The Truth About Footballers And Drugs

Paully D

An interesting piece from Rohan Ricketts:

The news that Manchester City star Kolo Toure failed a drug test may have rocked the football world but it wasn’t a surprise to me. I know there are loads of players within the game taking both recreational and performance enhancing drugs.

We still don’t know whether the Manchester City player is guilty or not of intentionally taking illegal substances but it’s not the first I’ve heard of big name players taking drugs. I’ve even heard about one England international who likes to take Charlie and go out clubbing with his partner.

Where there’s loads of money cocaine is never far behind. Even when I was at Wolves there was a young lad called Chris Cornes who liked to live the playboy lifestyle. He got tested and was found positive for cocaine. Everybody was shocked but at the same time, if you give young men loads of money then some of them are going to start thinking they’re rock stars and forget what it means to be a professional sportsman.

When I played in MLS, there were loads of young players straight out of college who liked to smoke weed. They were just carrying on their campus lifestyle even though they were now pros. One guy I played against got caught but the whole affair was swept under the rug which seemed a little unfair when just six months later two New York Red Bulls players Jon Conway and defender Jeff Parke got banned for taking performance enhancers. I guess it’s all about who you know…

I’ve been tested a few times and it’s a very weird experience. What happens is you play a game or sometimes it happens after training, they come in and say you’ve been selected and now they’ve got to hold you until you go to the toilet – and this can take hours if you’re really dehydrated after a game. The whole time they’re hounding you – you get the feeling these guys think you’re guilty until proven innocent. Then when you finally are ready to go they stand there staring at your testicles!

It can be really annoying having a guy watch you when you’re trying to go to the toilet. Some of them clearly enjoy the power and tell you to hurry up but you’ve just got to have a laugh with them. I remember being in Toronto and the guy was getting the hump and I was just like, ‘I can’t go to the toilet, what do you want me to do?” He was getting really annoyed so I said, ‘Look mate you came in here and asked me for my urine, I didn’t come in here and ask for yours.’ He didn’t like that.

I remember another time in particular after Spurs v Charlton at White Hart Lane when there was six players being tested for drugs after the game including Carlton Cole, Kevin Lisbie and Chris Powell. We all looked around and the one thing that was instantly obvious was that we were all brothers. So much for random drug testing!

Personally I’ve never taken drugs. I grew up in a Jamaican family in Brixton and was surrounded by my Rastafarian uncles all smoking spliffs so I used to really worry about getting busted for passive smoking. The other thing that bothers you as a player is getting spiked with drugs. When I was at Spurs I once went out to a nightclub with friends and this guy wanted to get me a drink. I accepted his offer but before I could touch it someone I knew told me he had put something in it. He was just a jealous guy that wanted to bring me down to his level. These days I don’t like taking drinks off people unless I can see it being bought and opened right in front of my eyes.

As for avoiding illegal performance enhancing drugs, I’m equally cautious. I was recently recommended some tablets by my local health food store owner that are meant to help you recover but there’s no way I’d take them without checking them with my club first. Any sensible pro would do the same – which is why I’m surprised as any Manchester City fan about what’s happened with Toure.

Saying that, of all the great pros, you could argue that Lionel Messi has used drugs to improve his performance. Aged 11, he was given Human Growth Hormone injections paid for by Barcelona – and now he’s the world’s greatest player. Could it be that this drug has given him his near superhuman power. I mean, have you seen the way he changes direction with the ball? Don’t get me wrong, I’m Messi’s biggest fan but if we’re talking about what’s fair and what’s not then maybe I should take a year’s supply of HGH and then we can see how it would change my performance.

What do you make of his point about Messi in the last paragraph?

CorkMan

Messi was giving the drug to stop him from being 5 feet under. I am sure it didn't make him superman. Maradona was another small footballer with similar agility/dribbling abiltity. You could say he took the drug.

JPA

That's quite an aggressive and irresponsible article IMO.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Footballers shouldn't be punished for taking coke or weed, imo. Well maybe from the respective clubs, but not FIFA if it's not enhancing their performance. Which I'd doubt coke or weed would..

Helix

Paully D wrote: »

I’ve even heard about one England international who likes to take Charlie and go out clubbing with his partner.

and if its the same one ive heard first hand reports about, youd think he'd be a little more careful

Pauleta

If footballers were tested like cyclists and athletes there would be a rake of failures and then there are all those "asthmatic" footballers :rolleyes:

I'd imagine many footballers use recreational drugs.

Performance enhancing I'm not so sure about.

Peyton Manning

Helix wrote: »

and if its the same one ive heard first hand reports about, youd think he'd be a little more careful

I know of an England international, a Ghanaian international, a Spanish international and surprisingly a Czech international who all played (or used to, in one case) for the same club indulging in some Charlie at a corporate bash thrown by one of their clubs. Also tried to shag a bunch of 17/18 year olds, but I won't hold that against them! Was told by the daughter of an employee at the club who was at the party, who happened to be one of those 18 year olds!

flahavaj

"They tested me because I iz black."

"Messi is a genius becaused he had HGH as a child."

Tripe.

He's not much better a writer than he was a footballer.

gosplan

I don't really know enough about the impact of preformance enhancing drugs to make a judgement.

The thing I gather though is that if you take a drug like EPO. Basically what it does is speed up the recovery time which allows you to train more often for longer thereby building muscle and stamina. This makes it perfect for cycling but not really so for football. You're already asking the top players to run two half marathons a week so they can't really handle too much more.

