Ignorance no help to Cronulla Sharks players in beating doping rap
by: Paul Kent From: The Daily Telegraph March 08, 2013 12:00AM
BLAME it on Trent Elkin, blame it on ignorance, blame it on the boogie, if you like, but when the Cronulla players sit down with ASADA and begin to offer their case, it will all mean squat.
Under the formidable laws of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the players are solely responsible for what they put in their body. It is not up for contest.
After early suggestions that Cronulla were preparing to offer themselves up yesterday, the gravity of the repercussions slowed their pace and Thursday drifted into Friday.
Presumably ASADA closes its doors for the weekend and won't be contactable before the Sharks play Gold Coast on Sunday, causing many to believe that if anything is going to happen it will happen today.
And while the NRL did issue a statement yesterday confirming the Sharks would be playing, it didn't tell us who would be in the jumpers.
It is now considered a given that at least some Sharks have problems, with Paul Gallen, Ben Pomeroy and John Morris confronting Elkin after their meeting with their legal adviser, former ASADA prosecutor Richard Redman. And they won't be able to plead ignorance.
Anti-doping laws have ramped up since the princess of the pool, Sam Riley, went down with a headache and her coach Scott Volkers gave her a "headache tablet" which might or might not have had its label scrubbed off. It was the moment Australia lost its innocence.
Volkers' actions resulted in Riley using up everybody's Get Out Of Jail Free card and since then WADA has made it harder for athletes to plead ignorance.
It got so tough that it goes beyond what any of the Cronulla players are capable of pleading.
Eleven years ago Scottish downhill skier Alain Baxter walked into a pharmacy before the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, looking for something to treat his sniffle.
Given it was the Olympics, Baxter was on high alert. He spied a Vicks inhaler which he had used in Scotland and which he knew was not on the banned list. He bought the inhaler and went on to win bronze, Britain's first medal in alpine skiing.
Then he failed the drug test. Even though it came in the same packaging with the same label, it turned out the US version of the Vicks inhaler was slightly different and contained an almost insignificant amount of methamphetamine.
The International Ski Federation believed his version - how easy it was to make that mistake - and suspended him for just three months. It was later overturned on appeal.
The International Olympic Committee stripped him of his bronze medal. His appeal failed and the medal is now with someone in Austria.
The Sharks have pleaded innocent. They claim they began taking the drugs when they were legal, as they were in 2011, but failed to realise the drugs were banned in 2012.
Privately, some players have blamed it all on Elkin. Perhaps they did not realise his livelihood was at stake as much as theirs, or perhaps they just did not believe his career was as important as theirs.
Elkin claims to be innocent, acting only on the instructions of sports scientist Stephen Dank, who was still there at the time and who assured him the peptides were legal.
Yet Elkin now believed he was being framed as the architect in a bid to strengthen the players' claims of naivety. So he spoke to ASADA and after initially criticising the Australian Crime Commission's press conference, it found a voice.
In other words, it worked.
That's why Cronulla's legal advice changed so dramatically on Tuesday, when Redman was believed to be tipped off about new evidence.
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Q: CJC-1295 and Thymosin Beta 4, the substances alleged to have been taken by Cronulla players, were not on the WADA banned list in 2011 and have only recently been added. How can the players be charged with taking illegal substances?
A: While CJC-1295 wasn't specifically banned, S.2 of the WADA prohibited list states that it is illegal for athletes to take any product which promotes growth hormone. Thymosin Beta 4 is not registered as it is used for horses.
Q: What do CJC-1295 and Thymosin Beta 4 do?
A: CJC-1295 is described as a growth hormone releasing peptide, which was initially developed to treat visceral fat deposits in obese AIDS patients. TB-4 is one of 16 beta-thymosins, and is used for the repair and regeneration of damaged tissue.
Q: Why are the players facing suspension if they inadvertently took performance enhancing substances and did not know they were illegal?
A: Under the WADA code, athletes are responsible for any substance they take - regardless of whether they were given advice that later turns out to be incorrect.
Q: If 14 players are suspended for six months, how will Cronulla be able to field a team this season?
A: Under ASADA regulations, any athlete suspended for drug use cannot be paid for the term of his ban so the Sharks will have room in the salary cap to sign new players. They also have players to draw on in the NSW Cup and Under 20s.
Q: Are former Cronulla players at other NRL clubs facing the same sanctions as those still at the club?
A: The Sharks engaged legal counsel Richard Redman to represent their players and he has negotiated a six-month ban if they plead guilty. He is not believed to be representing any players at other clubs so they could face the full two-year sanction if found guilty. However, ASADA is understood to have offered any player who comes forward and confesses to using performance enhancing substances a six-month ban.
Q: Does ASADA have jurisdiction to proceed with charges against any former Cronulla players playing in England.
A: Any Australian athlete who satisfies the definition of an athlete under the National Anti-Doping scheme is subject to ASADA jurisdiction.
