There has been an increase in the number of Premier Soccer League (PSL) players who have been caught using cannabinoids (dagga), a prohibited substance. Two more players in the league will face the South African Football Association (Safa) disciplinary committee for using this banned substance.
Neither Safa nor the PSL would release names until the players accepted the finding or insisted on B samples being tested.
Many players use dagga for recreational purposes, but since football’s world governing body, Fifa, signed world anti-doping protocols just before last year’s Olympic Games, national organisations have been told to clamp down on the use of any prohibited substance.
The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport only started conducting doping tests in South African football in the 2000/01 season. Since then only 12 PSL players have failed the tests. Of the 12, six tested positive for dagga.
In the 2001/02 season, former Manning Rangers player Jerome McCarthy was the first local player to test positive when he was found to have traces of a form of ephedrine in his system.
The then chairperson of the Safa disciplinary committee, Zola Majavu, sentenced the player to do community service and suspended him for 12 months. McCarthy’s failure to comply with his sentence resulted in him being banned worldwide by Fifa.
The following season, 2002/03, four out of 133 tests gave positive results. Of these, three were for dagga use and one for fencamfamine, the drug McCarthy used.
Last season, of 193 tests conducted, three were positive — one each for dagga, salbutamol and methyl-testosterone.
This season so far, out of 130 tests four have been positive, one for the anabolic steroid salbutamol and three for dagga.
PSL chief operations officer Sizwe Nzimande told the Mail & Guardian that the reason more players are caught is that the anti-doping commission tests players more often than it did before. Nzimande said the league does not know when the commission tests will be taken. ÂÂ
The two players who have recently been caught could face a six-month ban from soccer and a fine, but this will depend on the Safa disciplinary committee.
Fifa sanctions depend on the element of danger and on the quantity detected of the substance in question and whether the infringement has been repeated, but they stipulate a ban of at least six months from all matches at every level and a minimum fine of 10 000 Swiss francs (about R2 000) for a first-time infringement.
Wholly suspended sentences are not recommended by Fifa.
PSL’s hall of shame
Phillip Opiyo Wire (Bush Bucks): Traces of marijuana. Still to appear before a disciplinary committee and has refused to have his B sample tested.
Moneeb Josephs (Ajax Cape Town): Salbutamol, used to treat asthma — classified as either a stimulant or a performance-enhancer depending on concentration levels. Fined R12 000 and received a suspended six-month ban.
Harry Milanzi (Golden Arrows): Marijuana. Fined R15 400 and given suspended six-month ban.
Arthur Zwane (Kaizer Chiefs): Methyl-testosterone (an anabolic agent that is a performance
enhancer). Initial two-year ban reduced to six months.
Josam Ndou (Dynamos): Salbutamol. Banned for nine months.
Jerome McCarthy (Manning Rangers): Fencamfamine, a stimulant. Banned for 12 months, fined and ordered to do community service — which he failed to do, and as a result had his ban extended worldwide.
Manqoba ”Shakes” Ngwenya (Wits, now Sundowns): Marijuana. Undiclosed fine and community service.
Arthur Baartman (Bush Bucks): Marijuana. Fined.