Would you trust these people to teach your children values?

NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

06:12am | 10/02/13

Hi Lainie,

For me personally the worst part of professional sports people using drugs must be the getting caught part.  Before it becomes public knowledge it is more like ‘what we know doesn’t hurt us” policy.  I only wonder if there are strict regulations and usual drug testing in place at all?  Drug use may or may not be wide spread in our society but can we still justify this practice by professional sports people in any way?  Australians should make informed choices regarding such practice in the sports arena as well as the question of such characters truly setting out to be true role models in our society.

I most certainly think that the complications arise if the young generation feels that it is totally acceptable behavior and why question it if top athletes are doing it?  Then there is every danger that “drug use” will be seen as a normal part of our daily lives, a bit like underage drinking and smoking combined with peer pressure.  Young generation are impressionable to begin with and they want to be accepted no matter what.  These sort of news making headlines around surely doesn’t help that good old “say no to drugs” campaign a while back.  May be this time around we have to begin with some kind drug education programs targeting grown ups, instead?  Kind regards.

Helt says:

06:52am | 10/02/13

Its a sad state ofaffairs how they released this and left so many questions

Mitchell Johnson ripped throughthe WI the other day. was it the Peptides?
Manly beating Melbourne in the GF 40-0. Was Manly doping or Melbourne match fixing?
Thorpie?
I didnt watch AFL and I dont understand all the rules but now I wont bother learning.

Sport is supposed to be have values like striving through adversity practice makes perfect and such but now I dont believe Australia has any sport we can trust. It will be decades before I believe in Australian sport again. I hope they do like NHL and lock them out until the sport is clean

Don says:

07:26am | 10/02/13

I concur completely on the ball by ball betting side of things. I have found it quite strange that everyone is so concerned about pokies and are putting in limits on withdrawls and removing atm machines from their proximity and yet you can essentially get cleaned out now from the comfort of you own home in little time at all. At least the pokies, as Keating put it to Hewson, “do you slowly”.

As for AFL and rugby, I really didn’t play much sport when I was younger however I am more than pleased that I gave these two a miss. The number of people that I have worked with over the years who are now suffering due to “old footy injuries” are prolific. Shoulders that pop out of place, knees that are playing up and premature hip replacements abound.  Dodged that bullet.

TChong says:

07:51am | 10/02/13

“Would you trust these people” - the vast, vast, vast majority- yes.
There are some untrustworthy coaches/ trainers / administrators, just the same as the phone hacking scandal has shown some, not all , journalistsas not being worthy of trust.
The same goes for any other large group of peopole, in all aspects of life.
Human nature= not all are good, not all are bad, most of us somewhere between.

A Concerned Citizen says:

07:54am | 10/02/13

Thankyou for this article, it is long overdue.

I can never get why Australians insist we must look up to sports players as ‘role models’;
All they do is get paid to run or kick a ball around, and pose for commercials; completely morally neutral and hardly a practical contribution to society- and that’s when they don’t start fighting.
If there is one moral children are supposed to get is to “do whatever it takes to win a ball game at all costs”- hence the drugtaking.

It seems the only positive behaviour is keeping fit; which any trip to a sports game will prove beyond doubt has NOT rubbed off on the overweight fans one bit.

As it is, because Australians are so obsessed with this rubbish for some reason, and raise their children to be obsessed as well, this poor excuse that they are ‘role models’ will continue- and all of the bad behaviour will be part of the package our children will be taking in.

brinkin says:

08:22am | 10/02/13

You do realise the ACC is duelling with the nsw police for keystone cop of the year(remember how long it took to raid the hsu)?The ACC has spent more than ten years chasing geriatrics on Harleys,result so far zero so I would think this is a big beatup to take the pressure off Gillard.

iansand says:

08:30am | 10/02/13

“... that there’s nowhere to hide”?  If Lance Armstrong has taught us one thing it is that hiding is all too easy.

navada says:

08:31am | 10/02/13

I totally agree with your remarks about sport and gambling.  It makes me cringe that the cricket now opens with a cross to some guy in the booth talking about the odds.  Somehow they seem to believe that adding the line “please gamble responsibly” at the end somehow makes it okay.  No way.

Glen says:

09:02am | 10/02/13

Hahahahaha Sammy, “like priests”, good one mate.

Ben says:

09:05am | 10/02/13

““Please come clean, make sure that you tell your fans what is going on.”

[The Prime Minister] said said those with problems should “step forward”.

“Get out there and explain what is going on with your club.”

