Professionalism vs Prohibition

Words: Sean Radich

Next time Taj wants to celebrate a win with some of the of the sponsor's free beers after a win, he'd better make sure it's just a couple of cold ones. Photo: ASP/Cestar

“ASP condemns the use of Prohibited Substances in sport. The use of Prohibited Substances is contrary to the ethics and the ‘spirit’ of surfing as a sport and profession and endangers the health and wellbeing of the surfers.” - The Association of Surfing Professionals Anti-Doping Policy, Version 1 – 12 January 2012.

It’s hard to argue against ASP's Anti-Doping Policy’s aims of protecting surfer’s rights to participate in a doping-free sport where health, fairness and equality of surfers worldwide is promoted. But how far should the ban on “drugs” go? Surely no surfers expected that sipping on a few of the sponsor’s free beers during a World Title Series contest could see them potentially banned for a year if they are caught more than three times. But reading the recently released Anti-Doping Policy, this is exactly the scenario that some surfers could fave if they over-indulge in the amber gold.

In 2005 Neco Padaratz, then ranked 27^th in the world, was tested at the Quiksilver Pro France and found to have a performance-enhancing anabolic steroid in his system. Padaratz was reportedly open and honest about the steroid, saying he had been taking the drug for a month before the contest to help recover faster from a chronic back injury, but was nevertheless banned from competition for a year and stripped of his ASP points. At the same contest another unnamed surfer tested positive for marijuana and a hallucinogenic. An ASP source said at the time, “We only fined him $5000. There's a big difference between recreational drugs and the ones Neco took. There was really no choice for us."

And this differentiation made in 2005 between “performance enhancing” and “recreational drugs” continues with the 2012 Anti-Doping Policy. ASP has come up with a logical solution that bans outright the use performance-enhancing drugs, but allows a “Three Strikes” kind of policy for the detection of recreational substances, similar to what the AFL has in place.

“ASP International has been working with WADA over the past two years on the development of our drug-testing policy,” Dave Prodan, ASP International Media Director, recently told ASL. “The resource allocation to make this a reality came out of the November 2011 Board meeting so we're looking to finalise and activate the policy as soon as possible.”

There's going to be more of these amber liquid-filled containers than the ones we're normally used to seeing at World Title Series contests from now on.

WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, is an independent foundation created by the International Olympic Committee and is entrusted by many international and national sporting organisations to carry out it’s drug testing.

More than 600 sporting organisations and leagues follow the World Anti-Doping Code which outlaws both performance enhancing and illicit drugs for athletes. The Prohibited List is quite extensive, and includes the obvious performance enhancing doping agents banned “at all times”, such as steroids, EPO, and Human Growth Hormone, but also includes narcotics, stimulants, depressants and diuretics such as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin which are “prohibited in competition”. There are also restrictions on painkillers when they are used outside normal medical treatment. 

Under ASP’s Anti-Doping Policy, all World Title surfers (that is, the top 34 men and top 17 women, plus wildcard entrants) will be subject to tests “at any time or place during” the competition window for any World Title Series contest in which they compete. But there will be no out-of-competition testing.

A surfer who is tested and found to be using, or possessing a “prohibited substance” will be banned from competition for at least one year. And those that administer or traffic a prohibited substance will face a four-year ban, or even lifetime ineligibility.

Where ASP’s Anti-Doping Policy differs to other sport is that is has a separate subdivision under “Substances Prohibited at All Times” for “Recreational Substances”. Recreational Substances include amphetamines (ecstasy, MDMA), methamphetamines (ice, crystal meth), cocaine hydrochloride (cocaine and crack cocaine), benzodiazepines (like Valium and Xanax), cannaboids (marijuana and its derivatives), narcotics (heroin, opium) and most interestingly, alcohol.

And under ASP’s policy, where a surfer can establish that a recreational substance detected in his or her body was “not intended to enhance the surfer’s sport performance or mask the use of a performance-enhancing substance” they will just receive a reprimand for the first three violations and have to undertake an education course.

