Sport Ireland Confirm Kerry Footballer Served Ban After Positive Test
Sport Ireland has today confirmed that Kerry senior footballer Brendan O'Sullivan served a ban after failing a drugs test following the 2016 Allianz League final defeat to Dublin.
The governing body also revealed that the substance O'Sullivan tested positive for was methylhexaneamine, also known as MHA.
In the statement Sport Ireland say that they "accepted that it was a contaminated product case, that Mr. O'Sullivan bore no significant fault or negligence and reduced the applicable sanction to 7 months."
After the player decided not to accept the ban last January, the case was referred to the GAA Anti-Doping Committee and they served him with a 6-month sanction in February.
O'Sullivan appealed that decision on March 16 to the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel and they imposed a 21-week ban after a hearing on March 30.
It was decided that because the player had served a provisional 11-week suspension between May and July last year, he would serve another 10 from February 26, the last time he participated on the Kerry panel.
The Disciplinary Panel will release their own statement to give the reasoning behind their decision.
MHA is regarded as a mild stimulant and was added to the World Anti-Doping agency's list of banned substances in 2010.
The WADA website says that MHA "was sold as a medicine up to the early 1970s and has medicinal properties, but to WADA’s knowledge it has not been sold as a medicine since then."
The substance can increase heart rate and blood pressure.
More recently MHA has become a popular dietary supplement and can be found in strength-conditioning and power drinks.
The substance was in the news as recently as last January when it emerged that Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter tested positive for MHA following retests of 454 frozen blood and urine samples from the 2008 Games.
The find led to Usain Bolt losing one of his nine Olympic gold medals after the International Olympic Committee stripped the Jamaican 4x100m team of their winning medal from the Beijing Games.
SPORT IRELAND STATEMENT IN FULL
"In response to public comment made by the Kerry County Board and in the media, Sport Ireland can confirm that the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel has sanctioned Mr. Brendan O'Sullivan for the commission of an anti-doping rule violation.
"Mr. O'Sullivan, a player with the Kerry Senior Football team, received a period of ineligibility of 21 weeks for testing positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine ("MHA"). Mr. O'Sullivan was tested on 24th April 2016 after playing as a substitute for Kerry in the National League Final.
"He admitted that he had committed an anti-doping rule violation and engaged in a consultation process with Sport Ireland under the Irish Anti-Doping Rules regarding the sanction to be imposed on him. Sport Ireland accepted that it was a contaminated product case, that Mr. O'Sullivan bore no significant fault or negligence and reduced the applicable sanction to 7 months.
"Mr. O'Sullivan declined to accept the specified sanction and on 5th January 2017 the matter was referred to the GAA Anti-Doping Committee. The GAA Committee imposed a period of ineligibility of 6 months on Mr. O'Sullivan following a hearing on 13th February 2017.
"Mr. O'Sullivan subsequently appealed that decision on 16th March 2017 to the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel which imposed a period of ineligibility of 21 weeks on Mr. O’Sullivan following a hearing on 30th March 2017.
"Mr. O'Sullivan was provisionally suspended from the 13th of May 2016 to the 28th of July 2016, a period of 11 weeks before his provisional suspension was lifted by the Chair of the Disciplinary Panel because the violation was likely to have involved a contaminated product. The remaining 10 weeks of ineligibility commenced on the 26th February 2017, the date of his last participation in the Kerry panel.
"The Disciplinary Panel, which is an independent panel of experts from legal, sports administration and medical backgrounds, has indicated that it will give its reasoned decision shortly and this decision will be published by Sport Ireland on receipt in line with standard practice, along with the decision of the GAA Anti-Doping Committee.
"Sport Ireland cannot comment on the detail of the decision of the independent Irish Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel until such time as that reasoned decision is received."