18 Feb 2009
On Monday the BAC, along with the Professional Players Federation (PPF), met with representatives from WADA to discuss concerns around the new International Standard for Testing (IST) which came into force on the 1st January.
Though no immediate changes to the IST were agreed (or expected) The meeting was a useful first step in opening up a constructive dialouge with WADA, with a view to introducing changes in the future. It is clear that WADA will make no quick changes to the IST, but they did commit to listening to all the issues that arise from the athletes, and to undertake a review process in a few months time.
The frustration from the BACs point of view is that WADA continue to refer to problems with the IST as "initial wrinkles" with the system. There does not appear to be an appreciation that these "wrinkles" are incidents which are severley affecting athletes ability to train and compete, and which cause significant mental stress to those invloved.
The BAC is committed to continuing to highlight these "wrinkles" to UK Sport and to WADA, to ensure that athletes in the UK have a whereabouts system which is easy to use and minimises the risk of a "strike" for either a missed test or a whereabouts filing failure.
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