Exposing Bath's drug shame

Harrison shipped a good punch and wasn't in much shape to counter. Word quickly spread that the Australian had been smacked and there were a number of Bath players who wanted a little retribution. Another few felt Harrison probably deserved what he got and they thought it best to get everyone on the coach and get motoring towards the M4. They argued about it but the ones with sense prevailed and all left the bar before things could get worse.

When the investigation into what went on at Bath's end-of-season party took place over the following two days, the issues were so serious that Harrison's street fight with Skinner seemed like a total irrelevance.

The following day, Monday, May 11, the Bath coach, Steve Meehan, received a text message from one of his senior players. He wanted a meeting. Though the player didn't mention why, Meehan imagined it was to be a chat about the player's role within the squad. He hadn't started the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leicester two days before and was probably uncertain where he stood. They agreed to meet away from the club.

What Meehan heard shocked him. Though names weren't mentioned, he was told some players were using recreational drugs and he felt his informant wanted the club to help those who were endangering their futures in the game and undermining the strength of the squad.

"Meeting that player," says Meehan now, "was a bittersweet moment. You were happy he had enough trust to believe you would do something about it, but it was bitter in the sense that I was shocked by what I heard.

"Off the back of what we'd been through with Matt Stevens, I thought, 'How can this raise its head again? What are these boys getting into?' I told the player that I would have to speak with the CEO."

Ten weeks previously Stevens, an England international, was banned for two years following a positive test for cocaine. Though he admitted to a long-term problem with the drug, Stevens' cocaine use had not been picked up by anyone in Bath's coaching team nor noticed by the majority of his teammates. Meehan briefly wondered whether other Bath players might have been using the drug but was reassured by high-level performance on the training ground and in matches.

Behind the scenes, there was an effort to protect the club against any future issue with recreational drugs. "A week after it was announced that Matt tested positive," says prop David Barnes, "we had a mid-winter training camp in Seville and Jim Hampton, a club doctor, spoke to the squad about the implications of Matt's positive test. There was talk that the club wanted to initiate its own out-of-competition testing for recreational drugs.

"As far as we knew, no-one in the country had this in place and there were questions about who would be doing the testing, what protocols would be followed and whether it would be done by a reputable company.

"There was also a feeling that because Bath is so small, there were unfounded suspicions and that, basically, there was no immediate need for internal testing. The players believed illicit drugs weren't an issue for the squad."

Three-and-a-half months later, Barnes was on the hired coach that took the team to London for their end-of-season party when his teammate Harrison, microphone in his hand, broadcast to the 20 players on the coach that "Class A is okay" in a reference to illicit drugs. Harrison would later say he was joking. "I heard that, everyone heard it," says Barnes.

"My reaction was disbelief. It was inappropriate, especially as there were academy guys on the bus. I thought, 'Is this a reference to something that's happening' or as Justin would claim, was it just a joke in bad taste? The laughter it provoked was uncomfortable." On his way to see the chief executive at the headquarters of Bath Rugby on Argyle Street, Steve Meehan encountered the team manager, Dave Guyan.

They spoke briefly and Guyan told Meehan he had heard unsettling stories about the goings-on at the London party two days before. He wasn't referring to the fight but to rumours of recreational drug use. Meehan said he would be speaking to the CEO, Bob Calleja, about it. The CEO listened to Meehan and then asked Guyan to investigate.

There were approximately 35 players in Bath's first-team squad last season. Fifteen chose not to go to the London bash, many of whom weren't enthused by the prospect of a long day's drinking. When Guyan began asking questions, the witnesses who mattered were those who'd been in London and, remarkably, the team manager received much co-operation.

Many Bath players were unhappy about their teammates' behaviour.

Most serious were allegations concerning the use of cocaine and the alleged spiking of a player's drink. "As far as I'm aware, it was only players on that trip," says Calleja, "and it would have been morally wrong to have ignored what we'd been told. What was the alternative? Not to do anything would have been corrupt."

From the information gathered, Bath believed it was possible that up to six players could have used recreational drugs during the day in London and it was decided they should immediately undergo internal drug tests. Harrison, England international Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett, Andrew Higgins, Rob Hawkins and Ed Jackson were the players chosen by Bath for drug testing. Testing was scheduled for midday on Wednesday, May 13.

"When I heard the names of the players to be tested," says Meehan, "I was surprised by three of them. The others, I thought, 'You're foolish, what are you doing?' When your two captains are called to be tested, that makes it very difficult. I wanted Michael [Lipman] to be captain because of his bravery on the pitch. Through him we wished to say, 'This is how Bath play'. The outside centre [Crockett] is like that as well. Hearing that they were called was like a kick in the guts."

Meehan has had no contact with his former captains since the final game of last season. In the belief that the players were more likely to show up if they didn't know why they were being called, Bath officials did not tell them the true reasons. The players reacted in different ways. Hawkins and Jackson underwent their tests, were declared clean and exonerated. Harrison didn't show but later admitted to using cocaine on the London trip and was banned for eight months.

That left Higgins and joint captains Lipman and Crockett. They took advice from different sources and decided against doing the tests. As a result, they were summoned to a club disciplinary hearing but indicated they would not attend. On June 1, three weeks after the party, the three players resigned from Bath.

At a subsequent RFU disciplinary inquiry they were each suspended for nine months for refusing to submit to a drug test that in the words of disciplinary committee chairman Jeff Blackett constituted "a reasonable request". Crockett, Higgins and Lipman have until tomorrow to appeal and the expectation is that they will do so. There is also the likelihood of the case going to an employment tribunal and the possibility of a High Court action.

Key to the players' case is their conviction that they needed clarification from Bath on a number of important points before they could take that test; for example, they needed to know details of who was conducting the test, how the samples would be safeguarded and what protocols would govern the testing.

Their legal advisers claim that as proper answers were not forthcoming, they had every right to refuse the tests and they further believe Blackett's judgment would not stand up to High Court scrutiny.

Frontline players in one of England's top club sides three months ago, Crockett, Higgins and Lipman are now in limbo. "I might be wrong," says Meehan, "but I don't see how their careers can ever get back to where they were before this happened."

"This has been a massive event for us," says Calleja. "We have lost five players in the past six months, two for using cocaine, three for refusing a drug test. The club's name has been tarnished and we need to rebuild that."

Perhaps the most perceptive comment of all came from the first Bath player to be suspended, Stevens. "If you look at society as a whole," he said at the time of his ban, "there is a massive drug culture among all of it, so why wouldn't there be in rugby? Rugby players aren't immune to drug abuse, just like they aren't immune to anything else."

Factfiles on the banned men

Matt Stevens South African-born Stevens, qualifies for England through his father and grandfather, winning the last of his 32 England caps against New Zealand during last autumn's internationals. The barrel-chested prop achieved fame off the pitch when reaching the final of ITV's 2006 series 'X Factor: Battle of the Stars' under the guidance of Sharon Osbourne.

Justin Harrison The 35-year-old now-retired lock was famously called a 'plank' by Austin Healey and after the Australian quit the club and admitted taking cocaine, for once England's motor mouth may just have been right.

Michael Lipman The 29-year-old Aussie-reared flanker has 10 England caps. His international career has stalled after being banned for nine months in the wake of refusing to take a drug test.

Alex Crockett Local boy Crockett joined the club in 2001 as a teenager and was picked for the England Saxons in 2008 but further honours are unlikely. He quit the club in June after his nine-month ban.

Andrew Higgins The surf-loving centre let his hair down just too much at the club's end-of-season party. Higgins, 28, can catch plenty of waves after being banned for nine months for refusing to take a drug test.