UPDATE: SUBURBAN and bush footballers are using ice as a performance-­enhancing substance, with some getting the drug from their coaches, senior police have revealed.

Footballers are putting their lives in danger by using the drug just minutes before they run on to the field in some cases — often feeling “like Superman”.

Abusers are as young as 14 and in some teams, there are as many as nine players on ice, football administrators and police have told the Herald Sun.

Players with heightened levels of aggression are also putting rivals at risk, ending up in tribunals for serious acts like striking, they say.

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The Andrews Government is being warned to do more, with police saying sporting clubs — once a refuge in the war against drugs — are now part of the problem.

A government inquiry into the use of methamphetamines, ­releas­ed last September, acknowledges the use of ice in sport.

But former head of the Purana Taskforce, Jim O’Brien, says the $45 million committed by the Government to tackle the ice problem is a “drop in the ocean”.

media_camera Police have revealed footy players as young as 14 are using ice minutes before running on to the field.

Leading community figures say it might be time to start random drug-testing in suburban and country football.

Former Hawthorn and Richmond footballer Billy Nicholls was today sentenced to 11 years’ jail for shooting two men after his life spiralled out of control while using ice.

Geelong police Senior-Sergeant Tony Francis, spearheading the town’s Ice Fight program, has revealed the depth of the problem.

“We know coaches have given players ice and we know players are using ice as a performance-enhancer.

“We know through police channels that it is being used as a performance-enhancing drug and we know kids in the teenage bracket are using it.

“We know coaches who are giving it to people to enhance their performance. It makes people feel like Superman. They are ready to run through brick walls but there are huge side effects with the paranoia and psychosis it can cause.

“It also affects your heart so there are real medical issues associated with it.”

Lindenow Football Club ­official and anti-ice advocate Chris Daffey said players were taking ice only minutes before playing.

“We have heard of blokes who smoke ice before a game, smoking it in the car or behind the club rooms and then run straight out,’’ he said.

“I have no doubt there have been cases before the tribunal where players have been on ice and then struck other players.

“I have no doubt at all that has happened.”

Mr Daffey told SEN today that it was an issue for all clubs.

“This is not an issue that is confined to one club or one league, it’s statewide,” he said.

“It is an issue for our club from a point of view of looking after our players and player welfare

“This is something that is going to continue happening in the future and there is no point sugar coating it.”

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He said drug abuse was more of a problem in the higher-ranking teams.

“In our league I wouldn’t suggest that players are doing it for a performance enhancing expectation,” he said.

“We are at the lower end of leagues in terms of ranking but definitely at the top end of some of your higher-performing leagues I think it would be an issue.

“Obviously when there is more money involved and you are paying players some of them will do whatever it takes, we’ve seen that happen before.

“I’ve heard of coaches and clubs supplying players but I wouldn’t say that is happening in our league.”

Warragul Senior Constable Kevin McLaren said football clubs must consider drug-testing.

“We are seeing average footballers addicted to ice all of a sudden being best-and-fairest. You tell me what’s going on,” the police youth resources worker said.

The ice plague Keith Moor interviews Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton, about the ice pandemic gripping Victoria

The Victorian Government’s Inquiry Into the Supply and Use of Methamphetamines quotes Odyssey House’s Stefan Gruenert, who discusses how kids in sporting clubs are using ice to enhance ­performances.

“The use of methamphetamine by athletes and sportspeople to enhance physical prowess is a classic example of situational drug use,’’ it states.

The Victorian Government this month committed $45 million to the fight against ice, but former Purana boss O’Brien said that amount was nowhere near enough to combat the problem. He said: “$45 million is a drop in the ocean compared to what it is costing us.

“It is a billion dollars a year alone for all the drug-related crimes and health issues in Victoria,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Their response is a trickle-down which people will have to fight for with funding submissions to get a share of the money.”

jon.ralph@news.com.au

HOW GEELONG IS FIGHTING ICE

GEELONG wasn’t prepared to take it when some began labelling the city as the ice capital of Australia.

As Geelong policeman Tony Francis says, “We are not different to any town in Victoria but the one thing we have done is acknowledge our problem and are trying to do something about it.”

Geelong’s response could yet be the textbook response to the epidemic of ice, a coordinated assault by police, sporting clubs, community groups and health organisations.

Drug experts believe the best defence against ice is education, which allows coaches and administrators to recognise symptoms and refer those affected to drug experts.

Geelong Leisure Networks CEO Libby Mears is part of Ice Fight and about to kick off a pilot program involving Geelong football clubs.

“We understand footy clubs particularly can contribute to positive outcomes. We help set up a policy that sets the expectation that drugs are not tolerated, but it is also about providing information for services for people to be referred to.

“We want to train a welfare officer or a committee for clubs so they can be the first point of contact (for users) and refer them to experts.”

Leisure Networks has put out an expression of interest to Geelong clubs for a winter pilot program arming clubs with knowledge.

It is a program supported by AFL Barwon, a governing body not content to sit back and ignore the problem.

“This is about saying we as a community have a responsibility to address social issues. It is about being in control, rather than saying this is an issue too big to deal with,” Mears said.

Football clubs across Victoria have set up ice forums to arm their coaches and volunteers with a framework to deal with ice addicts.

From Colac to Wangaratta to Echuca to Warrnambool, those ice forums provide contact numbers and support groups to refer footballers with signs of ice addiction.

The proactive approach has seen Deniliquin police start a Dob In A Drug Dealer campaign after issues with ice among their football clubs.

The Australian Drug Foundation’s Good Sports Program helps sports committees change the way alcohol and drugs are managed in their clubs.

ADF spokesman Geoff Munro said clubs needed to be armed with protocols to help fight drugs like ice.