Doping in sports: Why football players are common offenders

The life of a U SPORTS football player is a busy one, filled with practices, the desire to win for their school, the possibility of being drafted by a Canadian Football League (CFL) team—all on top of the responsibilities of being a university student. Throw in an injury and things get even more stressful—and stress can make one do drastic things, like taking a banned substance to improve athletic performance.

Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) are a way to improve one’s athletic ability and recover from an injury, but can damage one’s reputation if caught.

PEDs, or doping, have been a controversial subject in sports leagues for years, and U SPORTS is no exception. The subject was recently brought to light at Carleton University, as Ravens football player Daniel McNicoll was sanctioned for having D- and L-amphetamine—components of Adderall—in his system. The drug can give a boost in energy and helps the user focus.

One U SPORTS soccer player is currently serving a sanction for doping until April 2017.

 

—Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s Canadian Sport Sanction Registry

Reasons for doping

Paul Melia, president and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), said football is the largest offender for doping at the U SPORTS level.

Melia said the reasons for doping may vary among athletes, but a major factor is associated with the win-at-all-costs mentality that athletes are brought up with.

“There’s a great deal of emphasis on winning and that becomes the primary goal . . . So a young athlete, coming up in a system that rewards winning above all else, may be getting the message [to do] whatever it takes to win,” he said.

Terry Orlick, a health sciences professor at the University of Ottawa and former sports psychology professor at the University of Alberta, said many athletes see sports as the most important aspect of their lives, and are therefore willing to risk everything to gain a competitive advantage.

“They’re putting in a load of time, for a lot of them it’s the centre of their life, even if they’re not at the professional level,” he said.

Orlick said football would typically have more cases of doping because of the physical and muscle-oriented nature of the game, and because the sport is among the most popular at the Canadian university level.

Consequences for doping

Jennifer Brenning, Athletics director at Carleton, said a major reason football players are common offenders is because U SPORTS football is a pathway to the CFL, and prior to April 2016 the CFL didn’t recognize U SPORTS anti-doping rule violations.

“The CFL had very loose doping policies. They’ve tried to strengthen that with their players’ association and now recognize U SPORTS sanctions; they had not in the past,” Brenning said.

The CFL announced in April 2016 they would revamp their drug policy, which includes recognizing U SPORTS sanctions. There are currently 13 U SPORTS football players serving sanctions for breaking the CCES rules of conduct.

Sanctions within U SPORTS are dealt with through the CCES. Brenning said Carleton pays a fee to receive education and drug testing through the centre.

The CCES website stated a “sanction is imposed once an anti-doping rule violation has been determined, either when an athlete admits to a violation and waives the right to a hearing, or by an independent arbitrator after a doping tribunal hearing.”

It is also stated that the most common penalty from sanctions are a period of ineligibility from the sport. The length of the punishment is determined by whether it was clearly intentional, repeat violations, if someone aided the athlete in using the drug, whether substance was a specified product—an obvious PED or just an extremely strong testosterone pill, for example—and whether the athlete proved they had no knowledge that what they were taking was illegal.

“There’s a great deal of emphasis on winning and that becomes the primary goal . . . So a young athlete coming up in a system that rewards winning above all else, may be getting the message [to do] whatever it takes to win.”

 

— Paul Melia,

president and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport

Although the CCES controls sanctions for doping, there have been times when the school itself has taken action.

In 2010, drug test results on the University of Waterloo (UW) football team found nine players had been doping. In response, the university suspended its program for the 2010 season and conducted an internal investigation into the subject.

“Upon finding the nine players on the football team that were involved with doping, the university shut the program down for a year,” Melia said. “So that was a pretty strong statement, that there was no room for that at their university.”

Brenning said if Carleton faced the same situation, extreme measures would likely be taken as well.

“I would think if there was a significant issue with the program there would be significant consequences,” she said.

Melia said the response by UW sent an important message to athletes within the program and reflects that the responsibility is also on the school, coaches, and team to provide consequences for doping.

“I think it’s always a matter of creating the right environment and culture within the sport and within a team,” he said. “That often starts with the coach and with the team doctors and trainers and team leaders.”

Melia said it’s critical for there to be open dialogue on the issues of using PEDs.

“I think it’s important to establish that kind of a culture to speak openly about the issue and make it clear from a coach’s perspective where you stand on the issue and not be afraid to talk about it,” he said.

Doping in other sports

Although football is the largest culprit, it isn’t alone in U SPORTS substance violations, and other sports use different drugs that amplify athletic performance.

Melia said football is the biggest abuser of anabolic steroids because of the drive for increased muscle mass, while sports that require aggression will favour amphetamines and cocaine.

Endurance sports like running are often found using drugs like Erythropoietin (EPO), which regulates red blood cells and helps the body take in more oxygen, according to Melia.

But Melia said athletes who are prescribed various drugs for health reasons can have them approved so they aren’t tested and punished for taking their medication.

Drug regulations and their effects

Melia said marijuana has been a recurring drug detected in athletes’ systems, although its threshold regulations have been lowered to avoid penalizing casual users.

Despite the lower regulations, Melia said marijuana has a long threshold for staying in the body, so athletes who use it casually can still be caught and punished even if they weren’t using it for reasons related to their respective sport.

“An athlete could have been using it recreationally at a party on a weekend, and the following weekend tested in competition and detection of cannabis might happen,” he said.

The use of PEDs is not only banned for the competitive advantage it offers, but also for the health effects the drugs can have on athletes.

The dangers of PEDs can include impotence, worsening acne, balding, and steroid rage, according to Drugfree.org. They can also stunt growth in adolescents, cause heart and liver damage, and lead to an increased risk of blood clots.

But PED regulations aren’t without their critics. Arden Zwelling, a writer at Sportsnet Magazine, said he believes there haven’t been enough studies into the drugs being used themselves.

“My opinion on performance enhancing drugs, on steroids, is that we need to study them more, we need to run more clinical trials and tests,” he said.

13 U SPORTS football players are currently facing anti-doping rule violations under the Canadian Anti-Doping Program, one of whom has a life ban.

 

—Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s Canadian Sport Sanction Registry

Zwelling said the current mandate in sports is to assume all drugs in sports are bad, they shouldn’t be used, tested or studied. He said this current system is counterproductive, and forces athletes who are willing to use PEDs for various reasons to go to dangerous underground markets.

“You know they’re not getting it over the counter, you know they’re not getting it from legitimate doctors,” he said.

Zwelling said a lot of growth hormone drugs help athletes recover from injuries, and considering the amount of injuries football players receive, these could potentially be a useful tool. But he said the only way to figure out a system like this is for the drugs to be tested, and to do that they must be tolerated.

“I would say that generally, I’m in favour of studying drugs more and testing drugs more, and the only way to do that is to lift prohibitions on them and lift the blockades on them,” Zwelling said.

Orlick said the reasons athletes take PEDs is similar to why some don’t take them—it’s connected to their pride, whether they believe they’re not good enough and need the added push, or whether they want to earn everything on their own.

It’s that same pride that leads athletes to show up to the numerous practices each week, to want to win for their school, and to someday make it in the CFL draft.

But it’s the athlete’s choice how they get there.

– Graphics by Christophe Young