Doping in football

[romavillan]

A Roma supporting mate has pointed me towards a link (in italian so won't post here) that adds to a conversation we were having about Juventus being continuously doping for years. I normally take the anti-Juve stuff with a pinch of salt, unless I'm with a Juve fan of course, but this link was transcripts of Zidane's statements to a court investigating corruption in football over here. 

 

He basically states that Juve players were given a drip before games, during half time and after matches and before training etc. He said they were routinely given Creatine (which is a muscle growth stimulant and woudl explain del piero's thighs). HE also said a load of other stuff about life at Juve but my point is about the doping.

 

These are pretty fierce allegations really, I'm just wondering if anybody has ever heard of anything similar at the big clubs here? The fashion for huge players and muscle bound players has always made me a bit suspicious....

[Stevo985]

A drip could be anything. Could even be water to keep them hydrated. Maybe a bit dodgy but not illegal.

There's absolutely nothing illegal about creatine.

That would be like complaining about players drinking lucozade or a protein shake.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Stevo985

[Jimzk5]

I honestly thought this thread was 'dogging in football'.

On doping, I dont see the issue with giving players things to keep them at the top of their game, before during ot after, its been going on for years at top clubs. I dont see the difference between giving someone a drip to rehydrate at half time to giving a player a pain killing injection so they can carry on playing.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Jimzk5

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Creatine isn't a growth stimulant.

[romavillan]

Creatine isn't a growth stimulant.

 

Maybe I've translated that badly, hang on and I'll get some of the tasty bits of the article and see if I can translate them better. The inference was that it was illegal, he also states that he didn't experience that culture anywhere else, not before or after at Real.

[NoelVilla]

I am quite convinced that EPO was and maybe still is used very much in football. 

[DCJonah]

I am quite convinced that EPO was and maybe still is used very much in football.

Aren't there big rumours regarding pep guardiola and his use of these?

[krisagg75]

is their a major football country were this kind of thing doesn't happen.i'm guessing no.

[The_Rev]

I've always been of the assumption that doping is prevalent in every major sport where there is a lot of money and/or glory at stake.   I do wonder why there haven't been more whistleblowers though, perhaps it isn't as widespread as I fear. 

[BG_Villa_Fan]

Of all major sports football is the one in which players cover the most distance during a single game.With a significant difference, if I'm not mistaken. Think tennis was 2nd, but only if the game lasts fot full 5 sets. Regeneration is incredibly important.  So, it should take advantage of all possible advances in medicine, which may include some not so legal substances from time to time. Very difficult to prove, of course. 

 

Still, things come out in time and a german TV showed a film about russian athletes claiming that 99% take illegal substances. This coming directly from London marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova and London olympics champion Maria Savinova. Now, different sports would obviously require different types of medications, legal or not, but it'd be naive to think that football, of all, is exempt of this stuff. 

Edited December 5, 2014 by BG_Villa_Fan

[romavillan]

Original article here.

It mentions by name Neoton and a thing called Samyr. Neoton is banned and is something Veron has said is widespread and is what the fuss was about with Cannavaro a few years back.

 

So it does seem I made the growth stimulant stuff up while reading the original article Still though, the trend for huge athletic players over the last "generation" of players worries me, and I'll have a look for the EPO rumours regarding Guardiola as that would seem weird seein gas his teams are not the most physical teams. Be more of a Capello, Mourinho type of team I'd see in that light. You only have to look of photos of the real Ronaldo when he's 18 or 19 and then look at his muscle mass later in his career to start getting suspicious IMO. I also think that extra muscle is what totalled his knees.

Anyway, the tone of the original article is bad becuase Zidane suggests it's completely systematic and normal, also saying that players are doped without the players knowing exactly what they are getting. Which is pretty scary. 

[romavillan]

This is insteresting, there is a part of it which refers to Ronaldo at PSV and how his muscle mass was too much for his tendons. Oh and 50 years of doping in football...

[darrenm]

I'm not sure epo would really help with the type of exertion football requires. Sprinting 50m at a time then stopping suddenly and repeating or sudden bursts and stop start is more to do with muscles in correct places. Blood volume helps more with endurance sports like running or cycling.

[AVFCforever1991]

Original article here.

It mentions by name Neoton and a thing called Samyr. Neoton is banned and is something Veron has said is widespread and is what the fuss was about with Cannavaro a few years back.

