For those who aren't aware, Australian football (AFL or "Aussie Rules") is a very popular sport here.
Games regularly get 70,000 attending, and finals upwards of that.
Players have a 12 year life span, and play up to 300 games over that time
Each game is 4 x ~30 minute quarters, and most players are running a minimum of 12km in that time, and at very strong pace.
Highly physical it is a full contact sport.
Each team has a salary cap of $8m which is paid over the 40 players on the roster, whcih included new players who earn maybe $50k in their first year.
Top players are on $400-$700k in their last few seasons
On top of that they can earn big money on endorsements etc
The issue of Doping is lip service.
One year one team had its players on IV rehydration at half time break...as people learned later
Wealthier clubs take their entire teams to Arizona for "Altitude training" in the 3 month pre-season window
They use hypobaric (sp?) chambers, inject lambs blood and so on
Lots of soft tissue injuries through a 26 week season.
Very few players can get through a season without being on the needle before games, usually cortizone and other stuff to numb pain. This is all allowed and open. Yo can get a needle sitting on the bench at 1/4 time if you wanted, though most would go down to the rooms for that.
Ask 100 people here is any players dope, you would probably get 97 people say no, they would never do that
And thats after they know all the above, and read this
Today in one of the papers a revolutionary new program was
This is not considered doping to an AFL footballer
I read in David Millars autobiography that he believes (amongst other reasons) that taking needles for vitamins and other recovery made it easier to go to EPO
The pressure on players to be fit to return for matches, plus feeling obliged to their team mates is intense. Most players are under fatigue duress during the latter half to season.
Some of the bolter players- who just get bigger and faster, and can run all day, are sporting sleeve tattoos as well (a very side note)
Worth a read and a think anyway
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Six clubs have already tried Orthokine treatment and there has been an influx of interstate players booking in to Melbourne's Olympic Park clinic, which is pioneering the treatment in Australia.
Orthokine therapy has been used by six AFL clubs this year. Photo: Supplied
This year alone Marks, who regularly assists Hawthorn on match days and practises at Olympic Park, has fast-tracked the recovery of about 20 AFL players struck by joint and soft-tissue afflictions by injecting them with their own blood.
The blood is incubated in a test tube containing tiny glass beads before it is re-injected - generally in three or four sessions - to the injured area.
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...ion-science-20120924-26hhg.html#ixzz27S4qZO6P
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