the repurcussions would have been had Kerry beaten Tyrone? Would the result have stood? Would the Tyrone County Board have sought a replay???

Sorry Hound, I don't know what I was thinking, I meant filled in the RIGHT forms. And I have to disagree with JMohan about the black and white of a case such as this. If steroids were found, then by all means throw the book, but where it is prescribed medication, for a known and notified reason, then there has to be lattitude for common sense. Even WADA have downgraded Salbutemol (sp) because of this.

I agree it's harsh - but once more - we agreed to this.

EVERY other athlete under these rules must agree to it - why should we be different?

The reason they are so stringent is that once you make a grey area athletes jump into it and try and get right up close to the line and get away with it. I'm not going to list all the examples - but we've many cases - even in our own small but sullied history of doping in Ireland.

I understand where you are coming from J, but even WADA have downgraded this particular drug, so I don't see any issue in using common sense when dealing with it. The Sports Council of Ireland have agreed with the decision themselves.

In an ideal world common sense would be applied - but we're dealing with sport where people will use any available means to cheat.
Once you bring in ambiguity then you have people pulling strokes for people. It's black and white for a very good reason.

As for the Sports Council - they I'm sure would rather not have to test hundred of GAA players each year and potentially have this issue with a few hundred asthmatics.
 

[JMohan]

On Morning Ireland this morning, a medic implied that the Sports Council hadn't acknowledged receipt of O'Mahony's forms, and in fact don't acknowledge anyone's 'exclusion' forms, so team doctors don't and can't know what players can and can't take.  Oh, they don't acknowledge the forms, becuase it would be too expensive to do so - and the breakdown of the system's the GAA's fault??

This is why drug testing will never work fully - It costs way too much.
Think of all the drugs or options an athlete has? Thousands.
Even Wada only test for a select few - so you can still get away with it if you're smart....

[tyssam5]

On Morning Ireland this morning, a medic implied that the Sports Council hadn't acknowledged receipt of O'Mahony's forms, and in fact don't acknowledge anyone's 'exclusion' forms, so team doctors don't and can't know what players can and can't take.  Oh, they don't acknowledge the forms, becuase it would be too expensive to do so - and the breakdown of the system's the GAA's fault??

I don't understand your point, shouldn't the player CC his team doctor on any forms like that? It doesn't sound hard.