DAGGERS are out and aimed at the Springboks with questions about the integrity of their Rugby World Cup dominance.
Image: AFP
South African sport has experienced a downward trend in positive results for performance-enhancing drugs, according to the people who actually do the testing, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS).
This directly contradicts a UK newspaper report on Monday that suggests that doping is rampant in South Africa because SAIDS conducts fewer tests than it did in the past.
The report in The Telegraph, headlined “Decline in South Africa drug-testing casts doubt over World Cup wins,” says that a country with the worst record in rugby for doping has had a six-fold decrease in testing.
Springbok supporters are used to their team getting battered by northern hemisphere critics, and sour grapes will be the cry once more, especially given the comment and perspective given by Khalid Galant, the CEO of SAIDS.
“Some years ago, we had big numbers of positives not just in rugby but in sports such as cycling, swimming, and athletics, but for a while there has been an overall decline in positive tests because of education and consequences,” Galant told Independent Media.
Galant does not dispute that there was less testing last year.
“We used to be aggressive in our testing because we had our own World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory in Bloemfontein, but it lost its WADA accreditation,” Galant said.
SAIDS is 90 percent government-funded.
“So we have had to take our testing overseas,” Galant continued. “The cheapest lab is in Qatar, and we also use one in Belgium. The use of overseas labs increases operational costs, so we have to decrease the number of tests we do, but we don’t lose our effectiveness because sportsmen and women still have no idea when we are going to test them.
“If you are a professional rugby player, a Springbok, you are rolling the dice if you want to go the route of performance-enhancing drugs,” explained Galant. “You are taking a massive risk; whether we do 100 tests or 1000, there is no notice that we are coming to test you.”
Galant says the testing is not random in the sense that it is simply a name drawn out of a hat. He says there is careful planning as to when they strike.
“All testing has zero notice; the player doesn’t know if it will be on the Saturday of the game, or practice on Tuesday or Thursday, pre-season, mid-season, or post-season.
“We can go to their homes. So the risk is still very high because they don’t know when we are coming.”
Further, Galant pointed out that World Rugby has its own testing programme. Players can be tested at any level of the game — after Test matches or at various stages of the United Rugby Championship.
Independent Media also reached out to SA Rugby regarding The Telegraph's report but, at the time of publication, the union had not responded to our enquiries.
* Mike Greenaway is a senior rugby reporter at Independent Media and contributor on our Last World on Rugby podcast on our YouTube channel, The Clutch