The war on dope…
Posted on | July 24, 2009 | No Comments
…or banned substances, as the official line goes, is still going on underneath the skin of football even though it hasn’t been in the media spotlight much recently.
Is there still a problem? Undoubtedly – but the size of it is almost impossible to work out. The mere fact UEFA are ploughing time and money into targeting younger players with the anti-drugs message shows just how serious the authorities are about the issue. Switzerland’s under-19s women’s team are among the latest crop to be delivered the ‘drugs are bad’ message in traditional seminar style.
Two-year ban for Pavlov
Among the latest players to fail a test and end up with a ban is PFC Lokomotiv Sofia midfielder Nikolay Pavlov, who we won’t be seeing for two years after he tested positive for norandrosterone and noretiocholanolone, both metabolites of the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone.
Nandrolone is one of the biggest baddies on UEFA’s list and the rules are so strict even asthmatic players have to follow incredibly strict rules to get approval for their medication, which can invovled inhaled steroids.
Latest figures from UEFA suggest doping tests are doing the trick – of over 1,000 doping controls carried out last season only two were positive – one for asthma medicaiton and one for steroids.
Players’ doping knowledge “vague”
Outside the Europpean leagues the picture isn’t quite so clear – for example a study in 2003 by the National Institute of Youth and Sports in Yaounde, Cameroon, looked at ‘elite’ and amateur players and found evidence of a significant level of recreational drugs, as opposed to performancing enchancing substances, but noted the players’ knowledge of doping was “vague”.
It concluded: “Preventive actions and an epidemiological study of doping among footballers are urgently required.”
In Brazil one of the more high-profile incidents of recent times involved the striker Do Do, who in Septemnber last year got a two year ban at 34 years of age. The player was with Botafogo when he tested postitive for fenproprex in July 2007.
Grey areas remain
The AWOL factor is also a world problem – ie players that simply go don’t turn up to tests and claim to have been delayed or to have forgotten they were due to attend one. Short of fitting tracker chips to player’s ankles 24/7 and employing big brother-style lie detector tests, there’s not much that can be done here. This was dramatically demonstrated by Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand’s case in 2003.
While UEFA’s growing campaign and unlimited resources may ultimately tie up the issue in Europe, further afield the future looks far less certain. But keeping the sport clean in terms of drugs is vital at a time when money is increasingly already said to have made it dirty to the core.
Chris Breese
[Photo: Armin Kübelbeck GNU]
Tags: Doping > nandrolone > Nikolay Pavlov > rio ferdinand > Uefa
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