:00:00. > :00:16.We will look at a range of options, it could be the suspension of
:00:17. > :00:18.rush-hour. While the world looks at Russia,
:00:19. > :00:21.there's a problem closer to home. Wales's lower tier rugby players are
:00:22. > :00:25.topping the list for drug bans. It's commonly known Welsh rugby
:00:26. > :00:28.players are mad for taking steroids. Tonight we ask -
:00:29. > :00:32.are players getting away with it? I think if people really want to
:00:33. > :00:38.cheat the system they'll find a way. I think there should
:00:39. > :00:40.be lifetime bans. We carry out
:00:41. > :00:44.our own revealing questionnaire. And we ask- are those
:00:45. > :00:48.at the top tackling the problem? One player getting banned is one
:00:49. > :00:52.too many as far as I'm concerned. It's not a great situation
:00:53. > :01:14.for the sport. It's training night at
:01:15. > :01:15.Caerphilly Rugby Club. They play in Division 3
:01:16. > :01:23.of the national league. Power and strength have always
:01:24. > :01:31.been a big part of rugby... But coach Gareth Short feels drug
:01:32. > :01:33.use I think it is a big issue
:01:34. > :01:37.at the moment. I'd say nine times out
:01:38. > :01:40.of ten the teams we play against have got one or two boys playing who
:01:41. > :01:49.are taking steroids at the time. Everybody else trains hard,
:01:50. > :01:56.our boys go to the gym, Somebody who's taking performance
:01:57. > :02:00.enhancing drugs - yeah they do train hard but they get
:02:01. > :02:04.better gains from it... The boys taking steroids they're a
:02:05. > :02:07.different kind of shape - you look It's not very well regulated
:02:08. > :02:13.in lower leagues - there's not a lot of drug testing goes on so I
:02:14. > :02:17.think the boys think they can get The facts seem to support
:02:18. > :02:26.the suspicion in union and league there are more players banned
:02:27. > :02:30.in rugby than in any other sport. And last week two more Welsh
:02:31. > :02:41.players joined the list. I've represented Wales
:02:42. > :02:43.in four different sports and I know there are always people willing to
:02:44. > :02:50.break the rules to get an edge. But during my rugby career I won
:02:51. > :02:54.87 caps for Wales and I always Now, with so many players
:02:55. > :03:03.banned I've had to think again. I want to find out if authorities
:03:04. > :03:06.are doing a better job of policing Most of the players from Wales who
:03:07. > :03:17.have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs were found to have
:03:18. > :03:21.traces of anabolic steroids - On the banned list from Wales are
:03:22. > :03:29.17 players from semi pro to grass He's now back playing with
:03:30. > :03:40.championship side Merthyr He didn't want to be interviewed,
:03:41. > :03:45.but we spoke to the club doctor. And obviously for the individual,
:03:46. > :03:50.Ben - he's a young lad. He wasn't tested positive
:03:51. > :03:55.for any steroids or anabolic or He was picked up
:03:56. > :04:00.for having a banned substance Ben perhaps was naive and perhaps
:04:01. > :04:09.could have taken further steps. But another point is what stimulated
:04:10. > :04:11.the sort of interest We didn't want anyone else's career
:04:12. > :04:16.to potentially be jeopardized. It's accepted that sports
:04:17. > :04:19.supplements and medications CAN cause players to fail drugs tests -
:04:20. > :04:21.either because they contain ingredients
:04:22. > :04:24.that aren't on the label or athletes There's this desire
:04:25. > :04:31.and drive to be big. You see the likes of Jamie Roberts,
:04:32. > :04:34.Leigh Halfpenny, Sam Warburton. They are massive athletes,
:04:35. > :04:38.almost like Gladiators. They are in an extremely intense
:04:39. > :04:40.professional environment and then they have all the support
:04:41. > :04:43.and the supplements to go with it. And a further problem, he says,
:04:44. > :04:47.is the drugs are too easy to find. They're widely available
:04:48. > :05:01.on the internet. You can do it from the comfort of
:05:02. > :05:03.your own home. Available the is a problem. I want the players to be
:05:04. > :05:10.safe. I see the bad effects. I see people coming
:05:11. > :05:12.in with heart attacks at the age of Because I don't want that
:05:13. > :05:16.to happen to my players. A total of 30 Rugby players