*********************************

Silly me, I didn’t realise at first she was talking about sport.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sport/prime-minister-julia-gillard-urges-sports-drug-cheats-to-step-forward-and-come-clean/story-fndukor0-1226574664032

Diogenes says:

09:11am | 10/02/13

There was something about this I don’t understand after reading Wayne Bennett’s comments yesterday so I went to the ASADA website and now all is clear

The ASADA report for 2011/12 says “During 2011–12 we conducted 3,996 government-funded tests across 45 sports and 3,200 user-pays tests for Australian sporting bodies and other organisations.”  Elsewhere in the report it says that a whole 33 athletes were caught. 33/7196 - I didn’t bother to see what they were caught for

ASADA also says “a decrease of four per cent in testing revenues due to a combination of a three per cent increase in charges from 1 January 2011, offset by a decrease in testing demand outside of major clients, and strategic positioning towards a greater proportion of blood analysis in major professional sports.” (whoda thunk it ? You put the price up and you sell less )

A whole pile of new gear + fewer people want to use =  all makes sense now

T says:

09:46am | 10/02/13

How about raising your kids yourself? You are after all the people who will have a significant impact on shaping not only their personality, their love lives and their jobs but you teach them your morals without even speaking.

How about teaching them sports ‘stars’ are humans and make mistakes? How about teaching them to never put anyone on a pedestal?

Because that would be a smart thing to do, but it is easier to let other people shape your kids instead of you.

Instead of “banging down the door of the club CEO and demanding assurances that my boy was safe from the kind of hormones they pump into horses, and protected from underworld thugs”. Why don’t you teach your son right from wrong? Use it as a real life example that behaviour like this is not acceptable. So he will never inject himself in the first place.

voluntering is dead says:

10:50am | 10/02/13

No…....... Because the generation x factor is prominent..I should know. They are the same ones who pushed for the “blue card” to coach junior footy and killed the volunteer coach,destroyed the unpaid suburban amateur league sportsperson..I dont coach any more because of this dichotomy of morality of this group.They cannot be trusted nor do they trust others,which is a common fault, this generation have.Sucess at all costs so they seem to preach. Call it a lack of moral compass,it exists across the board within this generation,even hiiden very cunningly within the police force,with the latest propganda emphasis on controlling every potential/possible/implied nanny minded band aid solution.The result is, they, this generation x have BIG EGOS

Luc Belrose says:

11:02am | 10/02/13

The young people and adults have always looked upon the top sports players as heroes and demi-gods they cherish and love. They admire their skills, competence and success playing by the rules. Now that “Australian sporting codes, and the involvement of crime figures in supplying drugs and match-fixing” allegations are rampant, and while waiting for the Sports authorities to fix this sad state of affairs, where are they going to turn to for their entertainment and weekend pleasures.
Perhaps they can turn to watching NSW politics which provide compelling and thought provoking entertainment of another kind!

gordie says:

11:03am | 10/02/13

I am really puzzled about this. Kate Lundy looking down the camera at the press conference and saying   If you take drugs we will catch you, If you rig matches we will catch you instead of If you have taken drugs we have caught you, If you have rigged games we have caught you. Then at the All Stars game last night at half time she said What a great week for Rugby League this has been.    On a different point, most Rugby League players dont want to be seen as role models. They just want to play a game they love,get well rewarded for what they go through in games and just be normal men.My three boys grew up playing football 2 still playing senior grade and never regarded them as role models.They were just footballers.I consider myself and their grandfathers role models for my kids.When the media get their heads around that the better it will be

Mouse says:

11:11am | 10/02/13

I can remember when footy players were paid a sum for playing but had an ordinary 9-5 job through the week. Sure, the footy money was a bonus but few could live off it and it certainly wasn’t enough to take drugs for or risk your integrity by taking bribes for either.
It was a great thing, play for your district, play hard, play to win, lap up the adoring fans that cheered you during the match, have a few drinks after the game and back to work again on Monday. If you pulled a muscle, the coach got the bloke in the dressing room to massage it for a while, bit of deep heat, panadol if it was really sore, take it easy for the week, see ya at training Wednesday night!
My, how things have changed. I sometimes think that our “progressive” society isn’t that progressive after all!  lol :o)

grant says:

12:00pm | 10/02/13

So beyond Essendon, who are probably clean, this whole hysterical
scandal involves ONE player at ONE club, that isn’t even on a current
playing list. There are NO suspected instances of match fixing.

What a EPIC BEAT UP! I can’t hear the disappointment in the voices of the reporters already.

