PM 'sickened' by ACC report

Name the names of drug cheats and criminals in Australian sport or call it a crock says Robert Craddock.

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says she is "sickened'' by the ACC report that has sent shockwaves through the Australian sporting community.

Australian sport's darkest day plunged the AFL and NRL into crisis yesterday and rocked elite sport, amid revelations that entire teams doped.

Sports scientists, coaches and club support staff have orchestrated the drug use of players, aided by dodgy doctors, pharmacists and even anti-ageing clinics which have supplied new-age performance enhancing peptides and hormones.

Ms Gillard, who is in Queenstown for bilateral talks with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, said it was a dark day for Australian sport.

"We are people who go and sit at grounds or watch sport on TV and marvel at amazing sporting prowess,'' she told reporters.

"We cheer on the deeds, and the sense that anything we've seen has actually been fuelled by banned substances would be pretty sickening for sports fans. It's pretty sickening for me.''

Sports bosses have criticised a lack of detail in the report, saying it has tarred all athletes with the same brush.

Ms Gillard said she understood the public's desire for more information, but it was up to the ACC to decide its next steps.

Daily Telegraph Deputy Editor Tim Morrissey debates what he believes is the biggest story in the history of Australian sport.

In further developments today:

- Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich admitted the AFL club has injected players with vitamins to aid their recovery but said the Dockers have nothing to fear from investigations stemming from the bombshell report.

- An Aussie journalist writing for a UK newspaper claimed that the AFL and NRL had wilfully ignored cheating for years and intimidated journalists trying to expose wrongdoing.

AFL, NRL 'allowed cheating to fester'

- Penrith NRL supremo Phil Gould said the ACC report had damaged the reputations of every innocent athlete in Australian sport and demanded that more information be made public.

- Football Federation CEO David Gallop has insisted the sport is not under investigation in the wake of the ACC report despite reports of a police investigation into a $40m off-shore gambling plunge on a single A-League match.

- Leading Australian rugby union figures say they are confident use of illegal supplements is not a problem at the professional levels of the 15-man code.

Joe Hockey and Kevin Rudd share their concerns on Seven's Sunrise that all athletes are under scrutiny following yesterday's doping revelations.

- AFL club West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett says he has "the utmost faith" that the Eagles are clean of drug allegations sweeping Australian sport, but conceded it was impossible for any club to be "100 per cent" certain.

Police involvement 'overdue'

Leading sports administrator Malcolm Speed said today that the introduction of state police sport integrity forces is long overdue.

"Criminals don't come along with tattoos on their forehead telling us that they're criminals," Speed, who is executive director of the coalition of major professional and participation sports, told ABC radio.

"They're members of the community, they're often sports fans, they become involved with clubs or players.

"You can't expect sporting clubs to investigate their own supporters, they simply don't know who they (the criminal elements) are."

The head of the Australian college of physicians said clubs needed to leave injections to doctors.

Australian sporting bodies will today begin examining clubs and officials for any signs of doping and match fixing.

"Too often sporting organisations outsource the provision of supplements to individuals within the organisation who have inadequate expertise," Jamieson told AAP.

Jamieson noted there were significant health risks associated with some supplements, and having an unqualified person in charge of their use could be dangerous for athletes.

"(If) doctors are responsible for the administration of drugs to athletes then the likelihood is that those WADA codes aren't going to be breached," he said.

"Doctors have an ethical code around drug administration. They understand the balance between benefit and side effect."

This morning, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said more information is needed on who exactly was involved in doping, and to what extent.

"The core challenge now is to establish the facts,'' Mr Rudd told the Seven Network today.

"We all know how central sport is to the Australian identity ... it's because we actually believe in fair play and that's who we are.

Indigenous All Stars coach Laurie Daley hopes the scandal rocking Australian sport doesn't take away from Saturday's All Star game.

"That is now being torpedoed by this report.

"The key thing now is to establish the facts - which players, which clubs - because I'm a bit concerned about every person out there who we've all watched, admired ... is now walking around with a total cloud over their head."

The Punch: Nobody puts Kevin in a corner

Meanwhile, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) said the importation of peptides has exploded, with seizures up 255 per cent over the past year.

ASADA chief Aurora Andruska says her organisation had been warning sporting bodies and codes that peptides were the "new generation" of performance-enhancing substance.