:05:17. > :05:19.from both league and union are 20-year-old Daniel Spencer Tonks
:05:20. > :05:22.from Gloucester has played both I think there has also been a
:05:23. > :05:30.massive problem. He is one of 14 league players
:05:31. > :05:33.suspended from the sport in Britain. Welsh rugby players are mad
:05:34. > :05:39.for taking steroids. I've played a lot of rugby in Wales
:05:40. > :05:43.and obviously when I was playing rugby league and you do hear
:05:44. > :05:46.a lot people saying the Welsh... You can look at a person you can
:05:47. > :05:55.just tell, like that is a person that goes to the gym, plays rugby,
:05:56. > :05:59.you know what you can achieve by how much you train etc and you know
:06:00. > :06:02.what's possible and you can tell Daniel has been handed
:06:03. > :06:06.a four year ban from ALL sports He would not even be allowed to
:06:07. > :06:16.play pool for his local pub team. The reason I took it is because I
:06:17. > :06:19.was out in Dubai on the beaches I was eighteen stone,
:06:20. > :06:25.I wanted to lose a bit of weight, cut all the fat off me and shred up
:06:26. > :06:28.and just look good really. Daniel had taken
:06:29. > :06:31.the same drug used by Ben Johnson who was stripped of his gold medal
:06:32. > :06:36.at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It's had a massive effect on me,
:06:37. > :06:40.family, friends. Sometimes I just don't know
:06:41. > :06:42.what to do with myself. I just think what I'm
:06:43. > :06:44.going to do now. Everything I've worked for my whole
:06:45. > :06:47.life, everything I've put my effort Dan was banned
:06:48. > :06:54.while playing rugby league. I asked Chris Thair
:06:55. > :06:56.from the sport why Welsh players I think when you do get a spike
:06:57. > :07:11.in a number of positive tests I think we've got to do more
:07:12. > :07:15.as a sport. And it's not a great situation
:07:16. > :07:18.for the sport to be in. It's a huge global issue
:07:19. > :07:23.for all sports on the banned list. There are fifty players this year
:07:24. > :07:25.in different sports involved. South Wales Scorpions have been
:07:26. > :07:31.in the news. They tested
:07:32. > :07:50.the whole squad 30 players. There was no culture within the
:07:51. > :07:59.club. It comes down to what they see and what they want as sportspeople.
:08:00. > :08:02.While making this programme I found out that steroids and rugby are
:08:03. > :08:05.Getting players to speak openly is difficult.
:08:06. > :08:07.But one has agreed to talk us anonymously.
:08:08. > :08:10.We've called him Steve and his interview is played by an actor.
:08:11. > :08:12.At one time he played at semi professional level and retired
:08:13. > :08:17.So I started playing rugby at schoolboy level, Welsh schools,
:08:18. > :08:20.then went on to play semi professional rugby.
:08:21. > :08:27.I took different forms of testosterone - anabolic steroids.
:08:28. > :08:34.Just like looking at guys around me in the gym, people
:08:35. > :08:37.developing faster, not training as much and just the competition.
:08:38. > :08:40.You see players getting fitter, faster, stronger,
:08:41. > :08:43.who are obviously using anabolic steroids, and it's sort of
:08:44. > :08:47.a pressure put on you then, if you want to perform you need to start
:08:48. > :08:51.How would you describe how big performance enhancing drugs are
:08:52. > :08:58.I think people are probably blind to it, and if the truth came out I
:08:59. > :09:00.think there would probably be a lot more players who are banned
:09:01. > :09:08.I've been taking a look at the figures for banned rugby
:09:09. > :09:13.players and what shocks me is the proportion that are from Wales.
:09:14. > :09:22.Between union and league Welsh names make up half the list.
:09:23. > :09:28.Testing for drugs in sport is controlled by the UK
:09:29. > :09:31.Samples are analysed here at Kings College London.
:09:32. > :09:34.What our intelligence is showing us is that a number of positive
:09:35. > :09:43.This works very much now on the premise that we follow
:09:44. > :09:45.So if we think there's a problem somewhere
:09:46. > :09:50.in a particular sport or a particular team or club, we will
:09:51. > :09:57.put more effort into uncovering what we think might be going on.
:09:58. > :10:00.Proportionately how many cheats are you catching?
