The South African Rugby Union has given its full support to Bulls and Springbok loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg as he attempts to ‘clean up his act’, following his admission that he used cocaine and ecstasy, as well as also abusing alcohol.
Snippets copied from an article written by Jan de Koning and posted on www.rugby365.com.
Reacting to the news of Wannenburg’s indiscretions, which follows on the recreational drug scandal that rocked English Premiership club Bath last year, SARU Chief Executive Johan Prinsloo said on Monday that there would be no ban for the player.
“At times like these people need support not condemnation,” Prinsloo told rugby365.com.
“Pedrie has taken the critical first step of acknowledging these very serious problems and, with the support of the Blue Bulls, we trust he will overcome them.”
Prinsloo added: “Rugby and sport has no place for drug users and we condemn the act. But we’d be naive if we pretended players were not occasionally drawn into this kind of dangerous lifestyle.
“At the moment though, Pedrie and the Bulls have nothing but our support as he tries to put his life back together again.”
Ismail Jakoet, the SARU Medical Chief, confirmed that according to the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code, an admission of drug use does not constitute an offence.
“From an anti-doping point of view there’s nothing that can be done,” Jakoet told rugby365.com, adding: “Anything else [recreational drug use] does not fall in my jurisdiction – this is outside the anti-doping ambit.”
This is in contrast to the Bath scandal, where South African-born England prop Matt Stevens failed a drug test after Bath’s Heineken Cup match against Glasgow in 2008.
Stevens was not just withdrawn from the England Six Nations squad for the 2009 tournament and suspended by Bath RFC, but he was also banned for two years in February after testing positive for cocaine.
In March 2009, Stevens announced that he was quitting the club before they sacked him.
However, the Bath scandal did not end there. Several players, including Wallaby lock Justin Harrison, were caught up in a second drug scandal in May 2009.
Harrison, Andrew Higgins, Alex Crockett and Michael Lipman were implicated in an end-of-season party story – which ultimately led to them all being summoned to a club drug test – which none of them arrived for.
The saga that followed was a long and complicated one, but – aside from Harrison who admitted to using cocaine – it was deemed that, while they could not prove drug use, the trio of Higgins, Lipman and Crockett were guilty of failing to arrive for a required drugs test and thereby banned for nine months.
So what do you guys think about all this?
I heard that there is talk about running courses for rugby players on how to cope with fame and ludicrous amounts of money. Seriously, a notion is going to be put before the Minister of Sport.
I am just curious to know why everyone is now coming clean all of a sudden? Or rather who is next? Maybe Pedrie is writing a book, someone should tell him he f***ed up the punchline…
However, I can’t recall Wannenburg being really famous. I guess it explains why he sometimes played the way he did. Celebrity is a fickle thing, but then again, this is Pretoria…
Aish! They have been doing that over here in Oz for a few years now, did little for the likes of Wendell, Loti, Cooper etc…
I saw Pedrie at the Bulls celebrations of the 2007 Super 14 win at Firkins. He was always surrounded by pals, he did drink a lot, that night he was also with Steve a lot. But i must add we have been there , nearly all of us had the after parties, like he said the stuff was there, it was probably free. It is easy to fall into that trap.
I just hope he conquer that demons. I like it when a person stands up after a fall. Good luck Pedrie. Like Saint said maybe you are not famous in the Cape , but we enjoyed your contribution for the Bulls.
I enjoy P3 as a player, he should get his head right. He would be a HUGE bonus for the Sharks.
Sterkte Pedrie, walk the line, don’t sniff it.
4 – Loosehead
No thanks, we only buy Freestaters, and then develop them into decent players. But you know that allready.
Here is a question…
If this was knowledge to a few, and this happened in 2008 already, why was this swept under the carpet?
There are very clear rules for substance abuse, recreational or otherwise.
Let’s be perfectly honest with each other here… who of you have not had a joint or 2 or at least a number of pulls from a joint during a party at some stage…
I know I did, late 2008 I wanted to experience what “vitamin green” tasted like and what that inebriation felt like… and I had the opportunity to do so at my little bro’s bachelors party…. it was actually pretty cool stuff…. hehehehe
What I’m trying to say is, do not condemn Pedrie, it is quite normal…. shit happens…
What I admire in the whole scenario is that he came out with it and I fully support not banning him or sanctioning him otherwise…
morné @ 6
dankie tog ons het habana betyds daar uit sodom uit gekry … mens kon mos nie die mannetjie daar tussen al daai verkeerde invloede los nie!! 😀
GBS,
I did not, never have, never will.
I smoke, I drink, I know my limits and my responsibilities.
But yes, none of us are perfect, and at times I have drank too much, got drunk, and was irrisponsible.
Pedrie choosing his profession knows well what his responsibilities for that choice was. My proffession dictates that I can drink (of course not during work hours) and smoke and it does not affect my work environment or occupation of choice, his will.
As a professional athlete his body is his biggest asset and resource. He has a responsibility for it.
I do not condemn Pedrie, it would be hypocritical to the highest order, but I do not condone the fact that it was swept under the carpet by those in charge of managing him, and his career.
The rules are there for everyone, breaking them you have to accept the consequences and the fact that he did not, makes a mockery of the so-called professionalism of rugby but more so, a mockery of those guys who do toe the line, who do not do drugs or abuse alcohol and live and play by the rules.
