Rugby Unhappy With Wada Rule

A row has erupted over rugby’s adoption of the World Anti Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) whereabouts rule after it emerged that players could be banned for missing drug tests.

International Rugby Players Association chief executive Rob Nichol would not name players or say how many tests had been missed but he stated he was aware of current internationals who had missed doping tests.

He said that there was no question about players doping or deliberately missing tests, but their ‘administration of the system had not been up to scratch.’

Nichol said the situation highlighted IRPA’s frustration with WADA’s implementation of the Registered Testing Pool element of the whereabouts system.

Said Nichol: ‘As a body we fully support WADA, its objectives, the people responsible for implementing their program, and the principle of keeping sport drug-free, but they have to get the balance right.

‘There is an understandable amount of frustration at the way the program has been implemented. It has been substandard. The introduction of the new whereabouts requirements has damaged the momentum and … reputation of the anti-doping movement.’

Nichol stated that the IRPA had been inundated with complaints from members who objected to having to specify an hour of every day at which they could be found at a particular location. He said the new system had not been implemented uniformly across sports or countries.

‘When WADA introduced this, some of the national drug-free agencies applied it more rigidly than others. The issue is, the guidelines for who should qualify for the RTP were not clear enough and need to be improved.

‘This is an issue that needs to be addressed but the answer is not to go placing more teams and players in the Registered Testing Pool to balance the scales.

‘The answer is in ensuring those teams and players who are currently in an RTP without good reason or basis are removed.’