:10:01. > :10:09.It's something that really is difficult
:10:10. > :10:17.So with research hard to come by we decided to see what we could
:10:18. > :10:25.We took an anonymous questionnaire to six grassroots rugby union clubs.
:10:26. > :10:33.The first thing we found out was that 23
:10:34. > :10:36.of the 100 players said they would take performance enhancing drugs
:10:37. > :10:42.At Brighton University more scientific research is underway.
:10:43. > :10:44.Professor Yannis Pitsiladis is one expert working to beat
:10:45. > :10:51.From some data that's beginning to emerge it appears it's certainly
:10:52. > :11:17.happening within the youth in rugby and therefore we don't know
:11:18. > :11:19.There isn't much testing, there aren't the deterrents there
:11:20. > :11:24.so there is almost an inevitable pathway for an athlete to take.
:11:25. > :11:27.World rugby - the sport's governing body - says it's putting more money
:11:28. > :11:33.Last year they produced this video to warn young players.
:11:34. > :11:37.It features Sam Chalmers - son of Scotland international, Craig.
:11:38. > :11:40.He tested positive for an anabolic steroid in May 2013
:11:41. > :11:49.I'd been getting under pressure by people saying you've got
:11:50. > :11:54.the skills and stuff, you just need to put on weight, get bigger,
:11:55. > :11:57.bigger and one day I just thought, I'll take what my friends taking.
:11:58. > :12:00.When you want something so bad you just do anything.
:12:01. > :12:05.Steve says that as a young player he felt pressure to take steroid and
:12:06. > :12:12.I think certainly at a younger level I think there's less drug testing
:12:13. > :12:15.going on, but the pressures when you're younger to make those
:12:16. > :12:18.quick jumps - especially with young players now who have got the
:12:19. > :12:30.opportunity to have a full time professional career, I certainly
:12:31. > :12:35.When you were taking it, did you feel guilty?
:12:36. > :12:38.Were you aware of other people taking steroids around you?
:12:39. > :12:39.Yeah, I was definitely aware of other
:12:40. > :12:45.It was how I was first put onto it - from other players who were already
:12:46. > :12:51.Martin Phillips is the new Chief Executive of the Welsh Rugby Union.
:12:52. > :12:57.I think it's a problem in society to start with.
:12:58. > :13:00.I wouldn't sit here and say that it's not a problem in rugby because
:13:01. > :13:06.one player getting banned is one too many as far as I'm concerned.
:13:07. > :13:09.So the challenge for us, not just in rugby,
:13:10. > :13:14.but in sport generally, is we've got to try and get it out of the game.
:13:15. > :13:16.I don't think that's going to be easy.
:13:17. > :13:19.A third of the players banned at the moment on the UK anti-doping
:13:20. > :13:27.list are from rugby - that must be a concern for you?
:13:28. > :13:30.I was quite heartened that we're clearly very focussed on this area,
:13:31. > :13:33.we are catching people, and the intelligence we get - maybe there's
:13:34. > :13:37.a gym or a club who are doing the wrong thing - you pull at that
:13:38. > :13:41.There are some mainstream sports that aren't even testing the amateur
:13:42. > :13:44.players in their sport, big national sports, so the first thing for me is
:13:45. > :13:54.to try and level the playing field and get some good quality testing
:13:55. > :13:57.Most players who are caught are at grassroots
:13:58. > :14:05.The professional game is clean and long may that continue,
:14:06. > :14:09.Michael Owen played rugby union for 11 years and captained Wales to
:14:10. > :14:16.He says players and the public underestimate the hard work and
:14:17. > :14:21.commitment of the professional game I think from a rugby perspective,
:14:22. > :14:25.I think that the players today are incredible athletes in great shape,
:14:26. > :14:29.but I look at it and see the advances that have been
:14:30. > :14:31.made in strength and conditioning and the understanding of what people
:14:32. > :14:38.And I think they're one of the things I
:14:39. > :14:41.like to see is maybe like as a sport we are proactive rather than
:14:42. > :14:45.waiting for some to fail a drugs test to try and say we're going to
:14:46. > :14:49.We're going to publish the data on people's fitness test results,
:14:50. > :14:52.publish the data on what supplements people are taking and try to make it
:14:53. > :14:57.You have got facts to prove it and to back up what you're saying
:14:58. > :15:02.While we are told keeping the sport clean on the pitch is
:15:03. > :15:06.a priority, we know steroids are an issue off the pitch too.
