POSTED: April 9th 2009
NewsUpdate
Message muddle in war on doping
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON: A solution to football’s objections to the ‘whereabouts’ stipulation in the WADA Code still appears a very long way off.
Representatives from world federation FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency met this week in Zurich but both sides emerged with remarkably different interpretations of what – if anything – had been achieved.
Even more surprising, WADA published on its own website FIFA's bullish summary of the talks without issuing a perspective from its own standpoint. This standpoint, judging from subsequent comments to SportsFeatures.com by WADA director-general David Howman is far removed from the FIFA spin.
Sparking the latest squabble between football and WADA was the January introduction of a refined code demanding that team sports nominate their elite players who should all be available every day for random testing.
FIFA, the European football authority UEFA, various national associations and players’ organisations, objected on varying grounds ranging from inconvenience to infringement of privacy. Howman responded that direct discussions would be preferable to a war of words through the media.
WADA had always accepted that a review of the practicalities of the refined ‘whereabouts’ rule would be essential after the first year. Whether it had wanted to open discussions quite as soon is open to doubt.
After Monday’s talks FIFA issued a statement which suggested that WADA had acquiesed with FIFA’s own preferred interpretation of the code.
'Easy to locate'
For example, FIFA claimed that “WADA acknowledged the new FIFA anti-doping regulations” and implied that WADA accepted the FIFA line that “in team sports such as football, it is sufficient to provide the whereabouts of a team, and not those of individual players, because players are most often with their team and are therefore easy to locate.”
FIFA added: “The new WADA rules provide for such team whereabouts reporting and this direction, which reflects the different approach for teams, is welcomed.”
The interpretation is clear. FIFA was suggesting that WADA had backed down from the concept of individual responsibility and that everything in the anti-doping garden was now rosy.
This was much further than Howman was prepared to go. He said: “I’d prefer to say that roses have been planted and now we have to see how they grow. The point is that, at the start of this year, the rules were changed and now we have to see how they are put into practice.
“We have always said we are happy to talk and work with everyone as we progress. There has been no backing-down. We have been having a sensible discussion round the table rather than through the media.”
Howman also insisted there had been no change of policy by WADA and that FIFA had undertaken to generate a register of elite individual players as required.
He added: “We always thought it would take a year to review the way the new code works in practical terms. It demands full player availability just as in every other sport throughout the year. There is no change in that.”
Howman also indicated WADA was not prepared to concede football’s demand that players be released from the ‘whereabouts’ regime during their close-season holidays.
WADA will face more resistance next week when a consultative panel is expected to report to the European Commission that the 'whereabouts' rule contravenes EU laws on data protection, privacy and freedom.
FIFA statement in full:
“In a working meeting at FIFA headquarters on Monday between the Chairman of the FIFA Medical Committee Dr Michel D’Hooghe, FIFA Chief Medical Officer Professor Jiri Dvorak and the Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) David Howman, WADA acknowledged the new FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations.
“FIFA is of the opinion that in team sports such as football, it is sufficient to provide the whereabouts of a team, and not those of individual players, because players are most often with their team and are therefore easy to locate.
“The new WADA rules provide for such team whereabouts reporting and this direction, which reflects the different approach for teams, is welcomed.
“The current FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations have been understood by WADA and will now be tested in practice, prior to reassessment for 2010. For all sports federations, this year is a period of evolution in the fight against doping, and it will be the practical implementation which is important now that new rules are in place.
“In addition, WADA was pleased with the continuation both of FIFA’s efforts in the fight against doping and its many medical programmes. The importance of close collaboration between the two organisations, particularly regarding research and education, was underlined by both parties.
“FIFA invited WADA to attend the FIFA Medical Network conference on 17-18 October and then the meeting of the FIFA Medical Committee on 19 October.”
Keywords · WADA · FIFA · UEFA · Howman · WADA code
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