JT says:

12:06pm | 10/02/13

I pity poor disallusioned people like Zack COM 1, I think he would be one that would be easilly led into taking drugs or is he already on something now. And yes all sports must be cleaned-up now.

BC says:

12:22pm | 10/02/13

Maybe if people realised it’s just some blokes chasing a ball around, there would be no problem at all. Maybe if the people that REALLY make a difference in this world were paid like footballers….
Maybe, maybe, maybe.

steiner says:

12:33pm | 10/02/13

Winners are deified, and non-winners are pilloried as ‘losers’. Getting a leg up in sport can mean the difference between deification and being left behind in the dustbin of history.  And we know which path many sportspeople will take when faced with the choice.
This is a problem that cannot be solved while fortune and fame are the prize for winning.  You will simply get more elaborate tricks to evade tests and ways to cheat without getting caught.

Baaah says:

12:48pm | 10/02/13

Given the likely use of peds by afl players runs at about 1/8th of 1%, which is certainly much lower than the general population, your kids are probably safer with the afl than they are with you.

exercise scientist says:

12:56pm | 10/02/13

I’m always amazed by the naivety of the public regarding drugs in sport. The vast majority of elite athletes use a variety of banned substances. The reason the very few get caught is because the drug testing regimes can only catch the most blatant and clumsiest dopers. Even when caught the legal processes will almost invariably exonerate the drug cheat because the onus of proof is impossibly high. The guilty athletes (including several famous Australian Olympic swimmers) are typically given the option to quietly “retire” rather than face suspension . They can then resume competition once the unofficial ban has elapsed.

Utopia Boy says:

01:04pm | 10/02/13

Australian sport needs to disengage from partnerships with gambling organisations.
The three strikes rule needs to go.
All those found involved at any level of doping, match fixing or illegal betting MUST be banned for life.
While some might say it’s not such a big deal, some of the players and other employees represent the country on the international stage.
I guess we now know why we performed so poorly at the last Olympics, eh?

stephen says:

01:21pm | 10/02/13

It is the betting in sport, and on sport that, is the problem.

And those caught as drug cheats should face a life ban, and for Demetriou to emphasize a 3 strikes rule, to my mind, reeks of an admission that drugs in AFL is rife.

And no, I would not expect any good kid to hold anyone else up as role-model, except themselves.

Bho Ghan-Pryde says:

01:22pm | 10/02/13

Everyone knows substances made of whatever are used by sports people. No news there. The only reason this is splashed across the headlines with photo ops on the steps of parliament house is to distract from the ALPs disastrous start to this very, very long campaign. It is like the riot at the tent embassy last year and just as real - a beat-up from the Julia spin machine.

Gordon says:

01:31pm | 10/02/13

Since when do you want other ANY people teaching your children their values?

Ros says:

01:44pm | 10/02/13

I would certainly be more comfortable with sports persons values than our current media elites.

Heard the one about the vials of urine in the change room Lainie. Turned out to be one old jam jar with possibly five year old urine in it.

Lainie’s immediate unquestioning acceptance of the concocted emergency and conflation of individual use of performance enhancing drugs and match fixing by organised crime,  (not held to have a causal relationship by other involved sport and crime bodies that I can find) makes very clear why this is the most despicable self serving act of this hollow government. What do you mean corruption in the ALP, look at sport, truly monumental corruption, nothing to see in the ALP

Ken Oath says:

02:24pm | 10/02/13

Spare me the righteous, covetous, god I wish I made their money for doing nothing, rotten apple throwing at the poor bastards in the stocks. What needs to happen now is some swift, decisive action by sports administrators to cut out this cancer. For the fans, but more importantly for the innocent, honest sportsmen and women.

tez says:

02:54pm | 10/02/13

Sports betting agencies running commercial during games should be a big NO NO just like grog and fag commercial were stoped. You have the young kid sitting there watching a game with you and some joker or dolly comes on and Hi now is the time to bet on this or that in the next what ever , real good tactics in developing the next bunch of problem punters. Though I hardly think this level of betting is causing the drugs/coruption in sport it appears to be a much bigger Asian fish that won’t be easy to fry.

Terribla says:

03:08pm | 10/02/13

No, I wouldn’t trust these people to teach my children values

jb says:

03:19pm | 10/02/13

I would be surprised if it’s as rampant as being made out, sounds more like a distraction tactic from McTiernan

Tom says:

03:54pm | 10/02/13

“Shit happens” EVERYDAY
Who can you trust?