:15:07. > :15:09.It's easy to see it's common throughout Wales - there are
:15:10. > :15:16.Here in Swansea, the number of steroid users going to
:15:17. > :15:22.needle exchanges has almost doubled over the past three years.
:15:23. > :15:25.Public health Wales have told us it's becoming endemic in society,
:15:26. > :15:30.but we know this isn't a new problem.
:15:31. > :15:33.In 1993 Week In Week Out investigated steroid use
:15:34. > :15:59.in Wales - the programme spoke to former weight lifter John Burns.
:16:00. > :16:05.They start them off on five, six times the prescribed dose.
:16:06. > :16:10.22 years later and John is in the same gym talking about
:16:11. > :16:14.When everybody comes to Swansea on a weekend
:16:15. > :16:17.there's lads coming from the valleys all around and you see these shapes
:16:18. > :16:22.You look in any magazine you see people with great physiques
:16:23. > :17:03.But Steve says for him it was all about being a better player.
:17:04. > :17:05.I noticed very rapidly that I put on weight quickly,
:17:06. > :17:07.my strength levels increased and my general sports performance
:17:08. > :17:11.Did it make much difference to you as a rugby player?
:17:12. > :17:15.It made a massive difference to me as a rugby player, I was fitter,
:17:16. > :17:17.faster, stronger in a very short space of time.
:17:18. > :17:19.I think each individual's motivation is different and I think...
:17:20. > :17:21.When we're talking about a doping athlete or
:17:22. > :17:24.an athlete who chooses to dope, I think what everybody forgets in this
:17:25. > :17:27.And whether that is health consequences.
:17:28. > :17:29.Whether that's the impact it can have on your family.
:17:30. > :17:31.About the people around you, about your livelihood, your job
:17:32. > :17:36.You may be able to return to the sport two four years later, but
:17:37. > :17:40.is anybody ever going to see you as anything other than the individual
:17:41. > :17:47.John won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1982.
:17:48. > :17:54.He was clean but he saw his sport ruined by drug taking scandals.
:17:55. > :17:57.Well what you saw there in the late '70s and gathered momentum
:17:58. > :18:03.and that involved weightlifters getting caught, justifiably.
:18:04. > :18:06.But that didn't just mean the individual was castigated, it meant
:18:07. > :18:13.If in the likes of rugby there's some hanky-panky going on, if it
:18:14. > :18:16.gets exposed and you get the media zeroing in on them and exposing
:18:17. > :18:19.them, it's really going to make a lot of parents unlikely to encourage
:18:20. > :18:28.Once you've lost your reputation, once the sport loses its reputation,
:18:29. > :18:34.Since 2009 the number of people who have been caught and
:18:35. > :18:39.banned in rugby is relatively small compared to the thousands who play.
:18:40. > :18:42.Currently, there are 10 banned Welsh rugby Union players.
:18:43. > :18:44.That's out of a total of 16 in Britain.
:18:45. > :18:50.And according to the results on our questionnaire there are
:18:51. > :18:58.100 players took part and around half knew a player who has doped.
:18:59. > :19:01.15 out of those 100 players admitted to taking performance
:19:02. > :19:07.We sent out a questionnaire to 100 players in Wales and 15 admitted
:19:08. > :19:14.to taking performance enhancing drugs - that's quite worrying?
:19:15. > :19:18.I'm trying to constantly rely on the stats I can see - Wales
:19:19. > :19:27.rugby, UK doping - and you know that's where I'm putting my focus.
:19:28. > :19:30.I'm sure there would be loads of ad-hoc surveys,
:19:31. > :19:34.but the fact that we've caught people suggests there's an issue, so
:19:35. > :19:38.my job now is to get closer to that and make sure we can become the best
:19:39. > :19:45.While the WRU say they are committed to dealing with the problem, why
:19:46. > :19:52.Professor Pitsoladis says at the moment, it's easy to cheat.
:19:53. > :19:56.For the drugs that leave the system very quickly they can be very
:19:57. > :19:58.confident that when they go for testing that they won't be caught
:19:59. > :20:01.because the current testing won't be able to detect those drugs because
:20:02. > :20:08.They're ahead of testing, using steroids that don't stay
:20:09. > :20:14.Ever heard of players knowing about testers coming in?
