Anti-Doping and Support Personnel
Keeping Cricket Clean is everyone’s responsibility and that includes support personnel. From instilling good values on clean sport in the budding cricketer to providing anti-doping guidance to the more seasoned players, team support personnel have an important role to play. However, many individuals who seek to support players and teams have little understanding of anti-doping.
What can a Cricket Board do to ensure its players have access to the much-needed support in anti-doping? The ICC has listed a few simple yet key steps below.
- Ensure support personnel appointed do not have a history of doping or entanglement in an anti-doping violation in the last six years.
- Aid support personnel in understanding and acknowledging their role in supporting and promoting clean sport.
- Encourage support personnel to build their awareness by reviewing resources on the ICC anti-doping webpage and improve their knowledge by completing WADA’s online education programs specifically targeted to support personnel.
- Set clear expectations for support personnel to attend all anti-doping education sessions organized for teams.
- All support personnel must have access to anti-doping contacts at the ICC and their National Anti-Doping Organisation.
The prevalence of doping in cricket, while low, stems mostly in lack of awareness. Unfamiliarity with the adverse effects of doping, lack of knowledge on anti-doping responsibilities and ignorance of where the risks lie, are some of the areas we see player’s struggling. Having support personnel who are easily accessible to players, and knowledgeable in these areas will go a long way in filling some of these gaps and promoting clean cricket.