Former Carlton player claims drug use rife in AFL
Updated 18 May 2005, 7:04am
PHOTO: Laurence Angwin ... says drug use common in the AFL. (Getty Images)
MAP: Carlton 3053
The Carlton Football Club says it is disappointed over fresh drug claims by former player Laurence Angwin, who was sacked last year for taking ecstasy.
Angwin has claimed in an interview with
The Bulletin magazine that he, team-mate Karl Norman and three high-profile Carlton players took drugs the night before they turned up to training in April last year suffering the effects of their partying.
Angwin had his contract cancelled while Norman is still at the club.
Angwin told the magazine that he was first offered drugs by another Carlton player just two months after joining the club.
"There were two guys there, both players who could get you whatever you wanted," he said.
He also says that drug use is common in the AFL and that he could name a number of players who "used drugs, usually ecstasy, every two weeks or so".
"And it wasn't just Carlton where this was happening, it was just commonplace, especially amongst the younger blokes because it only cost you $25-$40, you didn't put on weight and you didn't feel sick at training," he said.
Angwin says he and Norman were not the only ones that did drugs on the night before they turned up to training under the influence.
"We were with three other Carlton players, higher profile players than us, who were also doing it but they weren't tested and we didn't dob them in," he said.
"No one at Carlton asked us if other players were involved because, I guess, they didn't want to hear the answer."
Carlton says it fully investigated the matter at the time but found there was no evidence to suggest that any other player was taking drugs.
"You have to understand Angwin was denying he had even taken drugs until the results proved otherwise," Carlton chief executive officer Michael Malouf told
The Bulletin.
Angwin has also claimed Carlton has not provided the drug counselling or assistance it promised after his sacking.
But the club says Angwin has not taken up its offer of help.
"My understanding is that, for whatever reasons, Laurence did not take up the opportunity," Mr Malouf said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-05-18/former-carlton-player-claims-drug-use-rife-in-afl/1572922
Yes this story is 12 years old but the reason I remember it is that I was living in Tasmania at the time it came out (Burnie in da house y'all ) and the outright denial from the afl media and attacks on Angwin were ferocious
The AFL footy show were particularly savage
Twelve years down the road and it seems Angwin for all his faults was bang on
it starts at junior level in AFL
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...s/news-story/45f3f515c824c9e2e260f86a25d7f605
Coaches supplying ice to players in grassroots footy crisis
Jon Ralph, Herald Sun
March 23, 2015 7:12am
UPDATE: SUBURBAN and bush footballers are using ice as a performance-enhancing substance, with some getting the drug from their coaches, senior police have revealed.
Footballers are putting their lives in danger by using the drug just minutes before they run on to the field in some cases — often feeling “like Superman”.
Abusers are as young as 14 and in some teams, there are as many as nine players on ice, football administrators and police have told the Herald Sun.
Players with heightened levels of aggression are also putting rivals at risk, ending up in tribunals for serious acts like striking, they say.
The Andrews Government is being warned to do more, with police saying sporting clubs — once a refuge in the war against drugs — are now part of the problem.
A government inquiry into the use of methamphetamines, released last September, acknowledges the use of ice in sport.
But former head of the Purana Taskforce, Jim O’Brien, says the $45 million committed by the Government to tackle the ice problem is a “drop in the ocean”.
Police have revealed footy players as young as 14 are using ice minutes before running on to the field.
Leading community figures say it might be time to start random drug-testing in suburban and country football.
Former Hawthorn and Richmond footballer Billy Nicholls was today sentenced to 11 years’ jail for shooting two men after his life spiralled out of control while using ice.
Geelong police Senior-Sergeant Tony Francis, spearheading the town’s Ice Fight program, has revealed the depth of the problem.
“We know coaches have given players ice and we know players are using ice as a performance-enhancer.
“We know through police channels that it is being used as a performance-enhancing drug and we know kids in the teenage bracket are using it.
“We know coaches who are giving it to people to enhance their performance. It makes people feel like Superman. They are ready to run through brick walls but there are huge side effects with the paranoia and psychosis it can cause.
“It also affects your heart so there are real medical issues associated with it.”
Lindenow Football Club official and anti-ice advocate Chris Daffey said players were taking ice only minutes before playing.
“We have heard of blokes who smoke ice before a game, smoking it in the car or behind the club rooms and then run straight out,’’ he said.
“I have no doubt there have been cases before the tribunal where players have been on ice and then struck other players.
“I have no doubt at all that has happened.”
Mr Daffey told SEN today that it was an issue for all clubs.
“This is not an issue that is confined to one club or one league, it’s statewide,” he said.
“It is an issue for our club from a point of view of looking after our players and player welfare
“This is something that is going to continue happening in the future and there is no point sugar coating it.”
He said drug abuse was more of a problem in the higher-ranking teams.
“In our league I wouldn’t suggest that players are doing it for a performance enhancing expectation,” he said.
“We are at the lower end of leagues in terms of ranking but definitely at the top end of some of your higher-performing leagues I think it would be an issue.
“Obviously when there is more money involved and you are paying players some of them will do whatever it takes, we’ve seen that happen before.
“I’ve heard of coaches and clubs supplying players but I wouldn’t say that is happening in our league.”
Warragul Senior Constable Kevin McLaren said football clubs must consider drug-testing.
“We are seeing average footballers addicted to ice all of a sudden being best-and-fairest. You tell me what’s going on,” the police youth resources worker said.
The ice plague
The Victorian Government’s Inquiry Into the Supply and Use of Methamphetamines quotes Odyssey House’s Stefan Gruenert, who discusses how kids in sporting clubs are using ice to enhance performances.
“The use of methamphetamine by athletes and sportspeople to enhance physical prowess is a classic example of situational drug use,’’ it states.
The Victorian Government this month committed $45 million to the fight against ice, but former Purana boss O’Brien said that amount was nowhere near enough to combat the problem. He said: “$45 million is a drop in the ocean compared to what it is costing us.
“It is a billion dollars a year alone for all the drug-related crimes and health issues in Victoria,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Their response is a trickle-down which people will have to fight for with funding submissions to get a share of the money.”
jon.ralph@news.com.au
