With the testing of young rugby players on the way and schools preparing for cup competition, the concern about taking supplements is back centre stage

THE STARTLED earwigs defence won’t be accepted. This problem is nothing new. Schools’ rugby players will eventually be tested under the stringent World Anti-Doping (Wada) code and if they are taking supplements that have ingredients on the banned list someone, somewhere will, eventually, be caught and suspended.

Their name and that of their school will, most probably, enter the public domain.

And for a while, it will seem like the world has stopped to stare.

It happened to 30-year-old former professional rugby player Michael Carroll after an AIL game this season. It was a mistake rather than doping, but a 12-month ban still followed. Carroll was mature enough, at the tail end of his career, to handle the situation but it would be very different for an 18-year-old.

When accepting his punishment, and admitting a lack of diligence when checking the over-the-counter supplement he ingested, Carroll also highlighted something the dogs on the street could have told us over the past 15 years.

“It is an issue within the schools now. Lads from a young age aren’t just happy hitting the gym. They are taking supplements. There is pressure to be bigger, stronger and faster; to be better rugby players, so these supplements are widely available and they really do need to be educated about what they are taking because there is so much stuff out there on the market that is on the prohibited list and is readily available.

“And they just need to be wise to it because for this to happen to a young lad it would be a black cloud over his career. It would always follow him. Something definitely needs to be done in that regard.”

The Irish Sports Council intends to start testing schoolboy rugby players in the near future. Clearly, it won’t be happening this year as no schools have received prior notice.

For this article, 10 coaches were contacted about their school’s policy with regards the use of supplements. The seven who responded stated their pupils are strongly discouraged from any such activity. In many schools, supplements of any kind are not allowed on campus.

The IRFU line is also clear: “The use of protein supplements should not be recommended by schools, coaches, teachers or others involved in the training of young rugby players.

The union “strongly advises against the use of nutritional ergogenic aids, in particular creatine, in young rugby players under 18 years of age.”

There’s that dirty word. Creatine. This nitrogenous organic acid occurs naturally in vertebrates and helps to supply energy to all cells in the body, primarily muscle.

It should be noted that creatine supplements are not on the Wada list of banned substances and can be readily purchased. The general concern is the long-term effect of something that supplies between two and three times the amount of energy that can be gleaned from a very high protein diet.

All the coaches contacted for this article spoke of the impressive lengths taken to dissuade students from taking supplements, while educating them, their parents, teachers and fellow coaches of the alternatives.

However, when the sugar-coating is licked off this topic there remains a very clear and present problem in Irish underage rugby.

But it is hard for people to go on the record.

One prominent schools rugby coach admitted the seriousness of the problems within the schools system these past 15 years: “You can see the kids that are on creatine, or anything that is not natural, as their faces have pimples and then there is the temper – the slightest thing and they lose the head.

“We did have a problem with it with some individuals a couple of years ago and had to take a heavy line.”

The competitive levels of schools rugby is what makes these competitions so captivating. Despite the ever increasing sourcing of players through the youths set-up (in a trawl for the next Sean O’Brien or Shane Horgan) the main well of Irish talent is still sourced in the major schools.

The investment in preparations for “The Cup” is vast.

“This competition has gone so competitive at the moment with this warm weather training and the amount of money that goes into it,” said another coach who wished to remain anonymous. “There are schools who are not playing to the same rules they are obviously getting an unfair advantage.

“The size of some of these lads is incredible. It can’t all be natural.”

The problem, as Terenure College senior coach Des Thornton noted, is prohibiting something that is not illegal.

“It is very hard to police because they (the students) can buy it over the counter,” said Thornton. “A lot of them are watching the television and have the idea that they should be getting bigger and stronger. We actively discourage it and have done as much as we could possibly do.

“Apart from everything else, it’s very expensive. If they put the money into proper food it is more advantageous but you are battling against advertisements that are in their faces all the time.”

