ST 14/18 DFSNZ v Hayden Blackley
Press Release
4th December 2018
The Sports Tribunal has suspended amateur rugby league player Hayden Blackley for a period of two years for his online purchase of clenbuterol from the online website in February 2015.
This is another case arising from Medsafe’s investigation into an online steroid supplier called NZ Clenbuterol, which passed transaction details to Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) relating to athletes who had purchased prohibited drugs online.
Mr Blackley was provisionally suspended without opposition on 15 October 2018. He promptly admitted purchasing the product to aid weight loss but said he did not use it. Mr Blackley said he did not know what clenbuterol was nor was he aware that it was a prohibited substance under the Sports Anti-Doping Rules. It was accepted on the evidence that Mr Blackley’s violation was not intentional.
On 26 October 2018, the parties filed a joint memorandum proposing a sanction consistent with previous cases, that is a period of two years ineligibility backdated for Mr Blackley’s timely admission and for DFSNZ’s investigation delays.
Having considered all available material relating to Mr Blackley, the Tribunal imposed a two year sanction period backdated by 12 months to commence from 15 October 2017.
