AFL changes policy after crisis meeting

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has welcomed a federal investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Australian sport.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou fronts the media in Canberra today. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: Herald Sun

UPDATE: THE AFL will introduce a raft of instant changes to league policies in a sudden bid to stamp out alleged doping in the wake of the shocking Australian Crime Commission report today.

The league held an emergency commission meeting today and will now conduct background checks on all sports scientists, high-performance managers as well as introduce a whistleblower service.

That will give officials the power to dob in suspected drug cheats.

"It would be fair to say that after today there will be people at all of our clubs at all levels, which would include players, that would have had a wake-up call,'' AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said tonight.

"If you are out there and you think you can run the gauntlet in cheating in this system … make no mistake you will be caught.

"And after today make absolutely no mistake, you will be caught."

The four key members of each club – the president, coach, football manager and chief executive – will be forced to meet with the AFL Commission as soon as possible, while the AFL will implement a total audit of all drugs given to players.

"We're putting all clubs on notice that they will have to advise the AFL of all drugs and substances they are providing to their players and the use of those substances will be subject to AFL approval," AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said.

"We will instruct AFL medical commissioners to meet all club doctors to review their practices and their supervision of treatments and report back to the AFL Commission."

The league will also ramp up its club registry to have all staff who have contact with players, including sports scientists, listed.

"And their will be appropriate background checks, which includes registering your background qualifications with sports you may have worked in, your CV etc," Demetriou said.

"We've worked closely with ASADA and we've got a very sophisticated testing scheme.

"There are some drugs being used today which can't be tested for."

Demetriou said the league would heavily rely on gathering intelligence to expose drug cheats, citing the eventual success in bringing down Lance Armstrong.

"It proves as good as it (the AFL's drug testing) is today we need to do more, because the scientists and these people who are peddling and experimenting are ahead of everyone else," he said.

The league boss would not comment further on the Essendon probe but said the AFL was acting swiftly today because "there's no time to waste".

He admitted he did not know how much cleaning up was required in the AFL, but said the league had taken a proactive approach since implementing the integrity unit in 2008.

Earlier, Demetriou welcomed a federal investigation into the wide-spread use of performance-enhancing drugs in Australian sport.

Speaking in Canberra today, Demetriou said briefings with the Australian Crime Commission about the use of peptides and hormones across a number of professional sporting codes had come as a shock.

"We've always had a very thorough and very rigorous testing regime," Demetriou said during an explosive press conference at Parliament House lifting the lid on a national investigation targeting drugs in sport and match fixing.

Australian sport's darkest day

"…when you start to think about the sophistication of drugs and how the scientists are ahead of the testers and, that there's tests that can't actually catch particular sorts of drugs, then you do have to rely on intelligence gather – we've done everything we can but we can do more.

"Today is the day we draw a line in the sand and collectively we address and tackle (drugs in sport because) sport is too important in this community."

But Demetriou rejected claims the Essendon doping scandal was born out of meetings with the Australian Crime Commission.

How the codes responded

The ACC is a multi-agency law enforcement body, including Federal Police and border protection, with coercive powers of investigation.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said state and territory-based law enforcement agencies would continue the ACC's investigation which found organised crime cartels had infiltrated professional sporting codes.

"The findings are shocking and they will disgust Australian sports fans," Clare said.

"The evidence to date is not the majority but we're talking multiple athletes across a number of codes.

Key points that stunned a nation

"In some cases players are being administered with drugs that have not yet been approved for human use.

"Don't underestimate how much we know," he warned. "Come forward, before you get a knock at the door."

Demetriou said the AFL Integrity Unit would work with the ACC and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in weeding out the drug cheats in the system.

- with Gilbert Gardiner

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