 

So it does seem I made the growth stimulant stuff up while reading the original article Still though, the trend for huge athletic players over the last "generation" of players worries me, and I'll have a look for the EPO rumours regarding Guardiola as that would seem weird seein gas his teams are not the most physical teams. Be more of a Capello, Mourinho type of team I'd see in that light. You only have to look of photos of the real Ronaldo when he's 18 or 19 and then look at his muscle mass later in his career to start getting suspicious IMO. I also think that extra muscle is what totalled his knees.

Anyway, the tone of the original article is bad becuase Zidane suggests it's completely systematic and normal, also saying that players are doped without the players knowing exactly what they are getting. Which is pretty scary. 

 

In terms of pressing their opponents? I'd say they were very physical, their endurance... Just not in the classic Stoke physical way..

 

Of course that could have been down to great conditioning and diet.

Edited December 5, 2014 by AVFCforever1991

[BG_Villa_Fan]

I'm not sure epo would really help with the type of exertion football requires. Sprinting 50m at a time then stopping suddenly and repeating or sudden bursts and stop start is more to do with muscles in correct places. Blood volume helps more with endurance sports like running or cycling.

 

HGH, anabolic steroids and testosterone would have huge impact on football players. In fact due to HGH and testosterone being naturally produced by the body, some athletes who have had medical issues are ( or have been ) allowed to take them cough*Messi*cough. Whether all of them have genuine medical reasons is another case. 

 

HGH specifically has incredible effect on sports like basketball. Take the NBA, for example. Players have a game one evening, then jump on a plane and travel some 1000 miles, then play another game in another city the very next evening FFS. 2014/5 season is the first in which NBA will test for HGH, but it's very difficult to get a positive result, as athletes know how to avoid it and it's a difficult one to test. Still, the introduction of the test has impacted some players, who have suddenly decided this is the year they should slim down (LOL) - LeBron, Melo, etc. 

[Zatman]

I would imagine drugs is used in football and just like match fixing it would be very naive to think otehrwise, though what impact it has is probably minimal except on fitness. Cant see any performance enhancing drug being able to make you more skillful or allow you to score better long range goals or allow you to make wondersaves

[villa89]

Juventus being continuously doping for years. 

 

If you take a look around and do some research you can find out the that doping was (and probably still is) rife in Italian football for years. Just read matias almeyda's book.

 

Players have been doped up to the eyeballs for years and the governing bodies do nothing about it. FIFA aren't signed up to WADA, they conduct their own tests in Switzerland where any positives can easily be covered up. How many professional footballers are there in the world and how many fail drug tests? Even for recreational drugs? With that many people if testing was done properly people would be failing for taking cold medication, cannabis or cocaine routinely.

 

Former Ireland footballer Richie Sadlier recently said that he was handed 4-5 tablets by the club doctor at Millwall and he took them without ever asking what they were (just like all other players at the club). Then a season or two later he got one less tablet than normal and asked why, the doctor told him that the club had found out the tablet was a substance on the banned list so the club didn't give them out anymore. And that's at Millwall.

 

There are also links to doping doctors by individual players and clubs in Spain. A recent documentary in Germany stated that 99% of Russian athletes are doping. They also exposed Russian winter Olympians for taking Xenon which raises your Red blood cell count and there is no drug test for. So if all the Russian athletes are on drugs why wouldn't the multi million pound football teams have similar schemes?

 

Professional sport = Doping. All of the professional sport you see has doping of some sort whether it's taking legal drugs like caffine, baking soda, blood boosting, Viagra or creatine or taking illegal drugs like EPO, nandrolone, etc. The are always five steps ahead of the testers because they can afford to pay doctors huge money to them the edge".

 

It's suits people to think that the Olympics, Football, Tennis, Rugby are clean (when they clearly aren't) and that it's only things like cycling where the bad dopers like Lance Armstrong exist. What baffles me is why some journalist doesn't start trying to expose doping in sport. The evidence and the whisteblowers are there it's just that nobody goes looking for them. Ignorance is bliss... 

Edited December 5, 2014 by villa89

[Zatman]

was a famous video released about 2006 of Cannavaro, Veron and think Crespo injecting themselves with stuff hours before the UEFA Cup final in 99

[villa89]

Cannavaro

 

The Lance Armstrong of Football.

[lapal_fan]

Ronaldo put on 5kg of muscle in about 3 months when he left Man Utd to Real.

 

Bale has shaped up sharply too, as has Ramos etc.

 

I only read about Ronaldo in one of those nefarious articles you can click on accidently on FB that turns into an advertisement, so it's probably nonsense.