A Welsh Championship player has been banned for four years after testing positive for a banned substance.
Ystalyfera RFC player Jesse Patton has been suspended from all sport by UKAD due to a positive test for metendienone, an anabolic steroid, last September.
Patton told an independent National Anti-Doping Panel that his positive test was “absolutely unintentional” but failed to establish how the five metabolites of metandienone entered his system.
As such, the panel banned him for four years through until midnight on 7 November 2023 - joining seven other players currently banned in Wales. You can read our wider investigation into the issue of doping in Welsh rugby here.
Patton had denied committing an anti-doping rule violation, claiming that his failed test may have been due to taking a medication given to him by a friend after he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
“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,” reads a statement from Patton in the written report for the case.
“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”.”
Defending, Mr Paul Hill said: "Mr Patton made an error of having an encounter with a woman whilst on his rugby tour during July 2019..."
However, the panel ruled that Patton’s explanation amounted to "speculation", adding that it "did not account for the presence of the Metabolites in his sample because he had not been able to identify the batch or brand of medication and nor had he provided any tablets nor any evidence as to its ingredients."
The panel also stated that "Fluconazole is a different compound from metandienone" with Patton having provided no evidence to establish that any form of Fluconazole contains the banned substance he took.
Patton now has the right to appeal within 21 days of receiving the written decision of his four-year ban.
UKAD’s Stacey Cross said: "Our message to athletes is clear. Steroids and other prohibited substances have no place in sport.
"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.”
