Rio Ferdinand’s 2003 drugs ban under fresh scrutiny

Based Adnan

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Didn't he have a test the very next day? Including additional tests which weren't part of the usual test?
 

Gopher Brown

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I suspect (based on no evidence than sports people’s natural competitiveness) that many footballers have taken peds, and still are, including Man Utd players, but obviously do so in a way to avoid testing positively.

I’m also sure the stigma is attached to getting caught, and being foolish enough with your methods that it results in that.
 

SirAF

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He got a long ban even without them proving drugs, so it's not like he got away with anything anyway.

Seems weird to rake this up now. They'll never prove this.
This. feck this shit. Who cares?
 

Bastian

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If the Times feel the need to make this into a story surely Tony Blair can be sent to the Hague.
 

JohnnyKills

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A missed drugs test is treated the same as a failed drugs test. So he's served his ban already
 

Crustanoid

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He’s clearly done worse than the crimes Abu Dhabi and Abramovich have committed to completely destroy the integrity of football as we know it in the last couple of decades. Burn him at the stake
 

LawCharltonBest

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Only way to make it fair now in 2020 is to let United have any central defender in the world for 8 months for free

And I’m serious.

But they won’t for obvious reasons
 

TrustInOle

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Wtf! Why is this being dragged up now? He served a longer ban than people who actually fail the tests anyway. Fecking media these days :houllier:
 

Zen86

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So City get off the hook for cheating and fraud, and a few days later there’s an investigation into a 17 year old case where the person in question received a disproportionately long ban anyway. You couldn’t make it up.
 

TrustInOle

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Agreed. The ban itself seemed very excessive at the time (I recall a City reserve player missing a test around the same time and was only given a slap on the wrist) and no doubt they wanted to make an example out of Ferdinand.

Maybe they found Ferdinand’s version of events to be an unreliable and his attempts to evade the test on the day to be highly suspicious, hence the lengthy ban without the evidence of drugs present.

Either way, if he paid to have his mobile phone operator doctor his phone records to be more favourable towards him in the investigation, that is a very serious offence and certainly newsworthy despite the time lapsed since.
It's already apparently 'newsworthy' without them actually having any proof. The media love peddling stories with no real facts behind them with no remorse to how these stories affect a person, mentally or in public image. If they have and shown prove, fair play, but it's so disrespectful and seems in this day and age you can write what you want about a person with no factual content. See Caroline Flack for instance.

Getting ridiculous now.
 

montpelier

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Going back to the original drugs situation.

If a switched off phone and a call to your GP is a key part of your defence. I think you're already struggling fairly badly, tbh.
 

Tom Cato

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I suspect (based on no evidence than sports people’s natural competitiveness) that many footballers have taken peds, and still are, including Man Utd players, but obviously do so in a way to avoid testing positively.

I’m also sure the stigma is attached to getting caught, and being foolish enough with your methods that it results in that.
This is a pretty popular and commonly aknowledged "fact". It's probably true for American sports where there has been scandals in both College and professional levels. With regards to European football I think it's less common than one might think.

Primarily because getting banned taking a steroid is most likely a 4 year ban in CAS. Essentially, if the player is found guilty the club will absolutely go after the player for his contracted sell-on value. That is not a speculation either, there is established precedent.

The case of Chelsa v. Adrain Mutu in 2004 saw Mutu being sacked by Chelsea after receiving "only" a 9 month ban from all sports. Chelsea sought damages from Mutu and was awarded £15.2m in damages. Mutu was purchased from Parma in 2003 for £15.8m. Mutu appealed to both CAS in 2009 and the ECHR in 2010 citing CAS being impartial. Both the CAS and ECHR upheld the FIFA ruling. Mutu still owes Chelsea £15.2m pounds to this day.

The established precedent applies to playes that have been bought into the club. For home grown players there would have to be new rulings established, but at the very least the player risks a 4 year ban and enormous financial loss.

The risk v reward is just not anywhere near worth it. It still happens I'm sure, but it's insanely foolhardy.
 

montpelier

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I don't know.

1 - I hear that lots can be achieved via barely legal creatine-esque stuff and supplements and obsessive attention to diet

or

2 - some of the muscle definition is barely credible, they must be at it

More scrupulously scientific insight as it occurs to me.
 

Tom Cato

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There's a digital finger-print and records though, so there is some evidence. It depends if he can be prosecuted.

But yes he faced a long ban to begin with, and I really doubt BT would sack someone over something that happened 17 years ago. It's not like they are heinous crimes against humanity.
I don't know anything about British privacy laws, but in Norway you can store trafficdata up to 18 months, or upwards to 3 months after the subscription has been deleted. That any telecom traffic data would survive 15 years is next to impossible.
 

UweBein

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In reality, that ban was still a joke as far as I'm concerned. Players in Serie A were actively cheating and still playing games every week.
Of course. Let‘s not forget the German doctors who assisted with those - hmmm - vitamin pills; and yes there was also that Spanish fella who was in the business of running a blood bank.
Still, it‘s not an argument for a lesser punishment for Rio. If the others got away you still have the right to prosecute those you have caught.
 

Champagne Football

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There was that Spanish case where 200 blood tests were ordered to be destroyed in 2013 as there were fears it would ruin the legacy of that great Barcelona team, and other famous Spanish athletes like famous tennis players.

These things get brushed under the carpet quickly if there's no hard evidence.

I think the majority of athletes in all sports are on some form of performance enhancer. It's just the ones who are foolish enough to get caught are tainted in a bad light forever more.
 

TrustInOle

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Easiest solution, just legalise PED's in football. Who wouldn't want to see 22 men on a pitch playing footy at a 30mph pace :drool:
 

Infra-red

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Time barred verdict applies, according to CAS judgement this week.
I suppose you've got to draw the line somewhere. I'm sure if the authorities thought they were in with a sniff, they'd have another crack at him, but after all this time they'd surely blow it.
 

anant

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Banned from football - Rio appeals to CAS and he is declared not guilty because it happened long time ago?
 

sammsky1

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Didn't he have a test the very next day? Including additional tests which weren't part of the usual test?
Yes. He also had a hair follicle test which can detect traces of drugs taken from previous 18 months, which also came back clean.

He covers it in this interview, which is a brilliant must watch for United fans from his period at the club

 

P-Ro

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Send that crackhead straight to rehab immediately. He needs help!
 

Mick1

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There was that Spanish case where 200 blood tests were ordered to be destroyed in 2013 as there were fears it would ruin the legacy of that great Barcelona team, and other famous Spanish athletes like famous tennis players.

These things get brushed under the carpet quickly if there's no hard evidence.

I think the majority of athletes in all sports are on some form of performance enhancer. It's just the ones who are foolish enough to get caught are tainted in a bad light forever more.
It s actually not that common outside of the fitness industry. Most clubs drug test their players at given times, and if an athlete is seem by the club doctors to be in need of either SARMs or steroids or whatever PED, it will be kept on the down low and they will use PEDs with much shorter half lives ( stays in the system for less than a couple of weeks), so they cycle a PED during the summer transfer window.