:20:15. > :20:17.Yeah of course, when they know testers coming into training
:20:18. > :20:21.That definitely happens Even though Dan was caught,
:20:22. > :20:31.he says most players feel they're able to dodge the testers.
:20:32. > :20:33.Even though Dan was caught,
:20:34. > :20:35.he says most players feel they're able to dodge the testers.
:20:36. > :20:38.At my level you knew the testers were coming around potentially once
:20:39. > :20:42.a year in pre-season and then maybe towards the end of the year they
:20:43. > :20:45.Probably not and I believe that's why it's so massive
:20:46. > :20:52.Not many people are going to get tested.
:20:53. > :20:55.I've been massively singled out and made an example of,
:20:56. > :21:05.Anyone that's spoke to me about it, they say you are one
:21:06. > :21:09.of the unlucky ones that got caught and that's the best way to put it.
:21:10. > :21:12.At Caerphilly coach Gareth Short has been at the club four years and says
:21:13. > :21:19.Well, I've never seen anyone be drug tested at division two, three,
:21:20. > :21:38.The results of our questionnaire tell a similar story.
:21:39. > :21:41.Out of 100 players, only five have been tested in the past three years.
:21:42. > :21:44.UK Anti-doping admits there needs to be continuous research
:21:45. > :21:49.into catching cheats, but says resources are limited.
:21:50. > :21:53.In an ideal world we'd be testing all sports all the time, but that's
:21:54. > :21:57.not a reality for any anti-doping organisation in the world.
:21:58. > :22:01.So it's about being really efficient and effective with
:22:02. > :22:07.There's no set pattern to testing but do players get tipped off
:22:08. > :22:15.All of our testing I wish to make clear is no advance notice.
:22:16. > :22:17.Now, if there are individuals who for whatever reason either they're
:22:18. > :22:21.getting their heads up from the support personnel within a
:22:22. > :22:28.particular sport that we're coming because they happen to be the ones
:22:29. > :22:31.receiving the doping control officers first, then we'll go
:22:32. > :22:35.after those athlete support personnel because that is tantamount
:22:36. > :22:46.With pressures on resources and possible cuts of up to 25% to
:22:47. > :22:48.UK Anti-Doping's budget, it doesn't seem there will be more
:22:49. > :23:05.So how does the sport plan to tackle the problem?
:23:06. > :23:09.Lots of workshops, training of development officers.
:23:10. > :23:12.I think we can use that to reach the players directly.
:23:13. > :23:15.So they did 2,100 tests last year and they've introduced
:23:16. > :23:18.in-competition testing this year, so I don't think it's
:23:19. > :23:23.I think we could certainly spend more on education and just working
:23:24. > :23:25.in a smarter fashion and doing more throughout the year.
:23:26. > :23:28.So we can continually do more and we will, but it's always going
:23:29. > :23:33.Union and league say they are working hard to educate players,
:23:34. > :23:37.but Caerphilly's coach says the message hasn't reached his club.
:23:38. > :23:39.The only education we get is from speaking to people
:23:40. > :23:43.at your local gyms in our gym in the rugby club or here say,
:23:44. > :23:46.if you are playing against somebody you think is on steroids - you talk
:23:47. > :23:54.We've never had any kind of directive, anyone coming
:23:55. > :23:56.down to talk about steroids what's acceptable, what's not acceptable.
:23:57. > :24:03.In Merthyr the club run their own education programme.
:24:04. > :24:06.They have been warning about the dangers of supplements
:24:07. > :24:13.I keep hammering it home to them regularly.
:24:14. > :24:15.And certainly since I've given the talk
:24:16. > :24:18.the boys are much more aware of the websites you can look at to check
:24:19. > :24:21.supplements and medications given to you by your doctor, for instance.
:24:22. > :24:24.A lot of them have got the apps we've advised them to get
:24:25. > :24:28.and they'll often come up to me in training or a match day and say I've
:24:29. > :24:31.got new supplement, can we check it over, check it's been tested cos
:24:32. > :24:34.there are certain ones that have been batch tested to make sure they
:24:35. > :24:37.are clean and we do it together and some of them are proactively
:24:38. > :24:41.Three weeks after our cameras filmed here at Merthyr, another one
:24:42. > :24:46.Owen Morgan tested positive for an anabolic steroid.
