Doping in football

Pepe LeFrits

Two articles on doping; the second is mostly about US sports but is a superb read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mobileweb/luke-john/dopin-under-the-needle-but-above-suspicion_b_2662165.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8904906/daring-ask-ped-question

It's difficult to maintain an interest in football these days - it's just so unbelievably corrupt.

Hand on heart I can't say I don't think some of my favourite Arsenal memories are influenced by doped players. Perhaps less than at other clubs given who our manager is, but there are players who I really have doubts about.

Biggus

Not really worried about drugs in football.
Though it's difficult to maintain an interest in football these days Pep because we are so unbelievably shit and haven't won anything for 8 years.

Timbob

We're obviously not taking the right drugs.

Biggus

Well Wenger must be spending the money on something.......

Rex

I'd be very surprised if any of the players at Arsenal were using banned substances since the Club has taken it upon themselves to perform regular tests. Testing in football in general is a joke though. I really don't see why football players shouldn't be tested as rigorously and as often as cross country skiers or pro cyclists for instance. The gain in football of using epo, blood doping or steroids is obvious.

Armor

Good reads.

It would be just our luck if every other team is drugged up to the eyeballs and we're getting our boost from lucozade.

Pepe LeFrits

Biggus wrote:
Not really worried about drugs in football.
Though it's difficult to maintain an interest in football these days Pep because we are so unbelievably shit and haven't won anything for 8 years.

We get it, you don't like football.

Biggus

Not the sort we play.

Armor wrote:
Good reads.

It would be just our luck if every other team is drugged up to the eyeballs and we're getting our boost from lucozade.

Welll thats probably the one excuse Wenger hasn't used.

Qwiss

Pretty sure Song was doped up. Not on performance enhancing drugs though, just dope.

Tony Montana

I guess they're all innocent until proven guilty.

Because football is the king of sports, we can't really take hard criticism of it seriously. Certainly not for something as damaging as drugs.

Like both articles allude to, we turn the other way and refuse to believe it.

JazzG

Eufemiano Fuentes has been convicted today by the courts. One year suspended prison sentence & struck off as a doctor for 4 years.

Next part is unclear as i don't know what is the truth yet. Some say the courts have also ordered that all blood bags and computer files related to this case be destroyed. However some are saying all the blood will be stored pending an appeal to get access to the blood.

kamikaze

there's obviously doping going on, and we already know for a fact that teams have given it to players. if the sport wanted to really regulate it for the health of the players, they would, but lets not kid ourselves! they dont even care if players are racially abused!

Klaus

Yeah, European football is a mess in pretty much every fair play aspect. Corruption's widespread everywhere and doping is not an exception. It's fascinating how people are getting upset about Fuentes now all of a sudden. Anyone who knows how to use google could have found out his backstory ten years ago. It's not like he's the only case (or even the biggest one) either. Serie A and La Liga have been full of illegal substances for three decades and no one does anything about it. Ligue 1 was the same in the nineties. Marseille practically admitted that they were doped up (aside from the fact that they bought match officials along the way) when they won Champions League and they didn't get punished for shit.

kamikaze

i'm sort of surprised that player associations havent lobbied for strict testing of harmful substances like anabolic steroids. if i were a player, i'd want testing for those substances to be so strict that it would be irrational to take them. i wouldn't want to worry about needing to harm my health to keep my competitive edge just bc some other players are doping.

over-the-counter stuff is whatever.

Burnwinter

Big issue in Australian sport at the moment.

Turns out one of the biggest AFL sides, Essendon (sort of like the Man Utd of AFL to be honest) had been running a systematic "supplements" programme last season that included many substances prohibited by WADA.

Emails have surfaced between the head coach James Hird - who as a player was one of the most celebrated of the modern era - and team "fitness guru" that explicitly name sanctioned drugs etc.

MuswellHillGooner

Lance Armstrong alleges that La Liga clubs puts pressure on judge Patricia Santamaria to cover up doping
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/lancearmstrong/10148955/Lance-Armstrong-alleges-that-La-Liga-clubs-puts-pressure-on-judge-Patricia-Santamaria-to-cover-up-doping.html

Qwiss

Well you wont find a more honest bloke than Lance Armstrong.

Klaus

Won't find many who know more about doping either to be honest.

Seriously though, that Fuentes had doping programs in place for several Spanish clubs is the worst kept secret in football. It's not even a secret because he showed them to Stephane Mandard back in -08. Betis, Sevilla, Real, Barcelona, Valencia - all of them involved. The only thing that the story resulted in was that Le Monde were forced to compensate Barca and Real for libel in 2011. Fast forward two years and Fuentes is involved in one of the biggest doping scandals in history. He's on record saying that Spain would be stripped of their World cup medals if he were to reveal some of the names he doped up (which might well be bullshit, but let's take it at face value considering who he is).

And it's not like Fuentes is the only one out there. Just google Luis García del Moral and his connection to Spanish football. The entire league stinks.

Cannon

I thought Wenger in his latest interview made the subtlest hint that Bayern were doped. His praised their physical condition in a VERY obvious way.

y va marquer

I thought he did so to highlight the benefits and massive advantages of having a long winter break?
I didn't think there was any insinuation that players were in peak condition due to doping.
What exactly did he say that made you think that Cannon?