Western Bureau:

Up until recently, Renée Ann Shirley and Dr Paul Wright were seemingly fair game for those who had labelled them as unpatriotic traitors for raising public concerns about the modus operandi of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).

However, with the reputable Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) now taking JADCO to task for its mishandling of the urine sample of Jamaica's high-profile track star Veronica Campbell-Brown, it would appear that the organisation is now a source of embarrassment to Jamaica.

Based on the stance that some Jamaicans took against Shirley and Wright, in defence of JADCO, I am sure some of them must now be very embarrassed, especially when they reflect on some of the comments they posted, out of ignorance and blind loyalty to Jamaica, on the various social media sites.

From the very outset, I was somewhat skeptical about JADCO's effectiveness as an anti-doping organisation. Instead of launching a credible defence of its own against the allegations from Shirley and Wright, the organisation chose to hide behind those who placed patriotism before good sense.

JADCO has since made some changes to its management structure, however, I am still not convinced that it will make a difference to their modus operandi. As far as I am concerned, the greatest impediment to the organisation's viability is the lack of quality support from the Government, which has overall responsibility for it.

As I have been saying for a long time, I don't believe that the government sufficiently understands the business of sports and its capacity to be a multibillion-dollar industry for Jamaica. As a consequence, our leaders seem to think that jumping on the bandwagon of our athletes when they do well is all they need to do to be relevant.

I know that I may be playing into the hands of those who think the government should be above criticism, but I will not stop accusing the government of short-changing sports in Jamaica until a credible sports policy is developed and we begin to seriously exploit the lucrative sports-tourism market.

Free advertising

When one considers how much free advertising Jamaica gets from sporting icons like Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and star cricketer Christopher Gayle, I think it is a shame that the government cannot see the value in creating better facilities to encourage more young people to seek a livelihood from sports.

I believe the only reason we continue to enjoy success in sporting disciplines such as athletics, cricket, netball, and football is because of the strong leadership of these organisations. I shudder to think what the state of netball and football would be without persons like Marva Bernard and Captain Horace Burrell.

Like reputable MVP coach Stephen Francis, I believe the government should consider disbanding JADCO and divesting our anti-doping operation to a reputable federation like Canada, which seems to have its house in order. I think it is unwise to keep putting our reputation in the hands of JADCO.

In fact, in light of the shortcomings CAS has found with the body's operations, I believe serious thought should be given to tossing out all the cases the organisation has brought against locals athletes, while at the same time refusing to entertain any new ones until there is enough evidence to suggest that JADCO is credible.

Feel free to send your feedback to adrianfrater@hotmail.com