BRIAN O’DRISCOLL’S USE of legal painkillers to manage injuries “almost became like habit” in the final years of his career.
Speaking on Off The Ball on Wednesday night, the former Ireland captain revealed that he regularly took medication as part of his pre-match routine to “give yourself a chance of playing your best game”.
An investigation by Rugby World magazine in 2017 shone a light on the use of legal painkillers by rugby players.
And O’Driscoll — who regularly took difene and co-codamol before games — says the drugs were readily accessible within team set-ups.
“I would have been part of teams where on the way to a game, a doctor would have walked down the bus on the way to the game and enquired as to who wanted what in advance of it,” he said.
For me, for the last couple of seasons anyway, part of my match prep would have been a difene and a couple of co-codamol.
“Just a painkiller, that if I was carrying something [an injury]… it almost became like habit where it gave me a fighting chance if I wasn’t feeling 100%, that it might have levelled it up, which was probably a lot of the time. That is the reality of it.
“I wouldn’t have been the only one doing that. It was usually the older players just to try to balance the equilibrium, almost, of feeling ok.
“I’m sure at times in my subconscious I would have taken it because it became part and parcel where maybe I could have done without it.
“If it’s perfectly legal and there’s no need for TUEs or any of that, give yourself a chance of playing your best game.”
Access to painkillers has tightened in recent years, O’Driscoll added.
“Within the Leinster and Irish set-up, at that time, they were accessible. You could get your hands on difene.
“I think you’ve got to fight your case a little bit more and prove the necessity of having them. Certainly drugs cabinets that might have been open once upon a time are inaccessible.
“That used to be for sleepers as well — diazepam to try and counteract what would happen with the caffeine because [players] couldn’t sleep.
“I’m not saying it was the culture but it happened.”
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I know Kimmage & Co will equate to painkillers to performance enhancing drugs but I don’t. It’s an incredibly physical sport, if it’s helps relieve pain then go for it (in a controlled manner), we all do it day to day life.
Also if pain killers is performance enhancing, where do you stop? A can of Coca Cola has caffeine, as does coffee, Powerade etc.
@Larry Fitzwell: Painkillers are medical. They’re drugs. With them “if I wasn’t feeling 100% … it might have levelled it up” – that, by definition is performance enhancing. But painkillers are the tip of the iceberg in Rugby and other non-cycling sports IMO. Have you compared the physiques of today’s rugby players with those, not of a generation ago, but just 10 years ago? That level of ripped does not happen without doping. It’s a reality at all levels of sport, not just pro rugby.
@All Hail Bukowski: With no facts at all and no mention of the improvements in training, sports science, diet and recovery over the last decade you’ve just decided that improvements in physique must be down to drugs?
@Oval Digest: There’s plenty of evidence outside of rugby. To think rugby exists in some cinderella zone where doping doesn’t happen is a bit naive, no? Plus you have plenty of testimony coming out of rugby – not a rush, no but some, and not recent either. Craig Chalmers three or four years ago. And then there are rugby players with verified doping records (Grobler for example)? And those who look like something from Conan the Barbarian. And yes, I sincerely doubt they got that way down to eating more protein and improved coaching. Same way as I sincerely doubt pro-road cyclists can have higher sustained power than riders with doping histories and have physiques that are sickly thin unless they dope.
@All Hail Bukowski: Look a physiques of players in any sport over the last 10 years and you’ll see a massive change. played rugby at school boy level in the mid 2000′s at a high level and all we did was train, eat a bit of pasta and do a bit of stretching. Now kids are going to gym 3/4 times a week with detailed programmes, diets and recovery plans. That change is magnified at the professional level. Yes there’s bound to be a few dopers but the change is mostly down to the improvements in other areas.
@All Hail Bukowski:
See you’re creating the same strawman that Kimmage and others create.
Let me be clear. NOBODY is saying that there is NO doping in rugby. That would be foolish, because like in all sports it DEFINITELY exists. A small amount of players dope and some have been caught doing so.
But by the same token, for an anonymous internet commenter to point to improvement in physique over a decade of huge advances in the areas I mention above as indicative that there is doping is just foolish. Improvements in the fitness and physicality of players is just down to doing lots of things much better.
