Summary
- Sport: Rugby Union
- Issue: Appeal Arbitration
- Type: Anti-Doping
- Tribunal: Robert Englehart QC, Kitrina Douglas, Carole Binngton-Wood
- Decision date: 16 April 2018
- Outcome: At first instance the Tribunal imposed the standard sanction of 4 year's period of Ineligibility. A subsequent Appeal was denied
Decision Details
First instance and appeal decisions in the cases of Rugby Football Union (RFU) v Brandon Staples and Brandon Staples v RFU (Appeal) have been published by the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).
On 9 August 2017, rugby union player Brandon Staples of Yorkshire Carnegie RFC was subject to an Out-of-Competition test following a training session. Analysis of Mr Staples’ urine sample returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone and its metabolite 6β-hdehydrochloromethyltestosterone, 6β-hydroxy methandienone and 17 epi-methandienone (metabolites of methandienone) and Stanozolol-N-glucuronide (metabolite of Stanozolol). Mr Staples was subsequently charged with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for the Presence of Prohibited Substances under World Rugby Regulation 21.2.1.
At first instance, the NADP Tribunal consisting of Mark Hovell, Blondel Thompson and Lorraine Johnson determined that Mr Staples failed to establish that the ADRV was not intentional, imposing the standard sanction of 4 (four) year’s period of Ineligibility. Mr Staples subsequently appealed this decision.
The NADP Appeal Tribunal consisting of Robert Englehart QC, Kitrina Douglas and Carole Billington-Wood dismissed the appeal. As a result, Mr Staples’ period of Ineligibility will run from 7 September 2017 to midnight on 6 September 2021.