Footy's drug summit will be told some teenage AFL recruits are already schooled in illegal drugs use when they join the game's top ranks. Source: News Limited
FOOTY'S drug summit will be told some teenage AFL recruits are already schooled in illegal drugs use when they join the game's top ranks.
The Herald Sun can reveal a senior club figure raised the drugs problem at a meeting with Victorian Sports Minister Hugh Delahunty last week.
He told the Minister some recruits already knew of ways to avoid detection in drug tests when they arrived in the AFL system.
At least one Victorian club will allege at an industry-wide drugs symposium to be held in January that draftees are running the gauntlet on drugs in their first season in the AFL.
The summit was called after Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert warned of "volcanic behaviour" among footballers on their off-season breaks.
The under-18 TAC Cup competition is the major recruiting ground for AFL clubs, providing the bulk of talent at the national draft.
One AFL club boss told the Herald Sun: "I know it to be. Have a look at schoolies. I think the kids are turning to these things earlier on, and not necessarily out of recreation, but because of their backgrounds.
"It's hard out there in the suburbs for a lot of kids and they do turn to drugs. I think they are more accepted at a younger age now.
"Schools are beside themselves -- from the best schools to the most working-class, so why would we think that just because they are in the First XVIII they are not doing it?"
Clubs will use January's meeting to push for greater control of the contentious three-strikes illicit drug testing regime and the right to know which players have recorded strikes.
Under existing rules, only the club doctor is informed of positive tests.
A rise in the number of AFL players self-reporting the use of substances to avoid drug strikes will also be tabled.
The Herald Sun has detailed a spike in players self-reporting the use of drugs to AFL medical directors Dr Peter Harcourt and Dr Harry Unglik.
By self-reporting, players avoid registering a positive drug test and a strike against their name.
The concern is restricted to a small number of players, most from the same Melbourne club.
Allegations of players supplying drugs to teammates will also be raised.
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority conducts some drug tests at the under-18 national championships, but not the lower grades.
Veteran Geelong Falcons regional manager Michael Turner said he took offence at the notion of illicit drug use in the TAC Cup.
"Categorically, absolutely not. I have run the Geelong Falcons for AFL Victoria and the AFL for 18 years and they are fantastic kids -- very disciplined kids," Turner said.
"In my time I have never seen any evidence of anything like that. So for anyone to say that ... it's absolute rubbish. I'm offended by it."
Turner said TAC Cup players received the same education on drugs, alcohol, racism and respect and responsibility as AFL footballers.
"What happens after they get drafted and they grow up is an issue for whatever club and environment they are in. So I can't speak for that, because they are adults."
Federal legislation states that ASADA agents can drug test any sporting competition at any level at any time.
A memo to TAC Cup clubs last year said testing was "unlikely to occur" at club level, but would take place at the elite national championships.
Dandenong Stingrays regional manager Mark Wheeler said he had never encountered drug use among his players.
But another TAC Cup official, who asked not be named, said club's would be naive to think junior players were not experimenting with drugs, alcohol and gambling.
"There is a lot of temptation out there -- that's just a reality," he said.
But he said the structure and discipline of junior sport gave troubled kids a better chance in life.
Asked about the drugs in football debate, Delahunty told the Herald Sun: "Drugs of any kind are not welcome in sport. However, this is a matter for the AFL as the controlling body."
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