Hehe Ash,
Too true!!! 🙂
7 GBS, Loosehead has never tried any form of drugs or cigarette’s. He is well known to have a few beers though.
gbs @ 7
come-on gbs, you’re trying to come up for the guy because he’s a bull .. for your information … ek syp my gatjie partykeer lekker dronk, maar ekt nog nooit drugs gebryk nie … think the question that most guys are asking is why this issue was swept under the carpet (or seems like it was, anyway) by the bulls!!
I don’t care about Pedrie doing drugs, or for that matter, any athlete doing it, they are screwing up their own livelihood, and if they manage to do so, they fully deserve it.
Speaking from life-long experience (stepdad & uncle being alcoholics) this whole “I am the victim” charade is a lump of sh*t! Addicts are the most selfish, self-serving and useless excrement on this planet.
As I said, I don’t care what they are or were doing, what I want to know, is why go public all of a sudden? I am putting my head on a block saying Pedrie is not the only one in the wrong here, for all we know we are just scratching the surface.
the saint @ 13
maybe his biography “face in the mirror” is about to be released? 😉
so van brian gepraat … issie ñ wonner die arme mannetjie was die afgeloepe seisoen of wat soe bang virrie “witlyn” nie …. ek sou oek gewiesit!! 😯
Saint,
Someone phoned me yesterday and asked me:
“Did Pedrie piets someone’s wife that this has come out now?”
#14
I think an apt title would have been: ‘Stepping over the line’, or ‘From dust to bust’
#16
It seems like our Blue Buddies struggle keeping themselves to themselves… Steve, Joost, Pedrie, Jurie Els, Robbie Klay…hehehe
😀
Nee wat SA Rugby. Julle maak my skaam! Ek het op die ander thread ook al my opinie gelewer, en sal dit weer hier noem. Eerstens is cocaine en dagga twee heel verskillende drugs. Tweedens, P3 is/was ‘n Springbok na wie jong laaitjies van veral sy tuisdorp en skool opgekyk het. So daai 17jarige laaitie wat vir Oakdale eerste span speel moet nou ook nes sy “hero” maar ‘n paar snuiwe coke vat want solank hy nie gevang word nie en AS hy eendag gevang word moet hy net met trane in sy oe vertel hoe jammer hy is en hoe erg al die pressure is ens.
Nee wat, P3 moet in sy moer vlieg, my support gaan hy nie kry nie! Ek weet hoe dwelms hele families opgedonner het, dis nie iets wat mens ooit moet goedpraat nie!
Surely these sportsmen (the world over I am talking – not just dodgy Bulls boys) have enough IQ points rattling around upstairs that they do not need nurse maids to smack their hands when they stray to the dark side & tell them right from wrong ?
What precisely is he fessing up to ? After all there is a decided difference between sharing a joint at a party & snorting lines of white lightening of the bare a*se of an underage hooker while schtupping his best friend’s wife 😯
Here are some words that too many sports people (Can anyone say Tiger Woods ?) seem too cognitively disabled or morally bankrupt to have even a passing acquaintance with :
Personal Responsibility, Accountability & Consequences.
My rant for today is now finished – thank you 😉
I am all for rehab and redemption, but there must be consequences for your actions.
He is a public figure, and as such must be put in a position where he can make amends. Ban him from playing for a period, and make him visit kids who have been caught in the snare of drugs and talk to them about the evils, and drugs are evil. But even more so are the pushers and their druglords.
Well i dont think it is really a big deal if he tried coke but the fact that his mother found a straw for it in his bedroom surly must mean he has tried it more than a couple of times.
I do think it is easy for young guys out partying, getting smashed and then things like that happening, and before you all freak out it does happen and doesnt mean anything they are young and there whole lives are not just rugby even if we think it is.
I am not condoneing it by any means, i most proberly would have tried it but cant even put nose drops in nose am scared i will choke thou i did pick up the courage to try think it was 4mans sinus cure and i will regret it to my dieing day. Thought my head would explode and it burnt like hell for ages.
Pot is nothing, totally harmless and maybe herbal 😆
I may be a bit of a prude but find it difficult to judge people about the way they live there lives if they are not causeing anybody any harm. But that could stem from a very broadminded upbringing.
Een van my rapper vriende het die song aan P3 opgedra:
My naam is p3 en ek is trots
want anders as Luke het ek nooit gekots
my bulle vriende sê ek was stout
wat ek doen is niks mee fout
my rugby unie vee dit onder die mat
die res van die rugbypubliek se gat
so ek sê f@k die res
ek sal aanhou my dealer verpes
This guy has owned up to the snort. He needs to be banned for his own good and RSA reputation. I wonder how many more are out there. Where there is smoke there is fire.
I wonder if P3 was threatened that spill the news for money and he had to own up!
Conspiracy!!
RSA will need to check their backs in case this is bigger than they want to think.
GBS
I understand where you coming from but in sport owning up and getting away with it is close to fantasy.
RSA need to be very careful to investigate how they want to be perceived.
Wallabie i think some one was going to spill the the beans so he grabbed the bull
by the horns and told his side first.
Moral behaviour is not an easy thing to judge because it seems to change all the time.
First moffs not accepted
then its fine if its in the closet
then its fine to come out
then its fine to get married
Maybe not the best example
And what that bloke did was wrong, he was drug tested for games and came out clean.
He admitted using a banned substance and nothing happens…Jakoet hides behind the fact that he never tested positive…I snort, I mean, smell a rat!
Sorry Groot, slight difference between coke and the weed of knowledge, irrespective, ‘everyone’ trying it does not make it right.
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