DOPING is pervasive in every sport from golf to athletics to football and the sooner sport governing bodies come to terms with this fact the sooner the problem can be reduced if not entirely eradicated.

It is indeed unfortunate that the level of commitment to fight doping varies across the world, as we have seen with systemic doping in Russia and Turkey as well as the startling number of doping cases involving Kenyans - although a large number of those Kenyans were based in Mexico and not in East Africa.

Part of the problem is the financial cost to having a strong anti-doping program. The International Association of Athletics Federations, for instance, spends $2m annually. There is also lack of sophistication in many countries.

There is no lab in East Africa that can conduct blood analysis which mean blood samples must be flown to WADA accredited labs in Doha or Cologne to meet the required 36 hours transportation limit. On top of that there has been corruption as well as legal impediments.

One example of the latter has been the Spanish courts actions in the case against Dr Eufemiano Fuentes. After being found guilty of endangering the public by doping athletes in a variety of sports, the judge handed him a one-year suspended sentence and ordered evidence, including 186 frozen blood bags, destroyed instead of investigating further.

The World Anti Doping Agency and their Spanish counterpart instantly filed an appeal which awaits judgement.

“I have no idea the position the bags are in and no idea what the Spanish court will do,” says Dick Pound, the former Chairman of WADA. “There has been a six or seven year determined resistance to making this stuff available.

“The only one that slipped out of the net was the (cyclist Alejandro) Valverde one which found its way to Italy and then into the hands of the Court for Arbitration in Sport and so forth. I mean the Spanish have not been the slightest bit cooperative in this whole matter.”

British athletes haven’t been exactly pure either. The list of Brits currently serving suspensions through UK Anti Doping includes boxers, a footballer (former Partick Thistle player Jordan McMillan), rowers, ice hockey players, 16 Rugby Union and 14 Rugby League players a result, no doubt, that is consistent with the fact British athletes are amongst the most tested on the planet.

The latest captive is rugby player Luke Willmott, the former captain of Derby RFC who is banned two years for attempted trafficking of human growth hormone. Still, the Scottish Rugby Union believes it is players at the lower rung who cheat.

“From a sport perspective I don't think there is a problem,” a spokesperson for the Scottish Rugby Union told The Herald a few days before Willmott’s suspension was announced. “I think potentially there is a wider societal issue of young men keen to improve their physical appearances who happen to also be rugby players.”

UKAD conducts anti-doping testing on behalf of the Scottish Rugby Union which is considered a ‘proactive sport’, and the agency appears to substantiate the argument put forth by the SRU. But Dick Pound firmly disagrees.

“I think they are inviting one to deflect attention away from the fact the top is doing it,” he says. “Yes, there is a lot of use of steroids people buffing up that’s not where the real problem is. It’s not the journeymen who do it to stay up with the pack. It’s the leaders, it’s the ‘Armstrongs’ of all of these sports. Baseball was the perfect example of that.”

The 2007 Mitchell Report uncovered widespread use of performance enhancing substances amongst the very best baseball players. Many were aided by trainers armed with the knowledge of how to beat the limited number of doping tests applied in the game.

Unquestionably today’s athletes across the board appear fitter and stronger than they were 20 years ago. And with the online availability of banned substances including EPO, Human Growth Hormone, Testosterone etc. it is easier for athletes to cheat. Rugby players at the professional level are fit and fast. It would be foolish to believe that a player at the top wouldn’t be tempted.

“Evidence would suggest that it’s a misconception that players are getting bigger and stronger. Rugby players by design have always had different size profiles,” the SRU spokesperson continues.

“I think one of the differences is the speed of the game has changed. They weren't racing around the playing field at the rate they are now 15 or 20 years ago at the dawn of professionalism. That has changed. So in terms of that being an obvious by-product of the doping culture that is certainly not our experience in terms of the number of tests that are turning up positive.”

The Scottish Rugby Union has seen just three positive tests since 2010. They point out that many young players are directed to its four academies at an early age and others are part of the Scottish International programs beginning around the age of 16.

The SRU runs an education program that condemns the use of substances on the WADA prohibited list. And, he says, they frown upon the use of supplements which have been found in many cases to be tainted with banned substances.

While rugby and football are stakeholders in WADA the same can’t be said of professional golf. The PGA Tour administers an anti-doping program of its own with the assistance of the National Center for Drug Drug Free Sport. Samples are tested at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles, one of 34 WADA accredited laboratories worldwide.

“We started our program in 2008 and while we have had some instance where players have been suspended for violating the policy we certainly haven't had that many,” Andy Levinson the PGA vice president of tournament administration and anti-doping said. “Our sport is one where the athletes call penalties on themselves during competition that’s a fundamental foundation to golf.

“And so given that honesty and integrity are two building blocks for the game it’s not surprising we haven’t seen many issues since we started up the program.”

Despite the game’s splendid tradition the PGA Tour has encountered a few doping cheats. Vijay Singh was handed a 90 day suspension after admitting use of deer antler spray, which contained Insulin Growth Factor-1, a banned anabolic substance.

Last October Bhavik Patel returned from a one-year suspension for using an undisclosed substance to help rehabilitate an injury. Other players have been given Therapeutic Use Exemptions allowing them to use testosterone cream to treat injuries. Under WADA code these TUE’s are carefully monitored. The PGA Tour monitors this area themselves.

Another difference is that Pseudoephredine, a banned stimulant commonly found in cold medicines, as well as some asthma medications are permitted on the PGA Tour but are prohibited by WADA.

Levinson agrees that the fitness level of PGA Tour players has increased significantly in the past decade and they are also driving the ball farther than their predecessors. Testosterone when used as a PED could impact a player’s ability to hit the ball harder and faster.

Against a backdrop of suspicion, corruption and outright cheating there has been an increase in calls to stop the crusade against doping and let the professional athletes do what they want. Dick Pound is resolute in his response.

“I think its irresponsible not to continue the fight,” he declares. “This is dangerous cheating not just ‘cheating’ cheating.

“Everybody out there is somebody's kid or influencing somebody's kid and, whether it’s entertainment and they are getting paid lots of money for it, and it is covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement, to me is irrelevant.”