New Zealand rugby to set up integrity unit to fight doping and corruption
The New Zealand Rugby Union will set up a dedicated integrity unit to combat corruption and doping in the sport, a senior official said on Sunday.
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) will set up a dedicated integrity unit to combat corruption and doping in the sport, a senior official said Sunday.
Neil Sorenson, NZRU general manager of professional rugby, said the governing body aimed to have the unit set up in six months, the New Zealand Newswire reported.
"We've been thinking about integrity now for over a year," he told the agency. "We need to be really alert and keep educating ourselves about this stuff."
Gould was the first player contracted to the NZRU to receive a doping ban.
At the time the NZRU said more than 1,700 tests had been done in the previous five years with just two "minor" violations.
The NZRU unit was expected to devote 90 per cent of its resources to education and 10 per cent to auditing, the report said.
The NZRU decision follows on from a New Zealand government initiative to provide a more co-ordinated effort to combat doping and corruption in sport.
It said last year that it would increase resources to allow government agencies, including customs, the police, the serious fraud office and sporting organisations like Sports New Zealand and Drug Free Sport NZ (DFSNZ) to actively share information and meet twice a year to discuss any issues that arise.
Previously, law enforcement agencies, individual sports organisations and DFSNZ had taken responsibility for the implementation of anti-corruption and doping policy.
A national match-fixing policy would also be introduced this year and would include the sport sector and the betting industry.
