Welsh rugby player blames doping violation on STD medicine, receives four-year ban

A Welsh rugby player has been suspended from all sport for four years following a doping violation. Jesse Patton, who plays for Ystalyfera RFC in the Welsh Championship, tested positive for a banned substance after providing an out-of competition urine sample last year.

Patton provided the sample at a training session on 24 September 2019. UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) have confirmed that that sample returned an adverse analytical finding for five metabolites of metandienone.

Following an investigation, the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP), a tribunal independent from UKAD, concluded that a four-year ban should be imposed.

Rieko Ioane’s schoolboy highlights for Auckland Grammar just 3 years before becoming an All Black

Rieko Ioane’s schoolboy highlights for Auckland Grammar just 3 years before becoming an All Black

The NADP stated that the player had “failed to satisfy his burden to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional.”

In their verdict, which can be found in full here, UKAD outline that metandienone, an anabolic androgenic steroid, is “a non-Specified Substance and is prohibited at all times.”

Patton had stated that the drug’s presence in his system was unintentional.

In his response to the initial charge last year, the player said that his failed test may have been the result of medication he took to treat a sexually transmitted disease.

He stated that he received the medication from a friend as he was “embarrassed” to go a doctor, and had not checked the contents.

“I confided in one of my friends and he told me he had medication to help clear it which he had bought online, he then gave me a few tablets and he told me to take them for the next 5 days to clear it,” Patton said.

“I thought nothing of it, my irritations had healed and I felt much better.

“I rang him last week out of curiosity, I asked him what he had given me and did he know if they were safe?

“He said he had ordered them online, he wasn’t sure of the pharmaceutical company that made them, but the tablets were called “Fluconazole”. I did some google research into this and I found out that “Methandienone” was a compound that was labelled under the medical umbrella “Fluconazole”.”

It appears Gloucester may be losing another coach. https://t.co/b0ElIMwfZ3

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The NADP said they found a number of inconsistencies in Patton’s explanation, leading to their conclusion of a four year ban.

“The Player was not clear as to when the medication was taken – in his November 2019 response he claimed it had been taken in May 2019; during the hearing he claimed to have taken it in July 2019 and even as late as August.”

The statement continued:

They added that “He exercised no caution whatsoever and was reckless as to what he was ingesting.”

The player has been banned for four years, with his ban ending on midnight, 7 November 2023.

Stacey Cross, UKAD Deputy Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs said: “Our message to athletes is clear. Steroids and other prohibited substances have no place in sport. If you take the risk, you could be facing a ban from sport as a result.”