Doping in football - why no appetite to do anything about it?

joker77

Allegedly - there is a huge amount of doping going on in football. Why is this accepted? Why no appetite to do anything about it? Purely the corruption of FIFA, and the levels of money involved?

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/News/doping-football.aspx

Given the lack of official positive tests, this may all sound incredible. But, when you consider the fact the risk is so low and the rewards so high, it is actually somewhat inevitable.

First of all, even though testing remains up to a decade behind the dopers, Fifa has been slow to get serious about it. In 2006, they became the last Olympic sport to ratify the World Anti-Doping Agency code and have even contested the idea that individual players should be tested out of competition.

Secondly, there are the rewards. Look at the sheer money involved. And, although sports like football aren’t measured or decided by physical performance in the manner of cycling, the advantages of doping are obvious: increased recovery time for injury; superior stamina; the capacity to keep applying your existing ability at the most exacting stages of games.

If the stories are to be believed, though, football may face a few exacting years ahead. Doping in the sport exists. At the moment, the will to truly confront it does not.

joker77

An alleged quote from one of the doping doctors involved in the Lance Armstrong saga:

you guys take nothing in comparison to footballers

RayCon

Answer :

joker77

Yea. Suppose.

Joey Barton (yea, I know, I know) has said some interesting things on it recently

What about drug use in football? There is a history of it. A number of professionals were reportedly caught up in a performance-enhancing drug scandal (Jaap Stam, Edgar Davids, …) as well as a number who allegedly delved into recreational drug use (Maradona, Mutu, Bosnich, …). It’s there; all you have to do is look.

For example, have you ever wondered how some of the top Italian league players have played at such a high level for so long, this is a bunch of players at the top who are (or were, when playing) fast heading towards 40 and running around like someone in there early 30’s, and playing up to 80 games each season. Nobody, me included, can say that the club or the players are using illegal substance to enhance performance, but it does pose an interesting question, don’t you think? After all, it was in Italy too, where aside from Stam and Davids, there’s also the alleged actions of Fernando Couto, Frank de Boer and Pep Guardiola who in fairness had his charges over-turned – all failed drugs tests for the steroid Nandrolone. We know some top European clubs used or still use ‘vitamin’ injections – and there are organizations (like the USADA) who have been digging into it for over 10 years, to little avail, suggesting that there’s sophisticated cloaking of banned substances in ‘vitamin’ supplements, they just can’t get the evidence.

An England international told me about ‘vitamin’ injections that the England team were administered during the 1998 World Cup. This guy took one before the Argentina game and describes the feeling as though he couldn’t run out of energy. Vitamin C, maybe? I am not suggesting ‘foul play’ – but I do think it’s important to ask the question. Where there’s big money people will bend, manipulate or simply break the rules out of greed.

Sir Gallagher

Id love for one week to pass without some nonsense contoversy surrounding football.

Next weeks campaign, why aren't there more Jewish Tranny Dwarves playing the game?

joker77

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Id love for one week to pass without some nonsense contoversy surrounding football.

Next weeks campaign, why aren't there more Jewish Tranny Dwarves playing the game?

Not sure what your point is? Doping goes on and who cares?

GavRedKing

Awaits a post about Rio and his missed drugs test.

Pisco Sour

GavRedKing wrote: »

Awaits a post about Rio and his missed drugs test.

Rio doing recreational drugs is the least of what is going on in football. I'd be more interested in the winners of the last 3 major international football championships and the winners of EURO 2004, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Lesson 1 0 1: Don't associate yourself with tainted people if you want to regain credibility.

Barcelona have failed this simple credibility test by having links with proven doping doctors.

folan

no appetite to tackle doping from organisations who have been questioned on their lack of action over racism and bribery shock.

because soccer is perfect worldwide, and any such questions are dealt with in as fair and transparent a manner as is possible.

clubberlang12

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Id love for one week to pass without some nonsense contoversy surrounding football.

Next weeks campaign, why aren't there more Jewish Tranny Dwarves playing the game?

Are you sure you don't work for FIFA?

pickarooney

I honestly don't care who's doing drugs in football. They could all drug themselves up to the eyeballs and play 500 games a season for all I care. I'm not sure why I feel that way when I feel the opposite about cycling and other sports.

maximoose

pickarooney wrote: »

I honestly don't care who's doing drugs in football. They could all drug themselves up to the eyeballs and play 500 games a season for all I care. I'm not sure why I feel that way when I feel the opposite about cycling and other sports.

Would kind of agree with you there to an extent.

Am I right to think that PED's would have a much greater effect on success for someone in a sport like cycling where it's about pushing the body's physical limits and stamina etc.... whereas in football there still is a huge bearing on natural talent - or is that just being silly and naive?

joker77

maximoose wrote: »

Would kind of agree with you there to an extent.

Am I right to think that PED's would have a much greater effect on success for someone in a sport like cycling where it's about pushing the body's physical limits and stamina etc.... whereas in football there still is a huge bearing on natural talent - or is that just being silly and naive?

A little naive really. Footballers need to be able to push themselves to their limits physically as well, play multiple games in a week, recover in time. Drugs help with these things.

My own opinion is that drug cheating is a lot less acceptable in individual sports than team sports, the main reason is that the result is determined by a lot more factors in team sports. (Cycling yes is kind of a team sport, but it's the individual winner who counts)

Sir Gallagher

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Rio doing recreational drugs is the least of what is going on in football. I'd be more interested in the winners of the last 3 major international football championships and the winners of EURO 2004, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Lesson 1 0 1: Don't associate yourself with tainted people if you want to regain credibility.

Barcelona have failed this simple credibility test by having links with proven doping doctors.

Id be more suspicious if Spain and Barcelona didnt have the best team/squads in the world when they were winning. Alarm bells would be ringing if North Korea won the world cup. It all sounds like conpiracy theory stuff to me.

joker77

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Id be more suspicious if Spain and Barcelona didnt have the best team/squads in the world when they were winning. Alarm bells would be ringing if North Korea won the world cup. It all sounds like conpiracy theory stuff to me.

Ha - not really. There's plenty of proof of drug use in football.

Pisco Sour

joker77 wrote: »

A little naive really. Footballers need to be able to push themselves to their limits physically as well, play multiple games in a week, recover in time. Drugs help with these things.

My own opinion is that drug cheating is a lot less acceptable in individual sports than team sports, the main reason is that the result is determined by a lot more factors in team sports. (Cycling yes is kind of a team sport, but it's the individual winner who counts)

And because individual sports have a lesser tolerance to doping than team sports. You would never see FIFA freezing the samples of Zidane and retesting them 8 years later when tests for new drugs are discovered, like the IAAF do (the international athletics federation for the one sport wonders among us here), or taking blood tests of footballers to build a biological passport. The fact of the matter is testing in football is a crying joke. If you don't test people properly then they are not going to fail drug tests. That's primary school stuff. I find it a sorry state as to the intelligence of football fans when they think that a lack of positive tests = a clean sport, or when they say that "ah sure drugs don't help in football". The extra time at the semi final at Euro 2012 between Spain and Portugal is pure evidence as to the effects of doping.

folan

lets have a season where everything goes. see if it makes soccer any better.

Pisco Sour

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Id be more suspicious if Spain and Barcelona didnt have the best team/squads in the world when they were winning. Alarm bells would be ringing if North Korea won the world cup. It all sounds like conpiracy theory stuff to me.

How do you know they are the best players in the world? Maybe they are the best players for a reason?