BCCI rejects 'whereabouts' testing

[four_or_six]

This guilty until proven innocent crap is unnecessary and does more harm to the image of sports than actual steroids.

It's not crap, the premise is exactly the same as regular drug-testing.

 

[sirdj]

BTW if Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Dhoni are supposed to be in Bhatinda, Mungher and Jhoomri Tallaiya respective and are not....how are the WADA supposed to keep a tab on them?

 

[Naumaan]

ammm what to say
well i can't support ICC & i cant support BCCI too
well what i think should happen is that Home Boards should take responsibility for making playera available in 24 hours

 

[marc71178]

BTW if Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Dhoni are supposed to be in Bhatinda, Mungher and Jhoomri Tallaiya respective and are not....how are the WADA supposed to keep a tab on them?

They're not keeping tabs on them, but if they select those players for a random out of competition test and they're not there then they get a strike against their name.

I'm not sure how many tests the average athlete gets in a year but don't imagine it being that many.

 

[shivfan]

The BCCI don't know where the players are at any given point of time when they are not on a tour.

Are you fabricating information now to suit your argument?


The security issue is just one of the many arguments given, and by that I don't mean it is not a valid one.
How does one update WADA with a change in schedule? Do you log in via a VPN to a secure website and update your info? Do you call from a secured telephone line or do you call from a public phone booth to ensure that you are not being bugged?
You are either ignorant or pretending to be ignorant. So cricketers have Z grade security...which is like presidential security. Ask your Prime Minister to give out his whereabouts for the next 6 months and you will get your answer.

Upgrading is very easy for an athlete to do....

You give your schedule in three months in advance. Then, you can change it on a regular basis up to 24 hours in advance. You can change it by internet or by SMS, if you want. There are quite a few choices....

Let's not overdo the security concerns, because WADA has been handling drug-testing for athletes like the Israelis, and we know what happened at Munich in 1972. To date, they haven't leaked the information to terrorists.

 

[shivfan]

But you do have to work out a way of being able to test athletes any day of the year without prior warning. Unfortunately, however innocent these current sportsmen and women are, previously people have cheated in the off-season, and that's something I think we don't want to happen any more.

Exactly....

The 'whereabouts' rule has helped WADA tremendously in terms of helping to eliminate drug cheats from sports such as athletics, swimming and cycling. I, for one, would not like to see that rule rolled back to suit the lifestyle of some cricketing superstars.

I fully support WADA in retaining this rule for the Olympics. If cricketers don't like it, then maybe the ICC should just abandon any hopes of getting into the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games.

 

[silentstriker]

It's not crap, the premise is exactly the same as regular drug-testing.

And that's crap.

 

[four_or_six]

And that's crap.

So how do you suggest you drug-test atheletes? Only test them when you have suspicion? And what's allowed for suspicion... you can test Pakistani fast bowlers because they have previous? You can test Mitchell Johnson because he's muscly? You can test player x because a newspaper has printed allegations that they take recreational drugs? You test Flintoff if he plays the next test beacuse he's been injured? Cause that sounds like a witch-hunt, and I prefer the alternative where testing is allocated randomly by an independent organisation.

 

[Steulen]

This guilty until proven innocent crap is unnecessary and does more harm to the image of sports than actual steroids.



How so? It would be naive if they end up not being able to get away with it. We'll see what happens.

Their naivety is in that they think they have won if they get away with it. In fact getting away with it would have grave consequences for the position of cricket within the world of sports, effectively turning cricket into the drug-cheating pariah. Surely even the BCCI should not want this to happen.

 

[Steulen]

Good piece on this issue by Michael Atherton in the Times.

 

[shivfan]

Good piece on this issue by Michael Atherton in the Times.

I'm glad Atherton points out that India's cricketers are not alone in voicing their objections....

WADA's rules have worked for athletics, swimming and cycling so far. So, I wouldn't want to see them rolled back, just to accommodate some cricketers.

 

[Craig]

Elevated levels of exogenous rhEPO are able to be accurately measured (indirectly) in the blood up to two days after you stop taking it. It's detectable up until around two weeks after. Even if you take a Kg of diuretics before testing, you won't piss it out quick enough to be undetectable.

Couldn't you just micro dose?

 

[Craig]

The BCCI don't know where the players are at any given point of time when they are not on a tour.

Are you fabricating information now to suit your argument?


