THERE were some interesting – and angry – reactions to the Scott MacLeod doping case last week.
Some will take exception to MacLeod's positive test even being described as such, including, presumably, The Scotsman reader who referred to one article, neutral and non-sensational though it was, as "a bit of muck raking journalism where there ain't
no muck to rake. If you want to write about the abuse of drugs in athletics and cycling, fair enough, but don't use a rugby player's name to make a headline.
We'll overlook the double negative, since it is clearly a sensitive subject. But all those similarly irritated might be interested to learn that, so far in 2008, there have been no fewer than 14 adverse findings in UK Sport anti-doping tests, eight of which have involved rugby players; four league, four union.
The others are judo, bobsleigh, basketball, and three from football.
The fact that all this information is published on the UK Sport website perhaps shows the SRU's course of action – encouraging MacLeod to reveal his identity at a press conference – in a slightly different light. In fact, the case would have been made public by UK Sport anyway – as indeed it was, just two days after the press conference.
But whether MacLeod would actually have been named is less clear. Seven of UK Sport's 14 'doping' cases so far this year have led to a suspension, in which case the athlete is automatically named. But where there is an official warning but no ban – as in the case of MacLeod – anonymity can be preserved, at the request of the governing body. A case similar to MacLeod's involved a Welsh rugby union player on 7 January. Like MacLeod he was issued with a formal warning and reprimand, but he has not been named.
Football is the exception to all this, as it is in so many anti-doping procedures. Of the three adverse findings so far this year, one involves a player in Scotland. But it is another case that stands out: a player who on 11 January received a two-year ban for "failure to comply" – in other words missing or refusing a test. A two-year ban is the maximum for a first-time offence, so this was a serious transgression. Yet the footballer has not been named.
Why not? According to a UK Sport anti-doping spokesman, the FA has "a special clause". Where there are fears "that by naming the player it could lead to them self-harming," explains the spokesman, "then it is agreed that (he or she] is not named."
Which is admirably sensitive to issues more serious than sport, but why does football stand alone? Are footballers the only athletes capable of self-harming in the event of suffering the ignominy of a positive drugs test? It only highlights that football is not playing to the same rules as everyone else when it comes to anti-doping. Fifa, whose president, Sepp Blatter, met on Friday with John Fahey, the new head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, continues to resist the 'whereabouts' scheme, which every other Olympic sport has signed up to.
If the results of tests carried out so far this year by UK Sport demonstrate one thing, it is that football and rugby should not be too complacent. Muck raking would be justified if it turns out there is muck there – and eight adverse drugs tests in the first two months of 2008, five of which have led to a sanction, suggest that, in the case of rugby, there might be.
Nauru joins world's best
A RECORD entry is anticipated for the world cross country championships, being staged in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, on 30 March. So far, 79 countries have entered, eclipsing the previous best of 76 in Portugal in 2000. But the most unusual and furthest travelled will be the world's smallest nation, Nauru.
The tiny island – 8.1 square miles, population around 10,000 – sits in the Micronesian South Pacific and their team comprises one athlete, Torio Mwareow. He is the national 1500m champion, and the wonderfully named, Hansome Adumur, of the Nauru Athletics Association, explains: "Our association have to make up the other half of the funding (required to send Mwareow to Edinburgh]. Half is already funded by the international sports federation."
Mwareow will struggle to emulate compatriot Marcus Stephen, the four-time Commonwealth gold medal-winning weightlifter. So popular is Stephen that he was elected president of Nauru last year. How much other sporting talent there exists is not clear, since Nauru is reckoned to be the most obese country in the world, with 90 per cent of adults overweight. Time is tight to conclude the fund-raising for Mwareow's Edinburgh trip. With only 27 days to go until the event, he should be thinking about leaving soon.
Minnows miss Olympic shotSCOTLAND is a nation of vertically challenged people. That can be the only conclusion after checking the list of 50 "potential Olympians" unearthed by Sporting Giants, released on Friday. Of the 50, not one is a Scot.
The scheme, whose figurehead is Sir Steve Redgrave, is designed to assign tall people to sports that suit them, specifically rowing, handball and volleyball. It was launched a year ago, with the call going out to men in excess of 6ft 3ins, and women of at least 5ft 11ins, aged 16 to 25. "Sleeping giants" were targeted, preferably with a modicum of athletic talent. 3,854 people applied.
Yet, bizarrely, after tests and talent identification camps, which whittled 3,854 down to 50, no Scot has survived the process. It appears to lend weight – if not height – to a claim made by Celtic manager Gordon Strachan. Strachan, a towering 5ft 6ins, has, without irony, previously bemoaned the lack of height in his team.
According to Redgrave, "some of the hidden talent that has emerged is incredible."
The Sporting Giants have come from all walks of life, from all backgrounds and occupations, and from all over the country – apart from Scotland. Perhaps when the call goes out for gymnasts, jockeys and distance runners, that will change.
The full article contains 1034 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
