Football and doping

[Bruce Wayne]

Read this article on the Telegraph today - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...-Football.html - that implies that it is perfectly legal for players to take cocaine 24 hours before a game as they are deemed out of competition.

As many of you will no doubt know, I like my cycling and the sport has been riddled with doping scandals down the years. Football has suffered to an extent with players like Davids and Stam falling foul for Nandrolone but nowhere near on the level of cyclists.

All of which strikes me as rather odd as the game is undoubtably more physical than at any other time in its history (in terms of pace and stamina required if not the brutality of tackling). So being able to run faster and for longer would produce a real benefit to players and teams. Also of course one of the main benefits of doping is the enhanced recovery capabilities it provides, and with so many games played now this is an obvious attraction.

Zdenek Zeman said back in the 90's that many top players were dabbling in the stuff, and it was around that time that the likes of Davids and Couto were found out.

So, my question is, does football as a whole dabble in this sort of thing? Are the tests stringent enough or are the authorities happy to brush it under the carpet?

[James Martin]

I've suspected for some time that there is widespread doping. Some things strike me as a little strange. One example springs to mind. When Valencia reached two CL finals in 2000 and 2001,the midfield of Mendieta, Farinos, Kily Gonzalez and Gerrard all looked like world beaters, as did The striker Claudio Lopez. They were all sold shortly after and not one of them has looked more than mediocre since. I can understand one or two not reaching the hights after changing clubs. It happens frequently. but none of them has done anything of note.
I remember after Zeman's accusations, lots of players, notably Del Pierro, seemed to have a drop in form.
Carlos Gurpegui of Athletic Bilbao has recently returned to action after a two year ban. Their doctor was Miguel Indurain's doctor. I think the tests are a bit of a joke probably. And I'm sure the footballing authorities are happy to reap the rewards of turning a blind eye

[atrottel]

Same as American football - the business is too big (but, but, but the religion of unbridled greed and capitalism surely won't allow anything like that and the market will sort itself out!).

So throw the odd star to the tabloid lions for recreational drug use and try to avoid bringing in stringent testing for steroids, hgh, etc. as long as it's humanly possible. Who wants socialist government interference in our god-given right to pump our bodies full of performance-enhancing chemicals. Pass that line over, eh, George, there's a good dude....

(On a more serious note, I was also reading today about the prevalence of motor neurone disease in Italian players. One of the possibilities they are looking into is doping - along with pesticide use and hard tackles.)

[MikelsGoat]

I need doping everytime i go to watch Everton.

[Blue Ray]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wayne

Read this article on the Telegraph today - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...-Football.html - that implies that it is perfectly legal for players to take cocaine 24 hours before a game as they are deemed out of competition.

As many of you will no doubt know, I like my cycling and the sport has been riddled with doping scandals down the years. Football has suffered to an extent with players like Davids and Stam falling foul for Nandrolone but nowhere near on the level of cyclists.

All of which strikes me as rather odd as the game is undoubtably more physical than at any other time in its history (in terms of pace and stamina required if not the brutality of tackling). So being able to run faster and for longer would produce a real benefit to players and teams. Also of course one of the main benefits of doping is the enhanced recovery capabilities it provides, and with so many games played now this is an obvious attraction.

Zdenek Zeman said back in the 90's that many top players were dabbling in the stuff, and it was around that time that the likes of Davids and Couto were found out.

So, my question is, does football as a whole dabble in this sort of thing? Are the tests stringent enough or are the authorities happy to brush it under the carpet?

Albert Dunlop once said Everton won the league in 1962-63 with the help of Benzedrine. They were regularly distributed in the dressing room and most of the players were taking them plus they could have as many as they liked. All I'm trying to say is that its gone on for a long time in sport.

[James Martin]

If we define doping as anything you take for performance enhancement, we could say it's been going on for a very long time. I've heard talk of the West Germany team having a total blood transfusion at the 1954 world cup. Don't know if it was illegal even if it was true

[Slight_Return]

not a moment too soon. hopefully Rio can miss another, the gigantic tw@t!

[kingjoleon]

VDM clearly exploits this ruling

[Bruce Wayne]

I read just now that the WDA plans to up the number of drugs tests to 5 a year. 5 a bloody year?!?! Good grief I dare say cyclists have that many tests a week. No wonder they can avoid being rumbled if they're only tested that many times.

[Whitebootman]

Originally Posted by Slight_Return

not a moment too soon. hopefully Rio can miss another, the gigantic tw@t!

Rio, the manc who puts the dope in football