GAA player test positive in drugs test.

[Bogball XV]

Its an absolute disgrace that an amateur player has been named in this way.

I would question why an amateur body signs up to relatively stringent rules such as these.  Afaik it was a requirement by the sports council (or whatever they're called) in order to be eligible for govt handouts - but why?  The GAA as an almost totally indigenous sporting organisation really have no need to be seen to be adopting best practice in this area imo.

[ONeill]

Canavan: Anti-doping rules unfair on the GAA Gaelic Games
By Paddy Heaney
18/11/2008

PETER Canavan has questioned the GAA's involvement with the Irish Sport Council's anti-doping code following the suspension of a Kerry player who failed a drugs test due to the use of salbutamol.

Salbutamol is a commonly prescribed treatment for asthma, but it is a banned substance, and GAA players are only allowed to take the drug under strictly controlled guidelines. Canavan, an asthma sufferer throughout his illustrious playing career with Tyrone, believes the GAA's amateur footballers and hurlers shouldn't be subjected to the Sport Council's rigorous anti-doping code.

"I don't think it is fair. There is a list of medications that fall under the remit of banned substances. Some of those substances are things like aspirin. Asking amateurs to be aware of all these things seems a bit much," he said.

The Tyrone legend revealed he continued to use inhalers after the GAA signed up to the anti-doping code in 2001.

"We were told that we had to let the team doctor Seamus Cassidy know what we were taking, no matter how trivial it was. At the start of the year, I would have told him what I was taking so it was okay for me to take it. But we knew how strict it all was. I could have been taking a certain inhaler, but if I changed that inhaler, and the doctor wasn't aware of that change, I would have been liable to a suspension."

Ireland rugby player Frankie Sheahan had a similar problem with salbutamol five years ago and was initially suspended for two years. The ban was reduced to three months on appeal when the Munster hooker claimed he had forgotten to properly inform authorities that he was using a Ventolin inhaler to combat his asthma.

The authorities in Croke Park were not keen to subject GAA players to drug testing in 2001. However, the GAA was informed that the association would not receive any state funding that came through the Irish Sports Council unless they subscribed to the anti-doping code.

The players' grant scheme that was brokered by the GPA last year falls under the type of aid that wouldn't be administered unless inter-county footballers and hurlers took part in the random post-match testing. But Canavan argued that different provisions should be made for amateur sportsmen.

"It's okay for professionals but the GAA is an amateur sport," he said.

"The Tyrone lads had to wait for two-and-a-half hours after the All-Ireland final until someone had finished giving a sample. Sometimes you would ask yourself, 'What is going on?' I think it's all a bit severe for amateur players."

The GAA confirmed yesterday that a player has been provisionally suspended following a failed drugs test.
A statement released from Croke Park said: "A sample recently provided by one of its players as part of the Irish Sport's Council's anti-doping programme has revealed an adverse analytical finding regarding the therapeutic use of salbutamol which will require the player to show that the result was the consequence of the therapeutic use of inhaled salbutamol.

"In accordance with the provisions of the Irish Anti-Doping rules, the GAA are obliged to provisionally suspend the player involved pending the outcome of a hearing of the Anti-Doping Hearings Committee. A date for this meeting has not yet been scheduled."

The player who failed the test has not been named, but last night the Kerry County Board confirmed a member of the county football panel was involved and that the rest took place after the All-Ireland final against Tyrone. The Kerry statement continued: "The player's asthma has been pre-notified to the Sports Council since the GAA's anti-doping policy came in a few years ago. Coiste Chontae Chiarrai and the player are happy to co-operate with the hearing and are confident the player will be exonerated."

The GPA has confirmed the Kerry man is a member of the players' body and that they have "made contact with the individual in question to inform him that our support services are available to him throughout the process which will now ensue".

[full back]

"It's okay for professionals but the GAA is an amateur sport," he said.

Where do you draw the line here?
When the players took the money IMHO they changed their amateur status themselves

[stephenite]

The deal on doping was done between the Sports Council and the GAA - before grants were even an issue. If the GAA wanted to continue to receive funding from the Sport Council (i.e.) the Government they had to sign up to doping. It has feck all to do with the GPA and grants, as far as I'm aware.

