Good post which gives a nice summary of the Puerto...

2009-08-06T12:05:02.956-05:00

Good post which gives a nice summary of the Puerto case and raises doubts about how clean football is! I might add a few facts which may contribute to an answer to your initial question "Are footballers above doping suspicion".

Former players of Olympique Marseille report that in 1993 (at that time, Olympique was one of the best teams in Europe) players were given injections before important games. The players (as they say) did not know exactely what kind of injections they were given, but noticed that they were getting more alert and agressive, both caracteristics of amphetamines. In the mid-1990s, Zdenek Zeman, coach of AS Roma, publicly issued his doubts about the muscle gain of some of the players of Juventus Turin (also one of the leading clubs in Europe at that time). Italien authorities confiscated many forbidden substances at Juventus and star players like Zidane or Del Piero had to appear in court in order to explain these findings. During this process, the team docter was convicted at first instance for systematic doping with EPO. In the end, the whole process was stopped because the offense was time-barred. Nevertheless, the systematic abuse of EPO at one of the top European clubs in the mid-1990s was proven during this process.

In 2004, Arsène Wenger, coach of Arsenal London, publicly issued doubts about the physical condition of some of his new players: "We have had some players come to us at Arsenal from other clubs abroad and their red blood cell count has been abnormally high. That kind of thing makes you wonder. There are clubs who dope their players without the players knowing. The club might say that they were being injected with vitamins and the player would not necessarily know that it was something different." I don't want to answer the question whether players know or do not know about the exact content of the injections. Mr. Wenger however clearly says that some European clubs are doping their players with EPO.
Those few examples show that doping IS an issue in football. Unfortunately, one can get the impression that FIFA is not doing everything in its power to fight that doubt. WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) rules stipulate that every top athlete has to make himself available to be tested anywhere and at any place during the year. In order to make such tests possible, every athlete should tell WADA, where he or she can be found at a precise time every day of the year. Potential dopers should be deterred by possible surprise tests. FIFA rejected those rules, stating that top footballers only need to give the whereabouts of their club, as they are mostly with their team. They do not need to indicate their whereabouts when they are not with their team, i.e. during those weeks where there is no training at the club. The WADA regulations, according to FIFA, would restrict the privacy of the players. FIFA thereby has laxer standards in their fight against doping as cycling or athletics.
The answer to your question whether footballers are above suspicion: Certainly not! For a long standing fan of this sport, this is a sad conclusion to take.
(I apologize for my english, I am not a native speaker)

That's a great point. I almost think it's worse th...

2009-08-04T00:26:55.360-05:00

That's a great point. I almost think it's worse though because Selig was coming off the strike that killed baseball. That era really brought back the sport. By era I mean both the period in time and also the pitcher's statistic which I'm sure averaged around 7.45 in the late 90's.

There is no dip in popularity in football, however. Blatter could set a pretty good example by going after this, but so far we havn't seen much evidence that he will.

Blatter sounds a bit like Selig during the early a...

2009-07-31T07:59:56.764-05:00

Blatter sounds a bit like Selig during the early and mid '90s. Blatter should try learning from Selig and not duplicate his mistakes.

Comments on The True Football: Are Footballers Above Doping Suspicion?

Good post which gives a nice summary of the Puerto...

That's a great point. I almost think it's worse th...

Blatter sounds a bit like Selig during the early a...