Many will agree that private reprimands and counselling for surfers caught with non-performance enhancing drugs is a better punishment than outright naming, shaming and one year on the sidelines.  But has the ASP gone too far by including alcohol on the recreational substances list, particularly when beer and other alcohols continue to play such a big part in the sponsorship of surfing?

As it appears right now, surfers who can be tested at any time during the dates set down for WT contests at the start of the year (even if that contest is on hold, or maybe it has already wrapped up), and those that are found with alcohol in their system above the specified limit will face a potential one-year ban. They will then have to argue to the ASP Athlete Rules and Disciplinary Committee that the alcohol in their system was not performance-enhancing, and if they succeed, cop the reprimand and mandatory education course.

But of course, what about those surfers that need a little bit of Dutch courage before paddling out for a heat in 12-foot Pipeline, or super heavy Teahupo’o? It could be argued that chugging a sponsor’s free beer before a heat to settle your nerves enhances performance because you are more relaxed.

In 2005 when Kelly Slater gulped down this mid-Teahupoo barrel beer, was it enhancing his performance? Photo: ASP

ASP’s policy makes no specific mention of an "acceptable" level of alcohol, such as 0.05 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) that we are all used to as fully licensed drivers, but under WADA's Prohibited List alcohol only breaches the prohibition if an athlete’s BAC is above 0.10g/L. Dave Prodan told ASL that others had also questioned alcohol's threshold under ASP's regime.

"This concern was echoed recently by surfers and members of the public," Prodan emailed to ASL. "As with some other sports listed, the threshold for a violation of alcohol under the WADA Prohibited List is a 0.10g/L reading, so one beer won't breach that threshold (depending on the size of the beer obviously!). ASP will enforce that threshold."

And under the new Anti-Doping Policy there are hints that the ASP wants to cast the anti-doping net wider than just the elite competition surfers. “In an ideal world, all surfers and ASP staff should be subject to the same tests,” Prodan told ASL. And found within the new policy is a provision that brings all ASP International and Regional Office staff and officials, as well as World Title Series “Event licensees”, and surfer’s support staff under the enforcement of the ASP Athlete Rules and Disciplinary Committee. However, in this first version of the policy there is no testing regime for these staff and officials. 

Dave Prodan replied to our enquiries by saying, "(Testing of staff and officials) is being considered for future years but the first year is about getting the basics right when testing the surfers. (Provisions in the Policy) may still be violated by a staff member for trafficking prohibited substances or assisting the use of the same. Therefore, the Policy needs to apply to these staff members and administrators now as well.

World Tour surfers are throwing their support right behind ASP’s policy. “The activation of the Anti-Doping Policy is a logical step in the ASP’s continued pursuit of professionalism, and has the full support of the women, ” Jessi Miley-Dyer, surfers’ representative and newly-appointed ASP Women’s World Tour Manager, said. “As the sport of surfing continues to grow its audience every year, so grow the responsibilities of our athletes.”

“The men strongly support the implementation of the ASP Anti-Doping policy,” said surfers’ representative and 2011 Billabong Pipe Master Kieren Perrow. “It is a positive step which enhances the professionalism of competitive surfing and sends a great message to the kids out there who look up to us as role models.”

But the question must be asked, have the surfer really considered and understood that they might be banned from competition just for having the odd few beers?

And following on from the anti-drugs theme, “Ecstasy – Face The Facts” have launched a competition for aspiring designers, photographers, illustrators and stylists the chance to have their design produced into the official campaign t-shirt.

If you're aged between 15-21, simply create an image that shows your support for an anti-drugs theme, including this year's tagline "Ecstasy. Face Facts" somewhere on your design and upload it to the online gallery.

ASP’s Anti-Doping Policy can be downloaded here.

And for the World Tour surfers on the move who want to keep updated on WADA’s Prohibited List, well, there’s even an app for that!