@All Hail Bukowski: wasting your time trying to talk to the rugby fraternity. They’re the only sport who do things by the book. They are immune to PED’s.. Heroes afterall. It is easier to find athletes who aren’t doping and that’s across the board, not just rugby.
@Eddie Hekenui: I can’t talk about prevalence. There are journal articles that do for amateurs, a swiss one in 2015 cites various studies saying 3-5% of adults in one European country, 5-15% of adults in another, 6.7% of French amateurs aged 8-18 but that is I suspect based on reported levels of doping. 1 in 20 amateur cyclists, 35% of amateur sports people in the UK according to ComRes poll. More than just a few imo.
@Oval Digest: Agree to disagree. My final input – as I doubt you’ll shift your position anyway – there’s an interesting read in the Journal of Research in Sports Medicine on a survey about potential doping behaviour in rugby union players – 23% of respondents reported what the study calls ‘potential doping behaviour’ and 55% identified that they believe there is doping in rugby. There is plenty of scientific evidence out there. Rugby is in my opinion, most definitely not as clean as you believe. But agree to disagree.
@All Hail Bukowski: Dude, I’ve literally said above that there’s doping in rugby. I mean I don’t know what more you want!
For a man of science, you started by posting that improvements in physique over a decade have come from drugs and ignored any of the many improvements in many other areas, that’s my issue.
@Oval Digest: It is probably my favorite sport however the injury’s have greatly increased, at anytime in a season 20 % of a squad will have injuries, and this is not considered an injury crisis just a fact of professional rugby.
@All Hail Bukowski: What type of drugs do you believe that Irish rugby players are using, as you suggest, to build up muscle.
@Tom Reilly: I think one can look at the list of detected violations, say in the UK, and reason that a similar cocktail of PEDs would be used here. You can search by Union or League as well as other sports: https://ukad.org.uk/anti-doping-rule-violations/current-violations/
@All Hail Bukowski: ya it’s actually not that simple. By summarising it like that you are just proving ignorance in the are of physical training. I mean u are implying that any person who is big and ripped is doping. that’s ridiculous.
@Anthony: Yes. That is definitely what I said. Did you read the thread? Where do I say any (ie all) people who are ripped are doping? I said that some of the physiques in rugby and other sports are not attainable without recourse to PEDs. Then I cited a handful of scientific journals that record doping rates at, guess what, less than 100 percent. That is, not ‘all’. And then I provided a link to detection in the UK. No where does it say that everyone who is “big and ripped” is doping. This is one example of why it’s so difficult to discuss doping, or how to formulate reasonable and balanced strategies for dealing with doping, or how to avoid the blame game for sports people – pro, semi-pro or amateur – who use PEDs while also finding some way to level the playing field with clean athletes. There are no absolutes.
@robbie: Good man Robbie. Thanks for your educated comment. Go back and read mine now again (maybe a few times so you understand). That’s if you have any free time away from writing your thesis, or whatever it is that a genius like you does day to day.
@All Hail Bukowski: everyone on this is doping and you have called them out, I for one am glad that I got to see it with my own eyes well done sir.
@Larry Fitzwell: heard that interview and could feel Keith Wood saying to himself, shut the hell up Brian!!!
I heard this last night. I thought for a long time Kimmage was off the mark here but now I am reconsidering. If Brian O’Driscoll is taking this level of medication despite being the first name on every teamsheet (3rd lions test aside) what are guys trying to crack the team or hand on to a place doing. With the competition for places as fierce as it is at present both provincially and nationally the temptation to medicate through the pain barrier for young men must be huge.
@Kevin McMahon: Kimmage is a pain, thoroughly unlikeable and prone to hyperbole, but he is probably not too far off. It’s naive to assume there isn’t performance enhancing drugs in almost every sport now, nevermind one where power, size and speed are so integral. However, what BOD said wasn’t exactly earth shattering, there people up and down the country abusing painkillers more than that with their breakfast, nevermind amateur sports people taking half a box of Nurofen for a sore knee or ankle, before a match or race or whatever. That’s even getting in young lads taking steroids for purely cosmetic reasons.