The security issue is just one of the many arguments given, and by that I don't mean it is not a valid one.
How does one update WADA with a change in schedule? Do you log in via a VPN to a secure website and update your info? Do you call from a secured telephone line or do you call from a public phone booth to ensure that you are not being bugged?
You are either ignorant or pretending to be ignorant. So cricketers have Z grade security...which is like presidential security. Ask your Prime Minister to give out his whereabouts for the next 6 months and you will get your answer.

Like shivfan said, they can log-in and update their details on online forms via their relevant sporting bodies website or do it by SMS or e-mail.

In Belgium, I think, an athlete is challenging WADA's 'whereabouts' clause in the European Court, so we'll soon find out....

Personally, I hope WADA's stringent policy is not rolled back, because they've done a lot to help clean up sports like athletics and swimming. If cricket authorities and cricketers don't want to comply, like FIFA they can go their separate ways, IMHO.

What sport is it? I know of a few Belgian cyclists have said the 'whereabouts' idea is crap, one of them was on a Russian team that tried to make their riders sign a contractual clause that if they tested positive, they would have to pay back 5x their salary as a fine. Not surprisingly some of them told their team bosses to GAGF and refused to sign such an agreement and left the team.

 

[Uppercut]

So how do you suggest you drug-test atheletes? Only test them when you have suspicion? And what's allowed for suspicion... you can test Pakistani fast bowlers because they have previous? You can test Mitchell Johnson because he's muscly? You can test player x because a newspaper has printed allegations that they take recreational drugs? You test Flintoff if he plays the next test beacuse he's been injured? Cause that sounds like a witch-hunt, and I prefer the alternative where testing is allocated randomly by an independent organisation.

If you can't do it without infringing horribly on people's privacy, you don't do it. It's as simple as that.

Nobody would accept that kind of treatment in any other walk of life. What if the government said we should all report to a high-ranking administrator saying where we are every single day in case we did something illegal? You wouldn't be having any of it, and you know it. Yet you still expect professional cricketers who have done nothing wrong except... be professional cricketers to put up with it.

Sports players are people, and wanting to rid a sport of drug abuse doesn't mean we can ask them to waive their basic human rights.

 

[shivfan]

Here's the story, Craig....

WADA "whereabouts" rule breaks EU laws - panel

"A legal challenge has been lodged in Belgium on behalf of 65 athletes, including cyclists and volleyball players, who argue the rule breaks EU privacy laws. FIFPro, the soccer players' union, is also mounting a case."

Uppercut, athletes like Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell argue that WADA testing is important, because it helps to keep the cheats out of athletics. Otherwise, these athletes, who are in their 20s, would probably be losing to athletes who are suddenly running faster in their 30s than they were in the 20s, and looking considerably bulked up too!

You will find a lot of athletes in track and field who fully support what WADA is doing....

 

[Uppercut]

Uppercut, athletes like Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell argue that WADA testing is important, because it helps to keep the cheats out of athletics. Otherwise, these athletes, who are in their 20s, would probably be losing to athletes who are suddenly running faster in their 30s than they were in the 20s, and looking considerably bulked up too!

You will find a lot of athletes in track and field who fully support what WADA is doing....

Of course there are, yeah. There is another side to the argument. But I don't think being content to have your privacy breached should be a preresequite to competing in any form of professional sport at a high level.

 

[sirdj]

Upgrading is very easy for an athlete to do....

You give your schedule in three months in advance. Then, you can change it on a regular basis up to 24 hours in advance. You can change it by internet or by SMS, if you want. There are quite a few choices....

Let's not overdo the security concerns, because WADA has been handling drug-testing for athletes like the Israelis, and we know what happened at Munich in 1972. To date, they haven't leaked the information to terrorists.

The Israeli atheletes do not have Z grade security when they are off season.....if you knew anything about Indian cricket, you would know what sort of security cordon is around certain players.

Lets not get into Israeli athletes and what happened to them at Munich. There are no current Israeli athletes of importance who have a death threat or kidnap threat on their heads.

 

[sirdj]

They're not keeping tabs on them, but if they select those players for a random out of competition test and they're not there then they get a strike against their name.

I'm not sure how many tests the average athlete gets in a year but don't imagine it being that many.

How does the WADA propose to go to Mungher, Bhatinda & Jhoomri Tallaiyya....to test these players I would like to know.

 

[marc71178]

I don't follow?

They'll go wherever the player tells them they'll be - as they've done to every other sportsman signed up to the code.

 

[sirdj]

I don't follow?

They'll go wherever the player tells them they'll be - as they've done to every other sportsman signed up to the code.

They're not reaching these places unless they ride a donkey.