Ice in Local Footy Clubs

Much of Australia stopped on Saturday to see the fantastic and nail biting game between the Bulldogs and the Swans. We want to congratulate the Bulldogs on the incredible achievement of bringing it home after their last grand final win in 1954! Both teams gave us a edge of your seat Grand Final. Well done boys!

We would like to turn our heads to the subject of this article which is unfortunately a little more serious. We would like to talk about the use of the drug ice in local footy clubs. Over the past few months information has been emerging about the Ice or Crystal Meth being used as a performance enhancing solution, for footy players in local clubs.

This year we have seen 2 stories emerge surrounding this subject, including 2 deaths at a local footy club in Tasmania.

Unlike heroin, which is a depressant, Ice makes the user feel impenetrable, confident, fast and extremely energetic.  This makes for a very tempting performance enhancing drug as it allows the player to seemingly do better at their sport, to have endless energy and a false confidence. 

It is clear the damage that Ice is having on the metropolitan and rural communities of Australia. Specifically communities are being changed by the terrible effects of ice use and the insidiousness of the drug in what seems a very short space of time. It has made its way to the iconic ’football club’ and this is completely unacceptable. It is unacceptable that a kid feels the need to take a drug to handle the pressure of performing or to succumb to peer pressure.

The real question that can be reduced from this information is…

  • Why does a kid feel the need to perform better in a sport that should have encouragement, training and support as its confidence booster? 
  • Why is the usual safe ground of the footy club now having to consider drug testing?

The discussion that needs to be had now is how to prevent taking the drug in the first place as unfortunately the drug Ice or Crystal Meth will not go away overnight but solution's for education can be put into place more fiercely.

Football has long been a strong and bonding community activity, somewhere where people come together with a common passion. 

It is a group from which community bonds grow, where social awareness’s can be raised and charity can begin. The culture of the footy club is where so many kids get a chance to form life long relationships and learn how to be a part of a strong social setting. It is a church for many Australians and in the face of all of this and the sanctity of the footy club, it needs to be protected ferociously from the scourge of Ice.

We need to help raise awareness by educating kids on what ice is but more importantly help them to learn other ways to cope with pressure if they do feel it. To be able to talk to their coaches if they feel that they are not ’performing’ as they should. More importantly the club needs to take an approach of a complete refusal to let any drug into its community, it needs to become the guardian of its players, to offer solutions in the face of confidence issues on the ground. This requires planning and great schemes but with a trust built within the club firstly and addressing why kids feel pressure to perform in this way, then the right kind education can actually impinge and a workable and lasting model can be formed. This is a need in our community.

If you would like more information on how to deal with the effects of ice or if you have observed ice use in your own club, please do not hesitate to call with any questions.

1300 88 7676

AUTHOR

Christine Bauer

Christine is the Dissemination Secretary at Narconon Melbourne, Australia. She is also a graduate of the program and has been free of drugs for 11 years.