THE Darts Regulation Authority have released the following statement regarding Robbie Green on Thursday 29 November.
The Darts Regulation Authority ("DRA") announced today that the independent Anti-Doping Tribunal (chaired by barrister John Brennan, sitting alone) has ruled that Robbie Green has been found to have committed a Doping Offence under the Anti-Doping Rules of the DRA ("the Rules").
A sample collected from Robbie Green at the Budweiser UK Open Darts Championship on 11 June 2006 tested positive for cannabinoids listed as a "Specified Substance" under the World Anti-Doping Code and the Rules. A Specified Substance, where there was no intention to enhance performance, carries a minimum sanction of a warning and a maximum of 1 year's ineligibility.
A provisional suspension was imposed upon Robbie Green from 20 September 2006. This provisional suspension was lifted by the independent Tribunal on 30 October 2006 and in the Anti-Doping Tribunal's final decision Robbie Green was found ineligible to play until 29 November 2006. Robbie Green did not play competitive darts during the period between the lifting of the provisional suspension and the final Decision of the Tribunal. The technical period of ineligibility, however, was eight weeks and two days.
The full version of the Tribunal's written decision will be available on the DRA website.
In addition to the ineligibility sanction imposed by the Anti-Doping Tribunal Robbie Green was also subject to Article 9.1.1 of the Rules which provides that a Doping Offence in competition automatically leads to disqualification of the result obtained by the player involved, including in relation to any points or prizes. Accordingly any points gained at the UK Open have been deducted and Robbie Green was asked to repay any prize monies before being eligible to play competitive darts again.
Article 9.5 of the Rules states that there will be no adjustment of results, points or prizes for any opponent of a player subsequently found to have committed a Doping Offence and accordingly the results, points and prizes of any opponent of Robbie Green during the UK Open on 11 June 2006 will remain as they were.
The PDC has indicated that since Robbie Green has now repaid his prize money from the event he is now eligible to enter the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship PDPA Qualifiers on 2 December 2006.
A separate fine of £2000 has also been imposed in relation to this matter by the Disciplinary Committee of the DRA.
Click here to see the Anti-Doping Policy