Paul Kimmage: There is no good reason to avoid dope testing in schools rugby
“You should have seen some of these kids,” the parent said. “I know what steroids look like, and I’m pretty sure I was looking at steroids.”
And now, in a move that will set Ireland apart from their brethren in the other home countries, drug testing will be introduced at schools’ level. It is entirely appropriate. The impetus for this is coming from the Irish Sports Council ... Una May, the director of the council’s anti-doping unit, says it is not about trying to catch kids out, rather to educate and regulate and save them from straying down the wrong path.
Rugby may not be Dr May’s big thing but she knows an anomaly when she sees one, and it doesn’t make sense to have underage athletes tested in other sports — camogie and cricket for example would have lots of teenagers playing on adult teams, and in both swimming and gymnastics it has been standard practice — and not rugby.
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