A year-long investigation into Australian sport has revealed widespread doping and links to organised crime.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has welcomed a federal investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Australian sport.
The Australian Crime Commission has released a report into a 12-month investigation into the integrity of Australian sport. L-R: Jason Clare, ACC CEO John Lawler, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and ARU's boss Bill Pulver. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: The Daily Telegraph
AUSTRALIAN sporting bodies have been accused of not doing enough to address cheating after an explosive government report was released today.
Illegal drugs are widespread throughout Australian sport and are being facilitated by sports scientists, high-level coaches and sports staff, a 12-month investigation by the Australian Crime Commission has found.
Organised crime groups are also involved in the frequent practice which, in some cases, see players administered with substances not yet approved for human use.
The ACC also found evidence of "concerning" personal relationships between professional athletes and crime identities and groups that may have resulted in match-fixing and the fraudulent manipulation of betting markets.
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, said the findings were alarming, but did not come as a shock to him.
"I'm not surprised,'' Mr Fahey told ABC television.
"It seems to be history in sport that you'll address these issues only when something surfaces and you'll try to avoid it until that time.
"That was the case in the Olympic movement with doping. It's the case in cycling, we've seen so much of in recent times.
"Now sadly it's the case it seems here in Australia."
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Mr Fahey said the Australian Crime Commission findings would tarnish Australia's reputation as a nation that valued sportsmanship and fair play.
But he said there would be even darker days to come if sporting bodies did not respond strongly enough to today's revelations.
He said they needed to be asking how the situation had been allowed to reach this point.
"The organisations themselves have to ask a lot of these questions of themselves,'' he said.
"If you've got a culture within any organisation that believes it may have a problem but does nothing about it or doesn't wish to unearth it you can cover it up.''
Mr Fahey said the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) was a very good agency and Australia had some very decent sports administrators but it was now clear that doping here was as bad as anywhere else.
Mr Fahey also said that analytical testing, such as taking blood and urine samples, was limited as a method to catch drug cheats.
He said non-analytical methods, such as the investigation which uncovered Lance Armstrong's systematic performance-enhancing drug use, was a "far more intelligent approach to catching people''.
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After the release of today's report, Justice Minister Jason Clare encouraged anyone involved to come forward "before you get a knock at the door''.
"The findings are shocking and will disgust Australian sports fans,'' he said.
"It's cheating but it's worse than that.
"It's cheating with the help of criminals.''
In the wake of the report, the Victorian Government has announced the formation of a new Victoria Police taskforce to try to stamp out doping and corruption in sport.
In South Australia, police said they had no current investigations into the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Government ministers and the heads of Australian sporting codes are talking tough about widespread criminal elements in sport.
'Shocking' cases of drug use and possible match-fixing
Mr Clare said the investigation had uncovered "shocking" instances of drug use across a range of codes.
"The work has found the use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones is widespread," he said.
"The evidence to date is not the majority but we're talking multiple athletes across a number of codes.
"In some cases players are being administered with drugs that have not yet been approved for human use."
Mr Clare said the ACC had uncovered one possible example of match-fixing that is currently under investigation.
In the wake of the report, the NRL has dispatched private investigators to scour Manly's records of supplement purchases.
The development comes after revelations that sports scientist Stephen Dank worked with Manly before going to AFL club Essendon.
Manly targeted by ARLC investigators
Essendon is facing claims that players were injected with substances against their will, while the Herald Sun revealed this morning that club coach James Hird was linked with a biochemist in 2004 who was later convicted of drug trafficking.
The ACC report says the use of peptides and hormones has been identified or is suspected in a number of professional sporting codes.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has welcomed a federal investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Australian sport.
Sponsorship risk
The repercussions of the report are already being felt, with NRL naming rights sponsor Telstra saying it may reconsider its financial support for Australian sport.
Telstra chief executive David Thodey indicated the company's sponsorships could be threatened if doping or links to crime were confirmed.
"Our brand image is very tightly tied up with those who we sponsor so if there is untoward behaviour that we don't agree with we make our position very clear, so we'll always do that," he told reporters.
Telstra has been the naming rights sponsor for the NRL since 2001, and renewed the deal, worth more than $100 million, for another five years in December 2012.
The telco also has sponsorship deals with the AFL and Australian Olympic Committee.
Sports scientists 'increasingly influential'
The ACC report said sports scientists hold an increasingly influential place at clubs.
"Some sports scientists and doctors are experimenting on professional sportspersons in an effort to determine if particular substances can improve performance without being detected."