Maybe I'm wrong, anyone able to confirm?

[Declan]

According to Dr Joe Cumiskey, formerly medical officer to the Olympic Council of Ireland and an international authority on doping in sport, the use of salbutamol is a continuing concern for the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

Although there are genuine cases of asthma among elite athletes - O'Mahony is said by team-mates to have been taking medication for asthma since long before his senior career - the incidence of the condition is disproportionately widespread in the international sports community.

"The figures show that 1.7 per cent of athletes declared with asthma at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984," said Cumiskey. "That had risen to 3.6 by Atlanta in 1996 and 5.5 in Sydney in 2000. By this year in Beijing that was up to 8.5 per cent; yet 17 per cent of medallists were declared asthmatics.

"Salbutamol is a stimulant and used to dilate the bronchi in the airwaves. That's its main use. If used in high doses it does have an anabolic effect. If there's a presence over a certain level in the urine then it's considered that it's being used for anabolic effect and not for broncho-dilatory effects. There is a cut-off point.

"You can get a therapeutic use exemption for using the drug if you have established asthma and provided you register before you take the drug and not afterwards."

So it is amazing how many asthmatics are in the elite athletic population compared to normal population. From reading that article it's well known that O'Mahoney has been an asthmatic for years so lets hope it was an oversight of some sort.

I thought the linking of funding via the Sports Council was the reason the GAA signed the code nothing to do with grants

[SuperDooperCooper]

O'Mahony was a doubt for the final all week with the flu and while he played, he was not in tipp top shape.
The day was also tough on asthmatics; consequently, it seems O'Mahony took a few extra puffs of his inhaler.
The word from home is that all the documentation was correct so O'Mahony should be fine.
What is not fine is the leaking of the story before the hearing to clear/convict O'Mahony.
It appears the 'leak' did not come from the Kerry side.

[Declan]

Statement from O'Mahoney via his solicitor said he was a long standing asthmatic and confident that levels found would be consistent with therapeutic use and hearing would go in his favour.

[Zapatista]

Its an absolute disgrace that an amateur player has been named in this way.

Here here!!

Shame on RTE. I have only read the last few posts of this thread and like RTE i'm sure it deserves no more of my attention.

[ludermor]

What difference does it make if he is professional or amateur?
If it was a rugby palyer in the exact same circumstances ( asmatic since a kid etc) would the outcry here be the same?

[magpie seanie]

"It's okay for professionals but the GAA is an amateur sport," he said.

"The Tyrone lads had to wait for two-and-a-half hours after the All-Ireland final until someone had finished giving a sample. Sometimes you would ask yourself, 'What is going on?' I think it's all a bit severe for amateur players."

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with this statement I think its the inevitable result of the players grants, which are pay for play, that the GPA have pushed for. You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hound. We're either amateur or we're not. great player and all as he was and much as I admire him there's no consistency from the great man in his articles. The players are "professional" when it suits other arguments.

[The Real Laoislad]

What difference does it make if he is professional or amateur?
If it was a rugby palyer in the exact same circumstances ( asmatic since a kid etc) would the outcry here be the same?

I agree,was going to make the same point myself

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

So it is amazing how many asthmatics are in the elite athletic population compared to normal population.

But... there has been a massive upswing in those afflicted with asthma in the non-sporting populace at large over recent decades, so the rise in sporting figures with asthma is a mirror on that. What may be more of an issue is the relatively higher number of asthmatic (Olympic) medal winners versus the percentage of overall participants with asthma, and what that discrepancy could be put down to.

[orangeman]

It's a disgrace the way O'Mahony was named - € 2500 shouldn't be the issue in the form a so called grant. O'Mahony is an amateur and shoudn't have to be subjected to this rubbish.

And remember shit sticks !

[full back]

If this was a Rugby Discussion Board & it was the first high profile case then there might be a similar furore over it. The same applies to RTE, it is the first high profile case within the GAA.

If all the documentation is in place he has nothing to worry about & I sincerely hopes he gets cleared.
Like others, I would like to know how the case got out. Was it leaked or did he bring it into the public domain?

[wrecked_em]

he should be banned for life

first the diving now this!!!!