@Johnny 5: That’s an excellent point. The amount of Irish people who are addicted to codeine is enormous. I don’t think it’s surprising to say that pro sports players who are engaged in heavy contact almost every day could be doing something likewise. Kimmage will try to use this as ‘vindication’, but there has been very little denial that painkillers are used frequently in dressing rooms. Even commentators mention players getting ‘injections’ at half time.
@Johnny 5: I sit beside a girl in work who never played a sport in her life and she swallows more pain killers every day than I can count. It’s not exactly a rugby problem.
Odriscoll said a doctor gave out these pain killers maybe that’s part of the issue. Should a doctor be handing out drugs like smarties.
@Chris Mc: but that girl is probably taking medication out of necessity. Even if she is not she is probably not taking them every week so she mask the pain in order to do something that will only increase her need for them. Kimmage is the sort that gets peoples back up, there is merit to his argument though. It’s a pity this isn’t something that was raised by some one like Frank O’Driscoll. Young men in particular do need to be protected from themselves.
@Sean: she takes unsubscribed painkillers for reasons mainly in her head. She takes them because she sees no harm in it and like BOD it’s a habit.
Personally I’d take a painkiller going on to the pitch if I thought I needed it but normally I don’t take any medication if possible as I think masking injuries don’t let you know when your making it worse.
@Chris Mc: I’d be chewing on painkillers if I’d to sit beside you all day too ;)
@Kevin McMahon: Kimmage has made a huge climbdown from his stance that rugby is full of dopers to his current position which states that rugby players are abusing painkillers. This use of painkillers is prevalent across all sports, be it cycling, GAA, tennis etc.
No doubt that there is some doping in rugby and there have been a number of cases involving underage players in Wales and South Africa. Kimmages positioning of himself as the moral arbiter in an arena that he knows nothing about and shows no respect for is the major gripe that people would have.
@Jimmy: Kimmage knows nothing about rugby but he’s got a load of first hand experience when it comes to doping
@Chris Mc: Maybe she takes them because she has to sit beside you? :P
I know amateur players who take lots of painkillers for the same reasons as BOD, it’s necessary (to get them through the day/match), legal and normal, but it’s still wrong
@AmbroseHoulihan: There is bound to be a few amateurs at it too no doubt but I wouldn’t imagine this is a huge problem in amateur rugby or any amateur sport. Anyone medication like this would know they are gambling with their health but where career and money are involved there would be more incentive to do what ever it takes. I can’t think of any amateur sport where the hits would be remotely as hard or as frequent as pro rugby.
I did thst 30 years ago for amateur rugby. Now as a 50 year old I’m regularly doing it again so I can get through a days work with back pain, arthritis etc. This is the real world.
@Etherman: There is a big difference between amateur rugby 30 years ago and the pro game today. If guys are taking medication to mask the pain so they can continue to go our and hop of 20 stone mountains of muscle then they do need to be protected from themselves. I could easily see how I would have slipped in to this if I was on the cusp of making it in the game.There is a long life to live after the 5 to 10 years of glory but few young sports people will see in like that at the time.
Throw in a can of coke and thats what I use to blitz a hangover!
Yet again what Paul Kimmage has been pointing at for years, and after initial denials and “Just cause it happened in cycling Paul doesn’t mean it’s happening here; take your paranoia somewhere else…”, is finally been acknowledged.
So now the question is what will the IRFU & World Rugby do about it? Is the self regulated ‘Medial cabinet isn’t as accessible as it use to be’ good enough?
@El Sparko: Woah woah woah. That’s not true at all.
Kimmage has been pointing at doping. There’s a very big difference between taking illegal drugs and taking legal pills and supplements.
It’s a very important distinction that Kimmage and others fall into the trap of conflating.
Now there’s definitely a conversation to be had as to players taking pain killers. But to point to O’Driscoll’s comments and schools players taking creatine etc and make that the same conversation as doping is just wrong.
@Oval Digest: he’s been pointing at both.
But painkillers is the one he has got open admissions about and as such has actually been able to have a conversation on; although sometimes those participating in that conversation have not been too happy about it due to the connotations that follow – P. O’Connell & L. Fitzgerald come to mind.
