Cricket probably needs to go the FIFA way

The Indian cricket board could be in for a tough time for rejecting the controversial "whereabouts" clause of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as world's football governing body FIFA also was not granted any exemption from it.

The clause has been vehemently opposed by footballers and tennis players among other athletes. FIFA is still not a WADA signatory and tennis star like Rafael Nadal went to the extent of calling the procedure an "harassment".

WADA, however, insists that it is important to check the menace of doping. Also there are certain doping substances, traces of which cannot be found if not tested within a time frame and athletes take advantage of it. So the offenders can be caught if they are tested out-of-competition and without any prior information.
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FIFA president Sepp Blatter has strongly opposed the 'whereabouts' clause. Both FIFA and European football body UEFA have formally rejected the 'whereabouts' rule, arguing that team sport players should be treated differently. Following the stringent approach of both these bodies, WADA has warned that they will not get special treatment over the drug-testing of its players.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can fight on the lines of cricket being a team sport and players have to be treated differently from the individual sport, but compliance to WADA norms is mandatory if cricket has to be part of multi-sport competitions like the Asian Games and Olympics.

An athlete, who trains on his own, might be difficult to locate, but a team-sport athlete is present at the stadium six days out of seven, and thus easy to locate. FIFA and UEFA, therefore, oppose the individual "whereabouts" clause and want to see it replaced by collective location rules, within the scope of the team and the stadium infrastructure.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) became a signatory of WADA in July 2006. The updated WADA code was unanimously approved last year by the ICC board.

The BCCI has already missed the Aug 1 deadline to sign the code. All other ICC members have signed the code.