It had the potential to be an enormous April Fool joke. Sky Sports had the pleasure of breaking the news that Dwain Chambers will sign for Castleford during their Super League coverage of St Helens and Leeds at Knowsley Road, in which Leeds were triumphant 10-14. While many took the news seriously from the moment it was announced, I stood back and realised that we were only four days away from the four year anniversary of when Iestyn Harris supposedly signed for Warrington. This proved to be a hoax at the time but several weeks later, Harris signed for Bradford and made his return to the sport permanent.
However you may forgive me for thinking Dwain Chambers was taking the proverbial as an athlete who has never even heard of the sport before. He even dared to call it “barbaric”. Fair enough, then. If he doesn’t want in then he knows where the door is. He entered it quickly enough when the carrot worth £68,000 was dangled in front of him. But what gets me is I’m still struggling to find an argument for any side to even consider taking him on. The guy does not have the best of reputations within the sport of athletics, and considering this reputation will transfer to Rugby League via the media, this can only create a shadow on the club that signs him. OK, so he has pace to burn and has muscles bigger than half the Castleford squad put together, but does he understand the rules of the game? Can he participate in a contact sport tougher than American Football where he once took an interest, in training if not playing for, the Hamberg Sea Devils? Is he able to run on a softer surface, known as grass, with books on his feet as opposed to training spikes? I for one, is questioning his ability to convert from a non-contact sport to a full on contact game that has a reputation for being tough in both codes of rugby circles.
So if Dwain fails to achieve a place in Castleford’s squad for the remainder of the season, who is the laughing stock? Who do we blame if he makes a fool of himself, whether it be in front of thousands at a Super League match or hundreds in a reserve game? Well, that would depend on whether Castleford accepted him as part of their squad and began paying him. From reports in the media, there is suggestion he may still participate in the Olympics at Beijing. At this point he will be under contract at Castleford and I doubt they will be too happy in having to release him in order to run a hundred metres once when at Wheldon Road, seventeen other players in the team are busting their guts out trying to earn the club a bit of decency and two points in a regular season game that demands more from the human body. Somehow, I can see Dwain’s attitude to be lethargic towards the game with the player just using this as an opportunity to promote himself to the British Olympic Association since his drugs ban expired in 2006. This will be his first Olympics after his ban.
And this is another issue with Chambers. In 2003 he was tested positive for the steroid THG. He was banned for two years in 2004 from any athletic events and resumed the sport in 2006. So the guy has served his time and therefore should be eligible to play Rugby League. And just so there is no confusion, he is. The RFL have stated he will be eligible to play. Therefore he should abide by all the RFL’s terms and conditions of playing (if there is one) making him a candidate for a drug test under the governing bodies’ policy. And as long as he sticks to that policy and does not play while using drugs, I have no problem with his participation within the game. That is as long as he doesn’t make it a laughing stock in front of the world’s media.
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