@El Sparko: But you’re conflating both points. The denials have come around drugs in rugby. I don’t think POC or Luke Fitz have denied the use of legal medicine in rugby? Nor would many people. It’s not a surprise. And it’s important to remember it’s a very different point to performance enhancing illegal drugs.
@Oval Digest: they conflate themselves in fairness; both are performance enhancing; one group just happens to be legal and doesn’t require a Therapeutic Use Exemption.
But watch this space, the practice of taking of painkillers before games may soon be clamped down on.
@El Sparko:
No, as you’ve rightly said, they’re very different things. One is legal (which Kimmage himself would know about) one is potentially harmful but very much legal.
On your POC and Luke Fitz comment, can you expand on those?
@Oval Digest: if you can’t play at 100% without taking difene & co-codamol, as Brian O’Driscoll stated he took, then these tablets become performance enhancing, for without them your ability/performance is <100%.
@Oval Digest: on his retirement POC was on The Last Word and PK came on to confront him on the pain killer issue, can’t find the audio. Around a year ago he then had a barney with LF on twitter which was then followed up by him going on LF’s podcast: https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.independent.ie/sport/rugby/the-left-wing/the-left-wing-listen-in-full-as-luke-fitzgerald-and-paul-kimmage-face-off-on-dublin-cheating-and-doping-in-sport-36177454.html
@El Sparko: Of course they’re performance enhancing. As is protein, caffiene and beet root juice. Some performance enhancing supplements are legal and some aren’t. I don’t know what other way to say it!
@Oval Digest: Yeah performance enhancing is a catch all phrase. Eating the right food is performance enhancing. Getting the right amount of sleep is performance enhancing. As you say the key is what’s legal and what’s illegal.
@El Sparko: what about the likes of arthritis medication to reduce pain? It would obviously improve performance because the person isn’t in pain anymore, so should the likes of James Lowe stop taking it because it could be considered a performance enhancing drug?
@Eddie Hekenui: be careful not to be too pedantic with words and definition so as to ignore the genuine concerns. You cannot compare taking drugs, even legally, with sleeping the right amount of time. Painkillers, even if legal and probably because they are legal, are notorious for getting people opioid-addicted, practicing any sport with an injury covered by a drug, even if legal, is unethical and dangerous if not controlled properly. Even BOD mentioned it in the article: “Access to painkillers has tightened in recent years”. Adding this comment to the obvious akwardness of players and staff recently interviewed are clear signs that something is wrong and needs to be changed. I do not think it is responsible to down play the risks with just using the legal (for now BTW) argument or by comparing painkillers to beetroot juice…
@El Sparko: taking a pain killer is not cheating no more is putting on a bandage or strapping.
Kimmage hates sports and has a thing about rugby. He’s got nothing else to write about so he writes the same tripe again and again, last week the IRFU were to blame for RTÉ placing an advert for panadol at half time during the NZ game.
@ForrestG45: I’m not ignoring the genuine concerns I just disagree with the use of the term performance enhancing in reference to painkillers in this instance because of the negative connotations of that term in relation to sports. People see the term performance enhancing drugs and think steroids and so on. If you think comparing the use of legal drugs to beetroot juice isn’t responsible then neither is comparing them to illegal drugs and steroids. Let’s have a discussion on the merits of the details given in the interview and not jump to rash conclusions or make wild implications.
The use of painkillers is 100% something that needs to be looked at. Players of all ages need to educated on what they are being given or told to take and the potential effects. Governing bodies also need to carefully regulate what players are taking, for what reasons and for what reasons. I’ve long been arguing that Irish rugby needs to do more in this regard, particularly the monitoring of the underage game, but I don’t agree with people jumping to conclusions based on this, the Gerbrandt Grobler case and the fact rugby players now are in better shape than 10 years ago.
@Eddie Hekenui: thanks Eddie for the clarification and glad to know you are also concerned. Just one important thing where I disagree with you though: painkillers are performance enhancing substances, there is no way around it, but they are legal you are right.
