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Can ICC negotiate IRTP on the FIFA pattern?

K.P. Mohan

ICC has had no out-of-competition testing so far
Complete exclusion from ‘whereabouts’ requirements looks unlikely for cricket

NEW DELHI: The International Football Federation (FIFA) does not have the top players of the world in its International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP). Instead, it has those who are international-level players serving doping-related suspensions plus those branded as ‘high risk’ because of injuries.

Any other player could also be included in the list if evidence of ‘suspicion’ is provided, for example alteration of hormone profile and/or alteration of blood parameters.

The FIFA IRTP is not a fixed list and thus there are no minimum numbers prescribed for inclusion. Apparently an understanding was reached in Zurich last April at a meeting between FIFA representatives and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Director General, David Howman.

“There has been no difference in the way we have approached this to any other sport,” Howman told AP then. “It was done because they specifically said they would appreciate it.”

Details unknown

Even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) set out to back the Indian players included in the IRTP against the ‘whereabouts’ clause in the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-doping code, the details of FIFA’s arrangement were unknown except that it had a smaller IRTP and it would include ‘high risk’ players who could be targeted. The BCCI did point out that FIFA had a different arrangement without elaborating.

Now, it turns out, the list, though it might meet the stipulations in the Code, basically zeroes in on injured players and those under doping suspensions. There could be a maximum of three tests per player per year in the IRTP testing. Obviously FIFA is of the opinion that injuries and doping are closely related. Steroids generally speed up recovery after injuries.

The list is not based on rankings of teams or countries. It is a dynamic list and could evolve, but basically FIFA has stuck to its argument that team sport has to be treated differently, giving a ray of hope for other team sports in their fight against the ‘whereabouts’ rules.

Meeting the requirements

The FIFA procedure, explained in its letter to members last May, meets the requirements given in the 2009 WADA Code and 2009 International Standards for Testing (IST). The IST states that the “criteria used should reflect the IF (International Federation)’s evaluation of the risks of out-of-competition doping in that sport.” It also says those serving suspensions should be in the list.

FIFA also has a FIFA testing pool (FTP) which would be a larger pool with a maximum of 940 players and a sample target of 480 in a year. The players would be drawn from teams competing in the UEFA League. Teams are expected to file ‘whereabouts’ information. Players who are injured could move up to the IRTP, depending on their injuries.

Can the ICC, which has set up a Working Group that includes three Indians, negotiate a similar IRTP with the WADA and thus ‘reprieve’ the 11 Indian players who have refused to submit ‘whereabouts’ requirements on the ground that the procedure invaded their privacy and could compromise their security?

It could work out a compromise formula, but the problem could be, the ICC has already defined the criteria for the inclusion of players in the list as prescribed by the Code.

It has further published its list of IRTP players and the Indian players have already committed one breach, a ‘filing failure’ on July 31.

How the ICC came up with a proposal to have a list of 11 players each, including two women, from the top-eight ODI countries and got it approved when it was free to assess the “risk of out-of-competition doping” in its sport, will remain a mystery.

The ICC has had no out-of-competition testing in cricket so far and the few violations reported in out-of-competition testing in recent years, Shane Warne by the Australian anti-doping agency, and Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif by Pakistan Cricket Board, were through tests done by other agencies.

Can there be any going back from this stage? WADA has repeatedly stated that it was not going to give any concession to any sport and that it would review the whole issue at the end of the year when the FIFA arrangement would also come up for scrutiny.

A complete exclusion from ‘whereabouts’ requirements looks unlikely for cricket even if WADA agrees to make concessions.

Out-of-competition-testing is the most important weapon in the fight against doping and ‘whereabouts’ remain central to that scheme.

Even when the dust settles on the ongoing ‘whereabouts’ issue, the ICC will find itself non-compliant since not all its members have anti-doping rules — the BCCI is yet to have its code — and the ICC rules extend only to international cricketers not to all players.

By all assessment, especially from the zero ‘positive’ reported from ICC events since it started testing in select events in 2002, cricket need not have too much worries about a rash of dope cases.

Yet, the Shoaib Akhtar-Mohammad Asif doping episode prior to the 2006 Champions Trophy in India was a reminder to ICC that cricket was not hundred per cent ‘clean’.

The latest report of a ‘positive’ returned by Dale Steyn and the 2008 incident in which Asif tested positive a second time in his career, were from the IPL, an ICC-sanctioned event.

When Asif tested positive a second time, the ICC rules became irrelevant all over again, as was the case in 2006.

The IPL rules did not extend beyond IPL and the ICC code was limited in it scope.

Asif is now serving a one-year suspension from the game for a steroid violation that no one has imposed! The IPL hearing panel did impose a one-year suspension, running up to September, but that was only from the IPL.

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