The use of illicit drugs in some sporting codes was also considered to be "significantly higher'' than official statistics.
The Commission found organised crime was involved in the domestic distribution of PIEDs (Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs), which includes peptides and hormones, or anabolic steroids.
It said they were exploiting a loophole that meant people who supplied substances prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Agency code did not commit a crime, even though athletes who used the substances faced substantial sporting bans.
How the codes responded
"If left unchecked, it is likely that organised criminals will increase their presence in the distribution of peptides and hormones in Australia,'' the report said.
Intelligence confirmed the use of peptides in major sporting codes, but there were suggestions "individuals in a range of other codes'' were also using.
Sub-elite athletes competing at state and club level were also using peptides and hormones in the hope it would give them an edge.
It said professional sport was highly vulnerable to criminal infiltration through legitimate business with sports franchises and other associations, facilitated by the lack of due diligence by clubs and sports bodies when entering into business relationships.
The Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and other authorities will investigate the explosive findings.
Releasing the ACC report, Mr Clare said: "Multiple athletes from a number of clubs in major Australian sporting codes are suspected of currently using or having previously used peptides, potentially constituting anti-doping rule violations.''
"Official from clubs have also been identified as administering, via injections and intravenous drips, a variety of substances.''
Justice Minister Jason Clare speaking at a press conference after the release of an ACC report into drug and crime links to Australian sport. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Limited
'We will catch you'
Federal sports minister Kate Lundy said the government was moving to introduce tough new measures to crack down on the use of banned drugs and unethical behaviour in sport.
"Today is about the integrity of sport in Australia," Lundy said.
"... If you want to dope and cheat, we will catch you. If you want to fix a match, we will catch you. And as you can see by the investigations that have taken place, that we are well on the way to seeking out and hunting down those who will dope and cheat."
Lundy had introduced legislation this week to strengthen ASADA's investigative powers and doubled its investigative resources.
"If persons of interest refuse to cooperate with ASADA investigations they will be liable for civil penalties," she said.
The Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) has agreed to several measures to assist the crackdown.
The Coalition represents all the major sporting organisations in Australia, including the AFL, NRL, FFA, ARU and Cricket Australia.
Victoria police say the issue of organised crime links to the supply of performance enhancing drugs in sport is a legal grey area
The individual bodies are to:
- Establish integrity units to deal with doping, betting and ethical issues;
- Cooperate with ASADA and law enforcement agencies in a joint-investigation;
- Call on their athletes to come forward and own up to wrongdoing and cooperate with investigators to possibly reduce sanctions;
- Enact a multi-code policy to share information and implement doping sanctions across codes;
- Have zero tolerance for any support staff involved in pedaling inappropriate substances and help ensure they are not employed in other codes.
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Ms Lundy said last night a recent review of Cycling Australia conducted by former justice James Woods QC showed there was plenty of work to be done to address the challenges of doping in sport.
Senator Lundy said revelations from international cycling showed that doping could be well organised and systemic and conducted in parallel with a comprehensive testing regime.
"With doping becoming increasingly sophisticated, it is less likely that anti-doping violations will be detected through analytical means alone," she said.
In a second reading speech that was tabled in parliament yesterday to introduce the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment Bill 2013, Senator Lundy said analytical testing would remain a fundamental and valuable means to address doping.
But the US Anti-Doping Agency was only able to establish a case against Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service cycling team through non-analytical investigation, collecting sworn testimony and documentary evidence.
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Senator Lundy said the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) currently had no power to require somebody to attend an interview or produce documents and had to rely on their cooperation.
The new bill will give ASADA the power to require someone to attend an interview or produce documents.
The ASADA chief executive will be able to issue disclosure notices requiring a person to comply, with a fine of up to $5100 for people who don't.
Senator Lundy said a key strength of ASADA's investigative capabilities was its relationship with agencies such as Customs and the Therapeutic Goods Administration. That would be strengthened with an amendment to postal legislation to allow information sharing between ASADA and Australia Post.
The legislation also gives the ASADA chief executive the ability to engage directly with sporting bodies on the issue of sanctions for those who commit doping violations.
"The message is clear - with these amendments, athletes and support persons who are involved in doping have a greater chance of being caught. People will have no option but to assist ASADA in undertaking its investigations and intelligence activities," Senator Lundy said.
Key points of the report that shocked a nation
Read the full Crime Commission report here
Bombers' former sports scientist says jabs clean
Essendon players forced to take injections
Replay today's dramatic press conference in the video player below
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