ABSTRACT
Chapter seven explores the policy disconnect between the spirit of sport philosophy that underpins anti-doping regulation under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the operating environment of elite sports. The chapter uses the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency’s 2013 investigation into the supplements programme operated by Australian Football League side, Essendon Football Club. The case exemplifies the practical issues that sport organisations face in trying to manage the competing tensions of compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code, the internal expectation of delivering high-performance and protecting the brand of the league. Essendon Football Club’s failures undermined the legitimacy of WADA as they typified the performance-focused beliefs underpinning the values of elite sport in contrast to the spirit of sport used to frame the World Anti-Doping Code. It also highlighted the challenges and ambiguities accompanying the task WADA faces of creating a global anti-doping policy that is sufficiently broad to account for stakeholders with different resource and expertise levels, whilst being specific enough to account for contextual nuances.