AFL chief sympathises with fans

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said he sympathised with fans who were disillusioned after yesterday's events.

The federal govt and coalition agree tougher laws are needed to combat widespread doping in Australian sport

"I can understand fully if there are people today who have asked themselves (how can I trust the game?) ... I'm very sympathetic," he told radio station 3AW.

"(But) the vast percentage of people at our clubs are role models for the sport."

But Demetriou's deputy, Gillon McLachlan, warned it could take months for anything concrete to come of the investigation.

"(The investigation) may take some time, that's the reality," McLachlan told Triple M.

"We may well be many weeks, months before we have any concrete information or hard data and the reality is we might not have anything at all."

Devastating report

A devastating report from the Australian Crime Commission found the substances were being supplied in Australia by organised crime figures who have infiltrated every level of Australian sport.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is adamant that cheating of any form in the AFL will not be accepted and you will be caught.

As drug-taking professional athletes were urged to "come forward before you get a knock at the door", other revelations include:

AT least one match may have been fixed and is being investigated.
POLICE have been handed 100 pieces of intelligence by the ACC and criminals pushing performance enhancing drugs have been linked to money laundering, fraud and match-fixing.
PLAYERS have been fed quick-metabolising drugs which are hard to detect intravenously. Some have not been approved or are rarely used on humans.
CRIME figures have forged business partnerships with major codes.
DOCTORS are writing scripts in false names for drugs supplied by compounding pharmacies.
ANTI-AGEING clinics with criminal links are distributing so called "fountain of youth" peptides to athletes that can enhance performance.
ATHLETES are supplying illicit drugs.

ACC executive director Paul Jevtovic revealed phone taps and coercive hearings had been used and he said the use of drugs not even scheduled had left the commission with "clear evidence players are being used as guinea pigs".

ACC chief executive John Lawler and Justice Minister Jason Clare said they were unable to name clubs, codes or players suspected of doping, casting a pall over all Australian sport.

NRL CEO David Smith said he had been briefed by the commission and that the findings of its report released yesterday "affects more than one player and more than one club".

The AFL has been rocked by an anti-doping investigation at Essendon and was also briefed by the commission, but Demetriou, who said "we have to do more," revealed he did not know how many players or officials were involved.

Both codes are now working with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and have scrambled to respond, the NRL appointing former Federal Court judge Tony Whitlam to work with authorities.

The ACC found the infiltration of organised crime and doping by team officials was similar to what the United States Anti-Doping Agency found in the case of Lance Armstrong, but on a larger scale.

Australia's top crime fighting body has discovered widespread illegal drug-taking across many sporting codes

"The difference is that the Australian threat is current, crosses sporting codes and is evolving," the ACC found.

'The blackest day in Australian sport'

Former ASADA chairman Richard Ings told Fox Sports yesterday: "This is not a black day in Australian sport, this is the blackest day in Australian sport."

Mr Clare said the findings were "shocking and they will disgust Australian sports fans" before he urged cheats, who could see penalties reduced if they cooperate, to own up.

"Don't underestimate how much we know and if you're involved in this come forward before you get a knock at the door," he said.

Integrity units will be established by each sporting code.

Tactics used to gain access to performance enhancing drugs, which can promote tissue repair and muscle growth and are also being used on race horses, were outlined by the ACC.

The Australian Crime Commission has released a report into a 12-month investigation into the integrity of Australian sport. David Gallop, NRL boss David Smith, ASADA CEO Aurora Andruska, Sports Minister Kate Lundy, Justice Minister Jason Clare, ACC CEO John Lawler, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver. Picture: Gary Ramage

In one case, a "research" body was established to get access to peptides and hormones from a compounding pharmacy.

Doctors complicit with doping regimes were recruited and, in another instance, a sports scientist profited from the sale of peptides and hormones and "directed their application at a number of sporting clubs".

Players were often left in the dark about what was being pumped into their bodies, with no medical records kept.

"In some cases, peptides and other substances were administered to players without them understanding the nature of the substances, and without the knowledge of the team doctor," the ACC found.

Football Federation chief David Gallop yesterday said "there is nothing specific in relation to football in relation to this report" while ARU CEO Bill Pulver said the report was a "wake-up call" but he was unaware of any allegations involving union's professional teams.

Dunia Diggi