A tale of two codes: the Australian Football League and National Rugby League drug controversies

Davies, Chris;Dunbar, Neil

Abstract

An investigation in the early 2010s by the Australian Crime Commission indicated the potential use of performance-enhancing drugs in both the Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL). A subsequent 2 years investigation by the Australian Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) resulted in NRL players at Cronulla receiving backdated penalties in late 2014 for the inadvertent use of banned peptides. The investigation into AFL club, Essendon, took a little longer, one reason being the Federal Court action taken by Essendon and its coach, James Hird, which upheld the validity of the joint ASADA-AFL investigation. In March 2015 it was announced by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal that it was not comfortably satisfied Essendon players had been administered banned substances. The investigation has highlighted that ASADA was not fully resourced to carry out such involved investigations, though the Federal Court has held it can validly carry out joint investigations with sport governing bodies.

Journal

The International Sports Law Journal

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ISBN/ISSN

2213-5154

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Issue

3-4

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Publisher

Springer

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DOI

10.1007/s40318-015-0076-6