That said, you have be realistic and assume that if someone's willing to pay 200K a week for an athlete, then whatever means there is of enhancing their performance will be used.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

tbh, I think it'd be nieve to think that football is a clean sport, considering all the money involved. I'm not saying that every player is on drugs but I'd be willing to bet that if there was drug testing similar to that of the Olympics and every pro in England was tested tomorrow ~5% would fail it. What I'd be nearly sure of is that Touré wouldn't be the only high profile case of some one banned substances.
That said I don't really have any idea how the players are tested and how often, but from what I've gathered over the past few years it seems lax enough.

Helix

THFC wrote: »

tfrom what I've gathered over the past few years it seems lax enough.

i seem to remember a player or ex player saying it was possible to years and years without being tested

im sure clubs test more often than the fa would, and id not be surprised to learn that stuff is dealt with behind closed doors, with the player being placed on the "injury" list so he cant get officially tested and banned until whatever he had in his system is clear

Royale with Cheese

He compared smoking weed to taking performance enhancing drugs. Stopped reading there, idiot.

Helix

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

He compared smoking weed to taking performance enhancing drugs

where did he draw any comparison of the sort?

Royale with Cheese

Helix wrote: »

where did he draw any comparison of the sort?

He implies it here

When I played in MLS, there were loads of young players straight out of college who liked to smoke weed. They were just carrying on their campus lifestyle even though they were now pros. One guy I played against got caught but the whole affair was swept under the rug which seemed a little unfair when just six months later two New York Red Bulls players Jon Conway and defender Jeff Parke got banned for taking performance enhancers. I guess it’s all about who you know…

Helix

how is that comparing one drug with another? is he not right? is it not unfair that one lad got caught for something and got away with it while 2 others got caught for something banned under the same rules and didnt?

CantGetNoSleep

Tom_Brady wrote: »

I know of an England international, a Ghanaian international, a Spanish international and surprisingly a Czech international who all played (or used to, in one case) for the same club indulging in some Charlie at a corporate bash thrown by one of their clubs. Also tried to shag a bunch of 17/18 year olds, but I won't hold that against them! Was told by the daughter of an employee at the club who was at the party, who happened to be one of those 18 year olds!

Anyone solved the riddle here yet?

flas

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Anyone solved the riddle here yet?

no, its wreckin my head

Frankie Lee

It would make sense if the Spanish international was a left back and the year was 2005/06 and he was the one who left the club.

yabadabado

chelsea?

Peyton Manning

I'll say no names in public considering Boards is pretty anal about liability and all that, should be easy enough guess though!

yahoo_moe

Whatever anyone thinks about Rohan Ricketts, or his point about Messi, or how recreational drugs would impact on performance...

Clearly the main point is that a player who recently spent several years around the top levels of the English game is saying that football has its cheats just like the much-maligned sports of cycling, athletics, swimming, etc.

If the best people can do is scoff at his drug comparisons or speculate about cocaine use, then obviously the authorities are right not to push stricter drug testing. It appears many fans don't care about clean competition. I'd rather not even see Eboue at Arsenal because of his diving so I definitely wouldn't want performance-enhancing drugs involved.

amiable

Tom_Brady wrote: »

I'll say no names in public considering Boards is pretty anal about liability and all that, should be easy enough guess though!

Very very obvious my friend:)

CantGetNoSleep

Frankie Lee wrote: »

It would make sense if the Spanish international was a left back and the year was 2005/06 and he was the one who left the club.

The Ghana player is key I feel

pickarooney

Does anyone else not give a toss if players are taking cocaine, weed, EPO or anything else?

massdebater

Did the Spanish guy get a red card in a very high profile match or am I on the wrong scent?

folan

baz2009 wrote: »

Footballers shouldn't be punished for taking coke or weed, imo. Well maybe from the respective clubs, but not FIFA if it's not enhancing their performance. Which I'd doubt coke or weed would..

except of course from their local law enforcers, i assume.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

folan wrote: »

except of course from their local law enforcers, i assume.

Well if a player at a club was caught out for having coke in his system, I'd doubt the manager would be reporting him to the authorities in fairness.
But FIFA or the FA disciplining player for having recreational drugs in his system is stupid, imo.

Fall_Guy

HGH improves your agility! Ricketts' been spending too much time in the Hot Box round his uncles gaf

TerryTibbs!

Just because this lad can string a sentence together does not mean he should be writing articles. Why people give him a chance I will never know. He is pretty clueless.

dsmythy

pickarooney wrote: »

Does anyone else not give a toss if players are taking cocaine, weed, EPO or anything else?

I'd imagine if it came to light it would not set them up as role models.

TheRedDevil10

massdebater wrote: »

Did the Spanish guy get a red card in a very high profile match or am I on the wrong scent?

ur on the rite scent

Mikeyt086

My mate works in the Ritz and he said at Stephen Kelly's wedding there was a table with 2 or 3 Irish internationals at it (who will remain nameless) who were all on pills, he even saw one player taking E, and if I said who it was many would be genuinely shocked, respectable pro that he is.

Not that I think its a huge deal, it was in the off-season, its just that I can see why recreational drugs would be more common than what is thought.

Dempsey

The point about Messi is an interesting one. Was it on the banned substance list for professionals? Without the treatment and nature taking its course, he would never made it as a professional.

Could see a host of top clubs drugging up their star prospects to help build them into the physical condition that most people struggle to meet.

Helix

Dempsey wrote: »

The point about Messi is an interesting one. Was it on the banned substance list for professionals? Without the treatment and nature taking its course, he would never made it as a professional.

Could see a host of top clubs drugging up their star prospects to help build them into the physical condition that most people struggle to meet.

yeah it wouldnt surprise me. surely its not illegal if youre drugging them and dont actually have them registered to play for you. sure theyre only availing of the training facilities then, wouldnt imagine fifa could be doling out bans for that?

Helix

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

The Ghana player is key I feel

is he currently on a self imposed exile from international duty with them?