I Wonder If This Is Still FA Policy

[TonyGilroy]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/sep/12/fa-drugs-tests-garry-oconnor

[MJG]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/sep/12/fa-drugs-tests-garry-oconnor

I believe it is, saw an article earlier this year about it. More about educating the player than punishing them in public. Just means they dont get seen for a while.

[RaySmith]

It's hard to se that there's much advantage in footballers taking drugs - though I would have thought that cocaine might be one drug that gives an advantage in a game.

Though, when there was publicity about  drugs in Australian football -they were to do with recovery from injury.

But there does seem to be secrecy around drug taking and testing in football -just as  top track athletes have been getting away with  very light sentences for failing drug tests, and have soon been competing again.

My interest is that of someone  keen on cycling and cycle sport - and cycling has been hung out to dry re this issue, with Lance  Armstrong having all his Tour de France wins wiped from the record books, and banned for life even from competing as an amateur triathlete-

though, not wanting to  say he was blameless in any way, and definitely seeing it as a very good thing that cycling has  cleaned up its act - Armstrong was only following in the culture of the time and doing what was needed to succeed when everyone else was taking  drugs.

Cycling was already doing  far more than most other sports to eliminate performance enhancing drug taking, and the Armstrong case didn't do the sport any good imo, just driving away sponsors, and potential cyclists- though it has unprecedented popularity in Britain at the moment with Wiggins and Team Sky.

[leonffc]

It's hard to se that there's much advantage in footballers taking drugs - though I would have thought that cocaine might be one drug that gives an advantage in a game

I don't think Cocaine is really an advantage in a game. It might make the heart race and give a little more confidence but the decision making would suffer.
The reality is though, some do take recreational drugs and the governing bodies can't be seen to turn a blind eye. Plus, with a lot of top sportsmen, they have addictive personalities and a lot of spare time so these rules are there to protect the sportsmen and women too. Hence the education rather than punishment

[Putney]

Tomas Rosicky is apparently one of the players who was hit with a secret ban.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

It would be nice if Ruiz had a drug problem, at least it would be something he might tackle.

[cmg]

Drug use is the dark shadow over the sports we love.
Drug misuse is automatically and stridently denied by all perpetrators right up to the time (and sometimes beyond) when the needle is found stuck in their arm. Sanctions are so draconian that the whole area is shrouded in deceit.

I used to love seeing the East Germans sticking it up the big boys. Now I know they were all (state controlled) cheats.
Many of the recent amazing baseball slugging records are now looking very dubious indeed.
Soon after I stopped playing Rugby the game went professional (they had to wait because they knew they couldn't afford me!) this coincided with many, some already quite big, players becoming very, very big indeed.

Steroids don't really enhance performance directly, they allow increased training capacity and the development (if required) of bigger bodies. By the time the steroids have had their effect they may not show up in post-match testing.

It's difficult to see how cocaine could help enhance football performance. It has, however, been the recreational drug of choice among all sorts of people for a while now. It was specially invented to separate rich, young people from their cash. A general social problem rather than a specifically sporting one.

[HatterDon]

It would be nice if Ruiz had a drug problem, at least it would be something he might tackle.

ga-hyuk hyuk hyuk :airfix: