Related case:
UKAD 2017 Brandon Staples vs RFU - Appeal
April 16, 2018
In September 2017 the Rugby Football Union (RFU) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the rugby player Brandon Staples after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substances Metandienone, Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone and Stanozolol. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement with evidence in his defence and he was heard for the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).
The Athlete accepted the test results and denied the intentional use of the prohibited substances. He stated that the substances must haven been in the whey protein shake that he purchased from a Xtreme Nutrion shop in May 2017 while on holiday in South Africa. He took that entire tube right up until 21 June 2017 when he returned to England and was tested 7 weeks later. He asserted that he conducted a complete check before he bought and consumed the product and he did research it on the internet.
As he discovered that the retailer was unauthorised by the manufacturer, he implied that the product in question must have contained those prohibited substances.
The RFU rejected the Athlete’s statement and contended that the Athlete failed to provide: any independent evidence of his purchase and consumption of the product; any independent evidence that he researched the product; and any evidence that shows that the product was contaminated.
In this case the Panel observes that neither party had attempted to provide the Tribunal with any evidence that demonstrates whether it would be possible to have ingested those particular 3 prohibited substances 7 weeks earlier and to still have these concentrations in his system when tested.
The Panel was not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the Athlete had not intentionally committed the anti-doping violation. The Panel finds that there is simply no evidence that shows that the product in question was contaminated and the source of the positive test.
Without grounds for a reduced sanction the NADP decides on 30 November 2017 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 7 September 2017.