:24:47. > :24:51.He admitted breaking the rules and was given a four-year ban.
:24:52. > :24:54.The club told us that any player who decides to cheat has no place
:24:55. > :25:00.Steve feels there should be more education but says if a player wants
:25:01. > :25:06.The problem you've got is professional sport and the pressure
:25:07. > :25:09.that's sort of put on players to be fitter, faster and stronger,
:25:10. > :25:12.you're never ever, ever going to be able to get rid of performance
:25:13. > :25:19.There's always going to be new ways to get around the testing, so you
:25:20. > :25:22.can educate players as much as you want about it, but you know if
:25:23. > :25:25.a young rugby players going to get a professional contract from taking
:25:26. > :25:30.performance enhancing drugs they're going to use them.
:25:31. > :25:33.If someone had taken you aside when you were younger
:25:34. > :25:35.and talked more about side effects and educated you more
:25:36. > :25:41.on the drugs would it have changed whether you used them or not?
:25:42. > :25:48.When you're looking at a career in rugby and you're thinking.
:25:49. > :25:52."If I use, there's a possibility I'm going to get it" then no,
:25:53. > :26:00.I think the prevention around education is key,
:26:01. > :26:04.but for those who aren't convinced by that they ultimately will get
:26:05. > :26:11.I'd much rather be in the prevention education space, but if it needs to
:26:12. > :26:19.Michael Owen thinks to protect rugby's reputation authorities
:26:20. > :26:27.If you get caught at the top level I think arguably you should face a
:26:28. > :26:30.life ban because if you've cheated and deceived the supporters or taken
:26:31. > :26:37.a contract from someone else you should probably get a life ban.
:26:38. > :26:46.Prior to 2015 there was an extensive consultation with
:26:47. > :26:48.the sports movement about what they thought were
:26:49. > :26:51.appropriate sanctions There is a big debate about whether an athlete
:26:52. > :27:00.should be given a second chance if they've made a genuine mistake.
:27:01. > :27:03.And therefore my response would be that we are
:27:04. > :27:06.living with a code at the moment that will be in existence for the
:27:07. > :27:12.next four years and that is a debate which I'm sure will come up again.
:27:13. > :27:15.When we go through another iteration of the World Anti-Doping Code.
:27:16. > :27:17.The debate about bans continues, but Professor Pitsoladis is confident
:27:18. > :27:20.his advances in testing mean athletes who think they are getting
:27:21. > :27:26.As we move on to the next generation of anti-doping
:27:27. > :27:29.tests when we can identify the trace the drug leaves behind they would
:27:30. > :27:35.eventually be caught so the future is actually quite bright.
:27:36. > :27:39.The world anti-doping agency has put into place really important changes,
:27:40. > :27:45.like the fact that blood and urine samples are stored for ten years.
:27:46. > :27:48.There can't be an athlete or a support team that's actually
:27:49. > :27:52.cheating that can actually sleep comfortably at night.
:27:53. > :27:55.At the moment, yes, they might be getting away with it, but what's
:27:56. > :28:02.As a player who has been caught, Daniel faces years away
:28:03. > :28:17.from rugby - time to decide whether he will ever play again.
:28:18. > :28:42.If I could go back and change what I did, I would. I didn't need it. I
:28:43. > :28:44.don't know what I'm going to do, if I will go back. For years seems a
:28:45. > :28:48.long way away. Now
:28:49. > :28:50.that I've looked into drugs in rugby players taking them I realised. And
:28:51. > :28:55.I can't help but feel it's not being I don't want to see my sport go
:28:56. > :28:59.the way of others I think
:29:00. > :29:12.if people really want to cheat It was probably the wrong choice
:29:13. > :29:17.and certainly if I was recommending anyone today, certainly
:29:18. > :29:19.from the side effects I've had, I Some of these athletes if it is
:29:20. > :29:29.at the highest level who are taking these drugs,
:29:30. > :29:31.it's only a matter of time before their whole career collapses
:29:32. > :29:34.and there may be a case like the Lance Armstrong case in elite rugby,
:29:35. > :29:49.which would be awful for the sport.