Banned former Manu Samoa rugby captain Chris Vui is seeking Crowdfunder funding support to help complete the production of a documentary that will tell his story.
Vui is hoping to tell his story and clear his name, after he was handed a four-year doping ban by World Rugby from the game he loves in 2023.
The funding appeal is backed by the Creative Scotland Crowd-match Fund and funds raised will help complete SPIKED, Vui’s story on what happened and how that affected him and his family.
The documentary is beign produced by Tusitala Films and is described as “a documentary about the disastrous consequences for clean athletes involved in contamination in professional sports”.
“What happens when a world-class athlete, at the peak of his career, tests positive for steroids he’s never heard of?” the teaser asks.
Information on the GoFundMe page said “at the centre of SPIKED is Vui, a former captain of the Samoan national rugby team and a leading figure in the English Premiership”.
“At the height of his career, during the World Cup, he tested positive for steroids. The levels detected matched known contamination patterns, but the consequences were immediate and shattering.
“Chris was removed from the competition, placed under strict confidentiality orders, and unable to defend himself publicly while accusations spread. In Samoan culture, such allegations carry deep stigma, extending beyond the individual to their family. Silence became its own punishment.”
‘Devastated’
Vui, 33, tested positive in August 2023 for 19-norandrosterone, an indicator for the steroid nandrolone, before that year’s Rugby World Cup, in which he represented Samoa.
He was co-captain of the team in France and was immediately suspended by World Rugby, which saw his world cup campaign halted.
But he has always denied knowingly using the banned substance and said he is “devastated” that the four-year ban he was issued with for a contested doping violation has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS].
He appealed the ban in July but lost the case.
In a statement sent to BBC Sport after his appeal was turned down, Vui said he hoped his “experience contributes to a broader discussion within sport about the operation of anti-doping processes”.
Chris Vui.
Photosport
“Over the past three years, since being provisionally suspended during the World Cup, I have been fighting to prove my innocence, so I am devastated by this outcome,” Vui’s statement said.
“I want to make it clear I have never knowingly used, and would never knowingly use, a prohibited substance. It goes against everything I stand for as a person and as an athlete.
Contamination claim
Vui is one of several prominent athletes who are to feature in the documentary, who have experienced positive tests that they allege are linked to inadvertent contamination or unintentional doping
“The low level of the substance found in my test is consistent with contamination, and I therefore believe the most likely explanation is the positive test was caused by a contaminated supplement. Sadly, I could not prove this to a sufficient degree of certainty.”
Vui described the experience of being banned and his fight to overturn it as “deeply challenging”, adding that it had “effectively put my life on hold”.
“One of the hardest realities is, despite years of investigation and proceedings, I may never know for certain how this situation arose,” he explained.
“For now, my focus is on returning to rugby next year and on what comes next as I continue to reflect on this chapter.”
Vui joined the Bears in 2017 and made more than 100 appearances for the club.
His contract at the club wa renewed in 2022 to run until the end of 2026.
But it was annulled in September 2023 following the positive test and since then has been unable to play professionally since.
The GoFundMe appeal, which had raised USD 9,000 by 3pm NZT on Tuesday, hopes to raise at least USD 27,000.
