Anti-Doping

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is committed to promoting clean sport and effectively tackling this threat to the integrity of our great game.

Doping is currently one of the greatest risks to the integrity and reputation of sport on a global basis. Doping is cheating and is fundamentally contrary to the spirit and values of sport. Anything that makes competition unfair, and doping in particular, undermines the essence of sport.

Strict Liability is the underlying principle of anti-doping. Players are solely responsible for any prohibited substance found in their system whether there was an intention to cheat or not. It is imperative that every player understands their personal responsibility and that they incorporate the principle of Strict Liability into their day to day life.

The WRU provides education, awareness and training for players and support staff to ensure that they understand their responsibilities. It also provides ongoing advice and guidance to protect those individuals from inadvertently committing Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV), and from making ill informed decisions that will impact negatively upon them, their clubs and their families.

The WRU is committed to ensuring that the principles of anti-doping are promoted and championed within our sport to ensure that –

the ethics and integrity of our game are upheld and preserved by providing a positive values based education to players, athlete support personnel and parents
we safeguard the physical and mental health of our players
all players have the opportunity to compete equally
all players have the opportunity to develop in the game as ambassadors of clean sport

The Welsh Rugby Union (and all those under its jurisdiction) is obliged to comply with the UK Anti-Doping Rules and World Rugby Regulation 21 (Anti-Doping). Both have been adopted by the Welsh Rugby Union, and came into effect on 1 January 2021.

Please click the links below to access the relevant documents:

Anti Doping