Ex-Wigan forward Gabe Hamlin says cocaine was in system after kissing woman

Drew Darbyshire 04 Feb 2020 2:15 PM

Ex-Wigan prop Gabe Hamlin has been given a two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine he claims was passed on by a kiss from a woman who he met on a dating app.

The 23-year-old was suspended by the Rugby Football League last April after being charged with a UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) violation.

Hamlin, who has been living in his native Australia since being charged, told a UKAD hearing that he did not take the banned substance and claimed it must have found a way in to his system from kissing a woman he met on an online dating site.

In a statement released by UKAD, it read: “Mr Hamlin asserts that on the evening of February 7, 2019, (the night before sample collection) he was at his home with a woman he had met through an online dating application.

“Mr Hamlin indicates that he and the woman kissed during the course of the evening from around 10:30pm.

“Mr Hamlin maintains he did not consume cocaine or see the woman consuming it; he suggests that she appeared ‘very chatty and visited the bathroom several times’ and that he discovered white powder in his bathroom the following morning (though he did not presume this to be cocaine at that time).”

UKAD sought an opinion from Professor Kim Wolff, head of the Drug Control Centre at King’s College London, who said the account “does not stand up to scrutiny”.

Hamlin’s ban will end on February 7, 2021. His contract with Wigan ran out at the end of last season.