GAA player who served unpublicised doping ban was “victim of bad luck”
The GAA player failed the dope test 13 months ago. He had served his ban without any public announcement being made. However, a newspaper broke the story on Sunday and since then the key stakeholders have issued statements.
The GAA player who returned a positive dope test result and then served a ban that was not publicised at the time was the victim of bad luck, according to anonymous sources who have spoken to the media.
Kerry footballer Brendan O’Sullivan returned an adverse test result in April of last year. He was tested after the Allianz League Final against Dublin.
He served a portion of a ban before being cleared to return to playing again for a period as he appealed.
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However, it was not until The Sunday Independent covered the case of the player, who was not named in the newspaper report, that details emerged in recent days.
However, Sport Ireland has yet to issue a reasoned decision, or final report, on the case. The substance at the centre of the O’Sullivan case is stimulant methylhexaneamine.
Sport Ireland said it accepted O’Sullivan’s was a contaminated product case. It added O'Sullivan “bore no significant fault or negligence and (it) reduced the applicable sanction to 7 months”.
However, the fact Sport Ireland, the Kerry County Board and GAA had made no comment on the case and that neither the ban – served in two parts – nor any other detail of the case was released publicly has raised eyebrows.
Some of the media reportage on the case has presented O’Sullivan as an unfortunate victim of bad luck.
The Irish Examiner today reported that sources familiar with O’Sullivan’s case said he had had a ban imposed “because he didn’t like the taste of caffeine gels”.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources saying that when O’Sullivan had gone looking for an alternative to the caffeine gels he did not go through the support staff working with the senior Kerry footballers. And he ended up sourcing a product that was contaminated.
Elsewhere in the same Irish Examiner article it states that when the supplement O’Sullivan had used was tested, it was confirmed to be contaminated.
This, the newspaper’s sources said, was a “rookie mistake”.
The article continued: “If Brendan is guilty of anything it is not taking due care and attention and going through the proper channels,” confirmed a source familiar with the case. “He is a victim of complete bad luck.”
However, many people outside the GAA – including those from the cycling community on social media – have questioned why no public statement was made before now; not by the player but by the agencies who make up the anti-doping and sport governance community in Ireland.
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Since the case was on Sunday revealed to be a GAA player, by the Sunday Independent, both Sport Ireland and the Kerry County Board have issued statements naming the player as O’Sullivan.
That details have emerged in the way they have is a blow to Sport Ireland.
The fact the process has taken so long, that bans were imposed, lifted, appealed and re-imposed, all without any public statement being made, has served to damage Sport Ireland.
Timeline in the case
Sport Ireland said a ban of seven months was imposed last year after it accepted the case centred on a contaminated product.
It added that in January of this year O’Sullivan did not accept that seven-month sanction.
The case was then referred to the GAA anti-doping committee and it imposed a six-month ban after a hearing on February 13th.
However, O’Sullivan again declined to accept that ban and he appealed it. This time it was appealed to the Irish Sport Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel. It held a hearing in March 30th and imposed a 21-week ban.
O’Sullivan had served 11-weeks banned last year; from May 13th to July 28th.
However, it was lifted when the case was classified as one involving a contaminated product and with the appeals yet to take place. He returned to competition and played for Kerry.
It meant when O’Sullivan was banned for 21 weeks at the end on March 30th last, he already had 11 weeks served from last year.
The 10 weeks that remained did not start on March 30th when the 21-week ban was handed down.
Instead, the 10 weeks that remained to be served were back-dated by about five weeks; to February 26th, the last time he had played for Kerry.
It meant by the time the final ban was imposed, there remained just five weeks to serve.
For its part, Sport Ireland said the anti doping disciplinary panel would shortly publish its ruling, or reasoned decision, in the case.
“Sport Ireland cannot comment on the detail of the decision of the independent Irish Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel until such time as that reasoned decision is received,” it said.
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