A former player with the Toronto Argonauts, who was treated by a team physician who has pleaded guilty to smuggling performance-enhancing drugs into the U.S. and treating athletes without a license, believes the individual will be labeled as a so-called drug doctor instead of an individual with cutting-edge ideas.
Sandy Annunziata, an offensive lineman who received treatment from Dr. Tony Galea while a member of the Argos in 2004 spoke effusively about him, calling him one of the most "cutting-edge" and "progressive" minds in today’s day and age of sports medicine and therapy.
Galea, who is from Toronto, pled guilty in a Buffalo court on Wednesday, to smuggling human growth hormone and other unapproved drugs over the U.S.-Canadian border at the Peace Bridge.
Between 2007 and 2009 Galea treated a litany of clients, some of them high-profile professional ones from the world of baseball, football and golf, without a license.
As part of his plea deal, Galea will co-operate with authorities providing evidence identifying whom he treated and what drugs were used, notably the ones he smuggled into the country. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 19 and faces 12 to 18 months in jail, pending his co-operation in the next three months. He also faces charges in Canada.
"Who’s to say what’s sports enhancing, what’s physically enhancing?" Annunziata wondered. "Everybody wants to wrap it up into one neat little panacea and say it’s ‘drugs in sports, drugs in sports,’ but that’s not what Tony Galea was about. He was about cutting-edge therapy that helped athletes get back to performing on the field at a high level. Bottom line.
"Tony Galea wasn’t just a one-trick pony about drugs, drugs, drugs. The guy was utilizing all these other treatments that no one heard of before. I’m not condoning the situation that he was prescribing (performing-enhancing) or administering drugs or whatever the hell he was doing. What I’m saying is don’t brush him with one brush stroke and say he was just a doctor that gave out performance-enhancing drugs. That’s not what Tony Galea is all about.
"I never received anything in the so-called schedule A of banned substances from Tony Galea, but I did receive some great therapy, just crazy techniques that he does. The guy’s unbelievable. I don’t necessarily agree that people are labeling him a drug doctor. That’s not what he’s about. That’s my take on it.
"The guy always gave me the best possible care and advice (including while playing with Edmonton after the Argos traded him in April, 2005). He got me on the field more times than just once through some therapies and modalities."
Galea worked for the Argos from 2004 until early in 2010 when the team changed ownership. There was no testing for performance-enhancing drug use in the Canadian Football League during his years with the team. A policy was introduced last year and has been implemented fully this year with specific protocols and penalties.
The timing of it relative to the revelations about Galea’s using illegally prescribed drugs to treat athletes is purely coincidental.
Galea was viewed as a pioneering doctor by David Cynamon, who was co-owner of the Argos from 2004 until February, 2010. Cynamon and partner Howard Sokolowski took advantage of every opportunity to put the team in the best position to succeed and hiring Galea was seen as one of those moves.
Cynamon had a relationship with Galea as a friend and someone he believed in highly as a physician to help athletes perform their highest capability.
When the reports first surfaced last year that Galea faced charges in both the U.S. and Canada of smuggling performance-enhancing drugs and other banned drugs, the Argos divorced themselves from commenting, saying he was no longer employed by the team.
Cynamon told Sportsnet.ca last April that he stood behind Galea and would "absolutely" continue to employ him as the team’s doctor, if he still owned the team.
"The court would have to prove (the charges) and we’d cross that bridge when we got to it, but as far as what we knew and as far as what the world was looking at, Tony was adept at what he did and we had no reason to doubt him," Cynamon said. "I can’t give an opinion on how the law looks at things…but in my mind he’s innocent until proven guilty because I know what he’s about and I’m upset to see when we have a great Canadian like this and we don’t stand up to support him. He’s a great Canadian mind and we need to keep as many of the great Canadian minds as we can."
Contacted by Sportsnet.ca following Galea’s guilty plea, Cynamon would only say he supports Annuziata’s thoughts, although adding he was never personally treated by the doctor.
Another player with the Argos, who was treated by Galea during his time with the team, said he was "not overly surprised" when the initial stories surfaced about Galea treating athletes with illegal drugs. But he also believes in the doctor.
"My reaction is I hope it works out for him," said the player, who asked that his name not be used. "He treated me really well and I appreciated the work he did for me. I think I played longer as a result. Unequivocally, I did not use any performance-enhancing drugs and his help from me was totally legit by any standard whatsoever. I’m glad he was my doctor when I was playing."
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