heads in sand

There was the AFLs’ chief honcho Andrew Demetriou in full flight yesterday railing about media leaks and threatening to go to Canberra to confront the relative minister.

And all he was doing, in my mind, was showing what a sham the AFL’s crackdown on illicit drugs really is.

Talk about shooting the messenger. The AFL boss was angry because the Herald Sun has been running a series of accusing articles claiming  senior  AFL players have tested positive to illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy.

One high-profile player from an inter-state club has twice tested positive  for illegal drugs. And Jim Wilson had a story claiming that two more players from inter-state clubs have twice tested positive.

Demetriou is angry because he says and I quote “confidentiality is vital”. Why?

It is true that for the first two positive tests the AFL’s medical officer is obliged to tell only the club’s medical officer. Presumably he is sworn to secrecy.

Surely, if a player tests positive to cocaine his coach is entitled to know. Surely, the club’s management which pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for that elite athlete is entitled to know how much muck their star is sticking up his nose.

Surely, as former champion Tony Shaw said the other day, the player’s parents are entitled to know. After all, the players are virtually wards of the AFL. They spend a lot of time inter-state. Their team is their family.

Kevin Sheedy touched on that aspect the other day. He challenged club captains and experienced players to tackle the league’s illicit drug problem head on.

 Some club bosses are either naïve or blinkered about players who don’t drink but use cocaine and ecstasy.

I raised this issue last month after  talking to a night club owner last who associates with AFL players and former AFL players. He says the clubs have no idea how widespread cocaine use is in the AFL. And ekkies.

The clubs may boast about how they have finally altered the booze mentality with their players but, he says, they have merely changed their drug of habit.

It is one reason why crims hang around football clubs. It perhaps explains why some players have been named for associating with known criminals.

I wondered why elite athletes would risk their careers by abusing their bodies with cocaine. The night club owner explained that was the very reason they could.  They are so fit and train so hard that their bodies can process the cocaine residue much faster and more efficiently than, say, if I took cocaine.

That is why, in the NFL,  the Brisbane Broncos have taken drastic action to give drug inspectors the right to demand urine samples 24 hours a day 365 days a year. It  shows that at least one sporting body has realised the severity of the problem in their ranks.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2006