Former NRL star Scott Sattler turned down an invitation to attend Thursday night’s AFL blockbuster between Brisbane and Collingwood at the Gabba due to his moral stance on the competition’s Illicit Drug Policy.
Details of the Policy came to light during the week with allegations in federal parliament revealing that internal off-the-book drug tests are conducted during the week to ensure that players don’t test positive for illicit drugs such as cocaine on game days.
The AFL confirmed the report by admitting that they encourage club doctors to complete drug tests which allows clubs to pull players that test positive from match day lists.
Sattler thinks that the policy is appalling and he described the AFL’s secret tests as a case of fraud.
While Sattler is typically a fan of the AFL, he couldn’t bring himself to go to the Gabba to watch Collingwood’s win after learning of the policy during the week.
“I'm not on my own, I think everyone has been appalled by how the AFL have handled this,” Sattler told SEN Sportssday NSW.
“I was invited to go to the Lions tonight (Thursday) to watch them play Collingwood in the Grand Final rematch and I'm not going to go because I think it's disgusting the way this has played out.
“The AFL have admitted that they've been across this systematic process around players and weekly drug tests and, ‘If you do test positive, well, it's best probably not to play on the weekend in case WADA or ASADA get you’.
“It's a case of fraud in some cases, you're deceiving people for possible return of money.
“There's gonna be a lot more to play out with this, not from an AFL point of view, but possibly from a legality point of view as well.
“I felt as though that I'd be very hypocritical if I went to the AFL tonight.
“I'll end up going and watching AFL again because I do love the game and I'll watch it again on TV. But at the moment I can't do it.”
Sattler can’t understand why the AFL backs this process as he feels that the competition is enabling its young athletes to do illicit drugs and not suffer any consequences.
He thinks that the policy could end up having some genuinely bad outcomes for the players.
“I was astounded that the AFL are ok with this process,” Sattler said.
“As a competition that likes to bang on about the health and wellbeing of their athletes both male and female or whatever it may be, they're actually in essence, enabling young athletes to engage in a really dangerous practice.
“In some cases that can have really, really bad outcomes for individuals.
“What they're saying is if you take drugs, you tell your club representative and they drug test you and you're a positive, well, ‘We've got a process we can follow so the game isn’t seen in a bad light’.
“But, ‘If you have got it in your possession and the police catch you, well, you're on your own, we're not here to help you’.
“You can't have your cake and eat it also.”
