There may still be some debate over their exact elite status in Irish sport only for now all GAA intercounty players, senior or otherwise, remain exempt from anti-doping controls carried out by Sport Ireland until the resumption of training and competitive matches.
With such training and match activity unlikely to resume until after any easing of Level 5 restrictions, not expected until Easter weekend at the earliest, it means players will have gone the first three months of this year without a single anti-doping test being carried out.
Similarly, players went a full six months of last year without a single anti-doping test, from when the first GAA suspended all activity back on March 12th, until collective training resumed again September 14th, ahead of the resumption of intercounty matches on October 17th.
For much of that period it remained the only elite sport in the country without some level of anti-doing deterrent or direct detection. In agreement with the GAA and Gaelic Players Association (GPA), Sport Ireland can only carry out anti-doping tests on senior intercounty players either out-of-competition at collective training sessions or in-competition on match day.
The majority of other intercounty players went without the threat of any anti-doping testing for most of November and all of December too, as only those teams and players who remained up to the latter stages were being tested, up to the All-Ireland hurling final on December 13th, and the All-Ireland football final a week later.
While many Irish athletes in Olympic and other elite sports have yet to return to regular competition, even with Level 5 restrictions they are still subject to out-of-competition testing, either at the home or training, and must also continue to keep tabs on the whereabouts requirements.
Dr Una May, head of Sport Ireland anti-doping and director of ethics and participation, had previously admitted it would be “naive” to think the lack of current testing in GAA mightn’t be viewed as some of sort of loophole, but also added a warning that improved intelligence and anti-doping profiling could still find out any player who ended up taking a banned substance.
Dr May also confirmed to the Irish Times on Wednesday that GAA players remain exempt from regular anti-doping controls: “We won’t be testing in the GAA until they go back to team activities.
“Level 5 testing is targeted at Olympic and Paralympics athletes and other sports that are currently allowed compete like rugby. Unless, of course, we received specific information indicating a need to target some testing.”
In the early stages of the first lockdown, last March, all testing was effectively suspended, unless on a need to go in basis, but once other elite sports were allowed to resume training then testing resumed; only GAA players were exempt given their special dispensation from Sport Ireland.
Biological profile
According to the latest testing figures available from 2019, the GAA accounted for 135 of Sport Ireland’s 1,303 anti-doping tests, carried out across 36 sports, the fourth highest after cycling (218), rugby (196) and athletics (154).
In the women’s inter-county game, there were only four tests carried in the same period, and similarly only four tests carried out in camogie.
Dr May also made the point that Sport Ireland retain all samples, and would be able to see situations from a pre-lockdown to a post-lockdown. Every sample collected nowadays also forms part of a biological profile, of urine and blood.
Four GAA players have returned positive samples in recent years, Carlow footballer Ray Walker receiving a four-year ban in April after testing positive for meldonium, adding to Kerry football Brendan O’Sullivan (MHA, in 2016), Monaghan footballer Thomas Connolly (stanozolol, in 2014), and another Kerry footballer Aidan O’Mahony (salbutamol, 2009), all of whom claimed their consumption of the banned substance was entirely inadvertent.
It’s unlikely the 2020 testing numbers will reach the 1,303 of 2019, those latest figures due for release shortly. Previous data around testing of GAA players showed that less than one in four (23 per cent) have been tested for doping during their inter-county career – meaning over three-quarters of the playing population are going untested.
According to the data obtained from the 2016 players surveyed for the latest part of the ERSI research, “Safeguarding amateur athletes: an examination of player welfare among senior inter-county Gaelic players”, the probability of ever being tested also increased with age, with older players having a greater likelihood of having been drug tested.
While only 7 per cent of players aged 18-21 years were ever tested, 35 per cent of players aged 31 and above had been tested. Division One footballers (34 per cent) and MacCarthy Cup hurlers (39 per cent) were also more likely to have been tested than players in the other playing levels.
The report also found that 92 per cent of GAA players had ever taken supplements; footballers (97 per cent) were more likely to have taken supplements than hurlers (88 per cent).
