John Fogarty
THE caretaker at Tralee's Austin Stack Park was rightly fuming last Tuesday night. Everything going swimmingly, he’d have everything locked up by 9.30pm after a Kerry training session. Not this night. By the time he turned off the last light, it was 12.30am.
It’s worth pointing out it wasn’t just the player who suffered when serious dehydration prohibited him from giving a urine sample for over three hours.
Spare a thought for him but there is little doubt who the true victim in this story is. The Kerry footballer who had to endure that private hell.
The more he attempted to focus on urinating the more frustrating he got. How did he keep himself occupied? Stared at a wall for the most part. Punched a few texts. Attempted a bit of small chat with the drug testers. While he waited and waited and waited for his bladder to relieve itself in his room 101.
One tester explained to the Kerry footballer on Tuesday night his next stop is South Africa. The other revealed he’s off to Turkey.
If there’s one comfort in all of this it’s that Gaelic games is among the big boys of sport in terms of anti-doping.
Yet it remains a bizarre experience for Gaelic footballers and hurlers to have two people take such an interest in their genitals. It’s still a novelty. They regard it as an invasion of privacy. A necessary evil too, perhaps, but an embarrassing experience nevertheless.
Not so for professional sports people. They just get on with it. It’s part of the gig. But what doesn’t seem to be understood is that Gaelic players are different. They’re not looking for special dispensation or preferential treatment – just a thought spared for where they are coming from.
Speaking to one high-profile footballer yesterday, it was easy to gauge just how much they dread the possibility of being drug tested. Not because they fear being caught using illegal substances but the means of it, having to pass urine when they are dehydrated.
“We’ve nothing to hide,” he said. “Nobody has. But it’s the sheer discomfort of it all. I don’t want to speak openly about it because if I did they’d a chance they’d come after us next.”
The expression “come after” is the most operative one there and largely representative of how Gaelic players feel. There’s almost a sense of persecution about the whole thing.
It has nothing to do with a lack of education about anti-doping. They just don’t want to be detained in that little room, praying a trickle will get them out of there as soon as possible.
While Aidan O’Mahony was correctly cleared following his positive test, it somehow justified what the Irish Sports Council’s anti-doping controls in Gaelic games. While footballers and hurlers are widely regarded as the cleanest of athletes the existence of one failed test in hundreds makes the case for the ISC’s work to continue.
Still, a bit of common sense wouldn’t go astray. As Mayo’s Alan Dillon today tells The Irish Examiner, why can’t these tests be carried out before training sessions and matches? Sure, it might disgruntle a manager or two if their pre-match preparations are upset but if it makes it easier for the player what’s the problem?
Also, do they have to be done in confined areas? Usually, a room is designated as an official doping centre but players have reported them as being cramped.
And do the ISC realise they are dealing with no ordinary sportsmen? They have jobs to go to. The Kerry footballer on Tuesday night was up early for work the following morning but couldn’t sleep after taking on so much water to complete the test.
There’s a realisation that drug testers have a job to do. But a little consideration wouldn’t go astray. Until then, Gaelic players will be further reminded that they are professionals in everything but name.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/eyzh_vuufrQ/post.aspx
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