With the recent embarrassment of the now disgraced Lance Armstrong, it has made me think of the lengths people will go, to succeed in sport. How many people are getting away with taking substances? How young are kids starting to play around with banned substances? If Armstrong could go under the radar for seven or more years, who else is lurking in the ever growing darkness?

Nowadays with all the rewards that come with sporting success, everyone wants to reach the top. Monetary gains can be huge along with the celebrity that comes with success. If everyone is heading in the same direction and pushing for the same goal, it means the chances of reaching the top are heavily reduced. This can create huge pressure to succeed, whether it be social, school, family or another outside force. Some people will do what ever they can to reach the top, legal or not.

With the cut throat way players are brought in and out of academies, young hopefuls do what they can to impress and remain part of a professional setup. Through the ever growing importance and popularity of rugby in England, competition is fierce. Long-term injuries can see a player dropped from an academy and find it hard to get back in. A player who is seen to be bigger and stronger will stand out more and be more likely to be kept in an academy for longer.

In South Africa, school boy rugby is a stepping stone towards the professional ranks and is fraught with serious pressure and competition. In 2011 four seventeen year olds tested positive for testosterone and other banned substances during Craven week (South Africa’s inter provincial tournament). Only a small sample of players were tested, so numbers  would have been higher if all were tested. This is a clear example of what pressure to succeed can have on a young sportsman.

Closer to home the same thing is happening. Jonny Spelman recently admitted to taking banned substances whilst part of the England under 17 training camp and has now been banned. Before this he picked up a knee injury and subsequently told he would be unable to  play for a minimum of nine months. With the threat of missing out on a contract and even being dropped from the academy he was a part of, he turned to taking a banned substance in order to recover faster and keep his place in the academy system. It was the pressure that lead to this. This situation also raises another question. How easy is it for younger athletes to get hold of such substances?

Crossing the Severn Bridge you can see a fine example of such an issue. A study carried out in 2009 showed that seven out of ten people

in ‘hardcore heavy lifting gyms’ were on steroids. Many taking tablets that are given to cattle to produce more meat. It seems that this has spread into some of the larger universities in Wales where there seems to be a more casual approach to performing enhancing substances. Speaking to people who play rugby in that part of the world, they have all said they know of someone who is doping. With only four regional clubs in Wales, the opportunity to play professionally is minimal. Clearly some people will do anything to make it. Should a more thorough drug testing policy in universities be employed? One Cardiff metropolitan uni student who represented Scotland Students in rugby league was banned in 2010 for taking these substances.

With Human Growth Hormone (HGH) now rising to prominence as the banned substance of choice, and able to flush out of your system quickly, it is very hard to tell who is taking it.

Maybe a restructure of rugby could relieve the pressure and reduce the number of people taking these substances.

It is easy for us to look in at sports from the outside, admiring the athletes and what they achieve. But we are easily shunned away from the dark side of sport. We do not know what goes on behind the closed doors. What is hidden from us, the naive public viewers?

By Henry Fraser

Source: www.inattheside.com