Just quoting a doctor in the following article which I think explains things clearly:
“In my opinion pain killers fulfil all requirements of a doping substance because normally pain is a protection mechanism of the body and with pain killers you switch off this protection system, like if you switch off fatigue, which is also a protection mechanism of the body. Painkillers really enhance performance but they have negative effects on body tissues, maybe irreversible effects.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18282072
@Sam Harms: No.1-does he have arthritis or is he just taking arthritis medication?
No.2-if he has arthritis & he’s rightly taking his prescribed pain medication; should he now be allowed to play a professional sport where this medication is giving him a competitive advantage over other players.
Take Chris Froome & Bradley Wiggins for example, both have a diagnosis of asthma and a TUE for an inhaler; its a declared fact that on some of their most heroic stage wins that they used a steroid inhaler on the day off which has led to one of the many clouds of suspicion around them.
If you have a diagnosis of arthritis then its questionable wheather you should still be playing rugby, let alone playing rugby with a medication that masks the pain your arthritis, among other things, may be creating.
@Chris Mc: taking pain killers isn’t cheating if everyone also happens to be taking pain killers; but what damage will that lead to players in the long run. Not taking pain killers is also not cheating.
You may hate Paul Kimmage but Paul Kimmage doesn’t hate sport; & seeing as he’s worked as a sports writer since retiring from pro cycling would go along way to proving that. What he does hate, & has spent his professional sports journalist career fighting, is the drug use (& the Omertà around it) he was forced to participate just in order to survive as a pro. Again you may not like him, but he played a big part in uncovering one of the greatest conmen in Pro sports which in itself led to the ever improving global PED testing that goes on today & which has in all probability, saved lives.
@El Sparko: Yes he does have arthritis and he is a great advocate for people not letting it ruin their lives and still following their dreams. But it seems you think he should just give up on rugby because he needs weekly medication to help control it.
@El Sparko: So people with genuine medical conditions that require them to take medication shouldn’t be allowed compete in sports with people who don’t?
@Oval Digest: well said.
Brian odriscoll, greatest Irish rugby player ever. But he seriously is hard on the head. For such a Hardy guy on the pitch, does he ever stop whining off it
I take panadol before playing golf because I suffer with back pain. I can guarantee they’re certainly not performance enhancing. It would take numerous lessons from the worlds leading golf coach to improve my game !!!
@Douvan: that’s irrelevant because golf isn’t a sport.
Frightening. I dont consider them performance enhancing as such by the same logic sugary drinks are .However a lot of lads could easily get addicted. What we expect athletes to put themselves through is horrendous and now more than ever I believe the amount of games is part of the issue. There needs to be a cap of 20. Look at nfl 16 games a season 20 if you go post season and they have a good few months to get there bodies in order. Rugby players get no down time 1 month or 2 in summer is just no sufficient and it is going to lead to ruined lives.
The landing for professional rugby is going to be rough I am afraid. An otherwise great sport to watch, historically promoting great values for young people is now showing too many cracks which are getting more and more difficult to cover. Between the organised (and fair enough legal) use of painkillers (currently killing >40k people through OD per year in the US only), the mismanagement of injuries (especially head ones), the sponsoring of competitions by drink and drugs companies, there are way too many red flags to let us turn a blind eye and encourage our kids to practice rugby and even condon it in its current form. Something has to change fast before (more) people die.
@ForrestG45: hyperbole much…. there are no cracks. As BOD said if you listened to full interview, painkillers are not handed out as freely now. They are clearly clamping down on head injuries- HIA and red cards. Sponsored by a drink company is not a crack in the sport.
@Fred McHugh: fair points, things are moving to an extent. Would you know what this comment about “painkillers not handed out as freely now” means in practical terms? Do they have specific protocols that can be controlled? I stand to be corrected but I do not think there is any doping regulations about how much, how often, etc. which would make this whole comment irrelevant as such. All the best.
To be a professional sports player these days you are expected to be almost robotic. Eat, sleep and drink the sport. Do whatever the club demands of you. Perform to your best ability or risk being cut. The money involved means a players welfare is not the priority…….. Winning is! The majority of players at the very top level are mollycoddled and given everything they require to perform including the likes of pain killers, muscle builders, recovery drinks/ powders. This all takes place between the ages of (approx.) 16-35 leaving these individuals with long lasting injuries and health issues for the rest of there lives. These pain killers that are freely handed out mask the issue short term but there’s too much money involved to care about the long term welfare of these players.
