AFL MUST GET THE DOPE ON ACCUSATIONS TO ENSURE PLAYERS' NOSES ARE CLEAN

After former Swan Dale Lewis claimed that 75 per cent of AFL players had
used recreational drugs, a familiar dance was performed yesterday by all
the interested parties.

Lewis stood somewhat nervously by his accusations but would not, and
perhaps could not, substantiate them. The AFL expressed outrage about the
tarnished reputations of its players. The Swans crossed their hearts and
declared they had never taken anything stronger than aspirin. Then everyone
held their breath and hoped the whole thing would go away.

In any case, where a sport's good name is associated with the evils - or
simply the everyday realities - of the outside world, the knee-jerk
reaction of officials is usually the same: issue a point-blank denial and
aim an elephant gun at the messenger.

Self-confessed steroid abuser Werner Reiterer and a host of obscure
sub-continental cricketers know how the system works.

However, no matter how flimsy the allegations, surely the AFL should first
ask if it is immune to a problem that has affected other high-profile
sports, including rugby league, and whether its systems of detection and
deterrence are sufficient before putting up the shutters.

Predictably, Lewis did not come to his press conference yesterday armed
with the phone numbers of his former teammates' supposed suppliers. Firm
statements in the morning paper became much more vague generalisations.

Given his experience with the media, Lewis must have been well aware his
words would create controversy. He should have been better prepared to back
his claims.

Lewis has certainly not endeared himself to his former teammates, who now
suffer guilt by association. Given he spent 12 years with the Swans, it
would seem extraordinary if at least some of the drug-taking Lewis "did not
see" and "only heard about" did not take place on home turf.

Even if Lewis's claims are true, they do not indicate that drug use in the
AFL is at epidemic proportions. Even the most straight-laced of
non-inhaling AFL commissioners would be aware that a high proportion of
players have at least puffed a joint. Perhaps even 75 per-cent of them.

However, given the problems that have occurred in other sports when highly
paid athletes have been exposed to more dangerous drug use, the AFL is
beholden to find out if the problem goes deeper than a few players puffing
on an occasional reefer on an end-of-season trip.

The AFL is proud of a record that shows only two positive tests - one for a
steroids, the other for amphetamines - in eight years of testing. However,
given it abandoned out-of-season testing for recreational drugs more than a
year ago, it can no longer claim to have the situation totally in hand.

Having lambasted Lewis, the AFL's football operations manager, Andrew
Demetriou, made the extraordinary statement that the league was not
interested in what players did in their private lives.

This despite the fact the league is party to a code of conduct with the AFL
Players' Association that includes penalties for players found using
recreational drugs - even if that happens to happen in their own lounge
room on Boxing Day.

Demetriou also claimed the AFL's drug code was among the strongest in the
world. When it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, that may be true, but
given the decision to abandon out-of-season testing for recreational drugs
was based on a sharp decline in the use of cannabis, the league might as
well link its recreational drug policy to the sale of Bob Dylan records.

The anecdotal evidence - unsubstantiated as it may be - is that younger
players are now far more widely exposed to the use of designer drugs such
as ecstasy, speed and (far less frequently) cocaine. This is not just a
presumption in the National Rugby League, where two players were suspended
last year for using ecstasy and cocaine.

There is no suggestion as yet drug use in the AFL is any greater than in
society as a whole. But the AFL and the AFL Players' Association are
committed to keeping their players' noses clean. They are beholden to do
whatever it takes to ensure that is the case, no matter what the cost.

After all, on the same day the AFL was dismissing Lewis's claim out of
hand, it wrote a blank cheque for former Crows chief executive Bill Sanders
to hold an inquiry into umpiring, a department where the average fan might
suggest drug use has been rife for years.