Rugby League player Tom Curwen receives 18-month ban from sport for Anti-Doping Rule Violations
Rugby League player Tom Curwen, of Workington Town, has been banned from sport for a period of 18 months following Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) for the Presence and Use of a Prohibited substance.
Mr Curwen’s Sample tested positive for amphetamine, following an In-Competition test. Amphetamine is a non-Specified stimulant and is prohibited In-Competition only.
UKAD notified Mr Curwen that he may have committed ADRVs for the Presence and Use of a Prohibited Substance and provisionally suspended him. In his response, Mr Curwen provided evidence to support his explanation showing he suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and used medication that contained amphetamine to treat his condition.
As an Athlete within the National Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Pool for their sport, Mr Curwen was required to apply for a TUE in advance of taking amphetamine. However, at the time of Sample collection Mr Curwen did not possess a TUE. The Athlete applied retroactively for one, but the application was denied by the UKAD TUE Fairness Review Panel. UKAD therefore charged Mr Curwen with the ADRVs on 28 July 2023.
Mr Curwen admitted the ADRVs but submitted that he bore No Significant Fault or Negligence. Following the exchange of evidence and submissions, the matter was heard before a National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) tribunal. The NADP tribunal concluded that, while Mr Curwen’s ADRVs were not ‘intentional’, he was at Fault and acted negligently in circumstances where he failed to take steps to investigate whether his medication included a Prohibited Substance or to obtain a TUE prior to taking it. The NADP tribunal therefore imposed an 18-month ban from sport.
Mr Curwen is entitled to credit for the time he spent provisionally suspended, so his ban is deemed to have commenced on 6 April 2023 and will end on 5 October 2024.
Technical terms and more information
Please note, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the UK Anti-Doping Rules and/or World Anti-Doping Code.
The World Anti-Doping Agency define In-Competition as “the period commencing 11.59pm on the day before a competition through to the end of such competition and the sample-collection process related to such competition”.
The UKAD TUE Fairness Review Panel considers Athlete requests for a ‘fairness’ TUE (that is, a retroactive application which does not meet the conditions set out in Article 4.1 or 4.2 of the International Standard for TUEs). The Panel is comprised of two staff representatives from UKAD (non-voting) and three external experts in medicine, ethics, and law – all of whom have experience in advising on anti-doping policy or regulatory matters within sport. All three external experts must be unanimous in their decision for a fairness TUE to be granted. A fairness TUE will be reserved for exceptional circumstances where it would be manifestly unfair not to grant a retroactive TUE.
Amphetamine is a stimulant which is listed under S.6A (non-specified stimulants) of the 2023 World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List, prohibited In-Competition only.
UKAD Notified Mr Curwen that he may have committed Anti-Doping Rule Violations pursuant to Article 2.1 (Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample) and 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method) of the 2021 UK Anti-Doping Rules (ADR), and provisionally suspended him on 6 April 2023.
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