A Post Hearing Review Board (PHRB) decision of the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has quashed a four year sanction issued to Paratene Edwards, which was based on his purchase of dianabol, sustanon, and clenbuterol from the Clenbuterol NZ internet site in 2014 and 2015. The PHRB found that Edwards had not played rugby since 2010, nor had he coached a women’s team in 2016, as claimed by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ). It also found that Edwards had been hospitalised due to a 19 August 2018 car crash, which was the reason why did not respond in the 26 November 2018 DFSNZ decision (click the PDF below if it doesn’t appear).

The PHRB found that Edwards hadn’t paid his registration fees since 2010, but his registration had been ‘rolled over’ by his club for the 2011-2015 seasons. It found that although pressure was put on him to coach a women’s team, he never complied – a 2016 Facebook post claiming that he had been appointed as the coach of a women’s team was inaccurate. He did take part in some ‘training runs’ with his sister’s team, but the PHRB said that this fell short of its definitions of coaching or participation.

The PHRB concluded that as there was no evidence that Edwards was registered with the NZRU, nor was there evidence that he had participated in or coached rugby union, New Zealand’s Sports Anti-Doping Rules (SADR) were not applicable to him during the period in which the alleged offences took place (12 October 2014 until 8 January 2015). ‘What seems to the PHRB to be extraordinary, is the amount of resources, money, people and time which the Respondent has continued to expend on this case – a sledgehammer and the attempting to crack the tiniest of nuts (if one existed at all) comes to mind’, read its Decision. ‘An appropriate use of resources?, the PHRB does ponder.’

The Clenbuterol NZ website was shut down in May 2017 and its owner jailed for two years, after he admitted 129 breaches of New Zealand’s Medicines Act 1981. These included possession, advertising and sale of anabolic steroids, clenbuterol, and related medicines for sports performance and image enhancement. The quashing of Edwards’s penalty means that 36 athletes have been sanctioned due to investigations into customers of the site, 26 of which were rugby union players.