Terenure, like most schools, utilise medical and fitness professionals to advise their pupils and parents. They can even turn to their own heroes. Former Ireland fullback Girvan Dempsey returned to his alma mater to discourage the use of supplements.

“The only danger to testing is have you seen that banned list? It is like a book,” Thornton continued. “Some kid who is on a cough bottle could test positive.”

That is the next challenge after prevention. Education.

Most schools strive to keep their strength and conditioning programmes in-house to avoid teenagers seeking independent advice in local gyms. Terenure have qualified experts in former pupils Dermot Blaney and Risteard Byrne. Blackrock College, for another example, turned to Harm Jager, a parent but also a strength and conditioning coach who was on the Dutch Waterpolo team at the 1984 Olympics.

“We have a very strict ‘no use of supplements’ policy within the school,” said Brendan McKeogh, gamesmaster at Cistercians, Roscrea – the 2011 Leinster senior cup runners-up. “If ever there was anyone caught taking them it would be confiscated straight away and the player would be referred on to professional medical personnel.

“We have had doctors and professionals in, like Brian O’Driscoll’s father (Dr Frank O’Driscoll), to talk to the boys about it. A lot of teams go down the line of match day boosters but we strictly stick to dioralyte, which is just a water supplement that replaces nutrients and minerals.”

McKeogh highlighted another problem that is very difficult to combat: the parent. “If an 18-year-old goes to a local GP and is prescribed something in conjunction with their parents we would find it very difficult to prevent someone taking a supplement in those circumstances. We would be very concerned about something like that. We brought in a nutritionist to speak to the whole school to show natural sources of protein. We hope that might be more productive than going down the road of GPs.”

St Michael’s College introduced a zero tolerance policy to supplements three years ago. “We noticed the rugby players had the supplement tubs, creatine, in their lockers,” said senior coach and former Ireland international Kelvin Leahy.

“If their lockers were full they would be put up on top of them for every passing student to see. That was the norm. We decided to change that. Yes, the net effect is they may be taking it at home so we also educate the parents. It is no longer evident around the school and that includes former students coming in to use our facilities.

“Parents have definitely supported this. There was a process of education. We had 70 students playing rugby in the senior cycle and their parents come in for a talk by Jean Murphy, a nutritionist recommended by Phil Lawlor in the Leinster Branch (domestic rugby manager).

Leahy admitted the landscape has changed dramatically in recent years as some players hope to make a career out of rugby. “We do have a responsibility to allow a fella aim towards professionalism,” Leahy continued. “But we also had to draw the line somewhere. And it is a very definitive line in St Michael’s. Do your exercise and eat really well.

“We can’t say 100 per cent that fellas are not taking supplements but they are not doing it in the school. If it is to be done it must be done under medical supervision and we don’t have the facilities to watch these guys like they could be in a professional environment like Leinster.”

The fear for some teenagers is that they won’t be physically developed enough to be taken into the professional system. But that’s why there are sub-academies in each province. If a player has the potential and correct attitude, but lacks power, there is a ready made process to make him bigger and stronger.

IRFU GUIDELINES ON SUPPLEMENTS

1 Young rugby players should focus on good eating and drinking practices to support optimum performance.

2 The use of protein supplements should not be recommended by schools, coaches, teachers or others involved in the training of young rugby players.

3 The IRFU strongly advises against the use of nutritional ergogenic aids (creatine, Caffeine tablets, fat burners etc), in particular creatine, in young rugby players under 18 years of age.

4 Young rugby players with medical conditions (for example diabetes, asthma, coeliac disease and nutritional allergies) should receive appropriate medical and nutritional advice to assist their optimum performance.

IRFU GUIDELINES ON CREATINE

Creatine is probably the sports supplement that has received most attention in the last 10 years. Some facts about creatine include:

* It is not illegal in Ireland and is not a banned substance (World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

* Performance benefits can occur in some adult athletes.

* Its long-term safety is not known.

* Recognised adverse effects can include gastrointestinal discomfort, muscle cramps and headache.