While he is probably just trying to sell a book or something The only thing BOD has done here is highlight negligent medical practices by the team doctor, you would think that giving out prescription medicines like polo mints is against all medical practice and the kind of thing that doctors get in trouble for.
@Bungee Aky: There’s culpability by both; one person hands it out; the other person receives it and ingests it. And who’s to the say the player/s aren’t approach the Dr asking for painkiller meds?
@El Sparko: only one person in that equation is governed by rules, licensing and regulation.
@El Sparko: only one person in that equation is governed by rules, licensing and regulation. Prescriptions exist for a reason
Has he a book coming out soon?
People jumping on this and using it as a “I told you so” about performance enhancing drugs in rugby are off their rocker. To say taking an anti inflammatory, which 90% of any sports people out there will have taken at least once in their amateur career, is akin to performance enhancement is laughable. Icebaths, physiotherapy, massages, tailored diets and supplements, where do you stop with what is performance enhancing. There are laws about what is performance enhancing and that is well regulated by WADA. Difene is nowhere near their radar for good reason.
@Leo Erah: Taking an anti inflammatory to ease the suffering for what is a contact sport is par for course across all levels of sport including the GAA right down through club level. This is a non issue. I take the stuff still to help me with old battle scars.
@Leo Erah: Just to correct what you are saying: there are indeed laws or regulations but they do not define what is performance enhancing, they define whichperformance enhancing drugs are permitted and which ones are banned. Pain killers are enhancing the performance but they are not banned.
@ForrestG45: I would disagree. Painkillers are performance enablers not enhancers. You don’t elevate your performance above what it is capable of anyway, performance enhancing drugs do. Is a massage before a game to free up a right calf performance enhancing?
@Leo Erah: read this if you have the time and I do not follow the logic of comparing taking highly addictive drugs with potential direct and indirect side effects to a massage… https://www.pmrjournal.org/article/S1934-1482(17)30230-7/pdf
Do they still prescribe difene in Ireland? Despite all the warnings about it?
3 of the drugs he mentioned – co-comadol, Difene, Valium – can only be dispensed legally with a prescription from a doctor. If he did not have such a prescription then their use were in actual fact illegal!
@Alan Rossiter: his dads a gp he said i believe
I wonder is this what kimmage and bod had the falling out over?
I see painkillers as performance enabling rather than enhancing. Inflammation following the levels of contact modern rugby players endure must be enormous. All the most recent scientific data suggests inflammation leads to early degradation of cells in humans so I have no problem with a professional athlete taking anti inflamatories or pain killers within reason.
There’s nothing new or unique here. Athletes in all sports are taking painkillers and anti inflams regularly. In fact it’s not just sport. Prescription drug abuse is a far bigger problem in society than the use of banned drugs like coke and heroin. Prescribed opioid painkillers are a huge problem in most developed countries and account for more illicit use than heroin.
What’s happening here is that kimmage hasn’t gotten enough traction or made enough progress in his crusade against rugby PED abusers (which I’m sure there are many) and has turned on the prescribed drug “phenomenon” instead. There’s absolutely a problem there but it’s not confined to rugby and to suggest otherwise is naive. Personally I have no problem with guys taking painkillers and antis once a doctor is overseeing it.
I was at Ireland v England oh a good few years ago now. Toward the end of game he was in agony on the touchline with some kind of leg problem, probably cramp but England were heading for a try and ran in and made a savage tackle. I’d kept my eye on him while play was going on. I’ve never forgotten that. He’s the greatest I’ve seen in my lifetime. Includes umaga, lomu, Fitzpatrick. Betson, Wilkinson to name a few
Why is O Driscoll throwing beat to Kimmage?
Read Stephen Ferris autobiography. These guys are our heroes but they are also full of drugs of one sort or another. Aren’t we all anyway ourselves? If it helps them let em, it’s their choice and job decision.