WADA chief challenges CFL to join fight against drugs

By Steve Keating

MONTREAL (Reuters) - The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) challenged the Canadian Football League to quit stalling and start testing for performance-enhancing drugs just as the 96th Grey was kicking off on Sunday.

As the Montreal Alouettes and Calgary Stampeders were taking to the field just a few miles away for the CFL championship game at a sold-out Stade Olympic, WADA chief John Fahey expressed disappointment that the league refused to join the fight against the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The CFL remains the only major professional sports league in North America which does not test players for drugs.

"To be here in Montreal on the weekend of the Grey Cup final and to find there is no doping code is very disappointing," Fahey told Reuters following a WADA board meeting. "I understand there have been discussions and I hope they eventually lead to fruition.

"There has been dialogue between WADA and the CFL over a period of time but that doesn't suggest that there is anything imminent.

"I can only say I think they are draw attention to the game in an adverse way by not having a (doping) code.

"I don't see how any sport cannot have an effective anti-doping program."

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