Following the IRFU’s warning to their affiliated schools about banned substances being contained in supplements that can be easily purchased on the “internet and in high street stores”, Eoin Mcsweeney questions the effect these products are having on our modern day sports stars.
On Saturday 18th March 2000, we witnessed an iconic moment in Irish rugby. All the French can see is a little wisp of green as the boy wonder cuts through their defence. The first is easy, a team move, with him walking it in. The second is a work of art as the centres combine with a near telepathic understanding. The third is all about speed, finesse and skill. Brian O’Driscoll is introduced to the world.
At the time, the second centre was considered to be a normal size for a boy his age. Yet looking back on it, the most striking thing about BOD is that he seems so scrawny compared to the modern day rugby player. In contrast, Mathieu Bastareaud, the enormous Frenchman, was seventeen stone at the same age. Manu Tuilagi, the 22 year old Samoan-born English centre is eighteen stone, four more than BOD is now, and the Irish legend has bulked up considerably since his first game all those years ago. It appears as though the focus has switched dramatically from skill and technique to force and strength. Moments of magic such as O’Driscoll’s hat-trick of tries in the Six Nations Championship victory against France in Paris, that propelled Ireland to their first win in Paris since 1972, have become few and far between because now you have to barrel through a player rather than glide around him.
What has been introduced to rugby to so radically change the game? While it can be argued that improved gym regimes and more emphasis on strength have been the vital element in changing the game, it is the supplements that provide the ammunition for these weapons. Recent IRFU findings have shown that protein and creatine are the two most widely used supplements in Ireland. While an excessive use of protein can be damaging to the liver, its use in small quantities has been recognised as a useful tool for muscle repair and growth. However creatine is still considered to be highly dangerous yet is used by students nationwide.
So how did this all begin? Creatine’s use as a supplement was first discovered at the start of the 20th century, however it wasn’t popularised until the 1992 Olympic Games. A number of high profile athletes, including Linford Christie (the last British man to win the 100m gold) were reported to have been using creatine prior to the event. Creatine supplements designed for strength enhancement were made publicly available in 1993 by a company called Experimental and Applied Sciences, before becoming more widely available at the beginning of the 21st century. There is no doubt that creatine works. It is produced in the body already by the combination of three amino acids. When your normal energy stores run out, creatine steps in so it’s basically like a backup generator. It also helps protein manufacture and reduces protein breakdown following high octane exercise.
Can an excess amount of this particular supplement be bad for you? The short answer is yes. There are a number of side effects to creatine. It can cause gastrointestinal upset. It will make you fatter, even with gym work. It is not good for your kidneys, liver and pancreas to have excess creatine in your system. The argument that it is naturally found in the body and that more is better is null and void, because isn’t testosterone also produced by our body but then injected in larger amounts? The problem is that people now partake in ‘creatine loading’. This involves taking huge amounts of creatine in a short space of time in the process of trying to build muscle. While professional athletes’ diets are monitored, students and school kids have nobody watching their supplement intake. How can this be good for you?
The long term safety of these products is still unproven and the IRFU are now encouraging young athletes not to take them, because these products may contain banned substances that are not on the label. Drug testing of school kids is still not in place (except for U18 provincial and international games). However there are numerous events at third level where this can come into place. Ruth Wood-Martin, the IRFU nutritionist said no player under 18 should use supplements such as creatine: “Testing will identify banned substances and subsequently a positive doping outcome”. It could be catastrophic for young athletes to be taking these supplements when it can lead to them not being allowed to perform at all.
Wood-Martin added: “The banned substance in a product isn’t really key to saying why young players shouldn’t be using them”. The findings showed that the health of these athletes could also be at risk if creatine is taken regularly. Recent IRFU findings have uncovered the hidden dangers of creatine. “Often, the desire to get physically bigger is the reason young people choose to take supplements, which they see as a quick-fix answer for accelerated growth, but there is little evidence to condone this. Young players will gain size and strength from well-planned training and recovery, supported by good nutritional practices,” Wood-Martin explained. Despite this, protein and creatine supplements are still readily available in most retail sports stores and online.
How do we stop this? The IRFU is still trying to introduce testing into underage sport, but Wood-Martin believes there is a better solution: “It is about education of what they eat and drink from a general health point of view and a growth point of view and how that should be the cornerstone of their support for their training programme”. The IRFU has also been working closely with the Irish Sports Council to try and curb the problem. The Irish Sports Council’s National Anti-Doping Programme acts to protect Ireland’s sporting integrity against the threat of doping. It has been operational for over 10 years and in that time the requirements of a National Anti-Doping Programme have evolved a great deal.
Hopefully we can soon return to the days of a younger Drico and begin to admire the skill of our young athletes, rather than their superhuman physiques of greatness.