Doping in rugby

[nevada]

For me, the most obvious sport showing huge physical adaptations is rugby.

Given its moved from amateur to pro but the changes are ridiculous.

David Walsh wrote a nice piece on the game at the weekend but not a mention of PED's.

This sport is regularly at the the top of the UK ADA banned list but this gets no coverage.

Not normal.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Union or league, no matter where in the world.

Far too many players dope. If testing only catches a few, then the sheer numbers being caught imply that there is a whole lot of dopers involved.


It really has destroyed my interest in watching it, and I speak as a former player and former avid fan.

 

[Brian Butterworth]

If you compare the current UK players with those who played before the sport became professional you might notice a slight difference

 

[SundayRider]

and yet in some ways it has become worse to watch!

 

[Briant_Gumble]

Never really got into rugby but I remember watching Jonah Lomu as a kid.

He really seemed to exude the "taller , bigger, faster, stronger" Moto.

I was surprised to see he had renal failure at 27.

That is one of the no. 1 side effects of oral anabolic steroids.

Don't want to be classless but does anyone think there is a connection?

 

[nevada]

If you compare the current UK players with those who played before the sport became professional you might notice a slight difference

I watched an '91 5 nations game between england and scotland on ESPN recently. There is no comparison between then and now.

 

[SundayRider]

I watched an '91 5 nations game between england and scotland on ESPN recently. There is no comparison between then and now.

Professionalism accounts for some of this, but not all of it, IMO. I bet the smallest least muscular player on either of those teams now is bigger than the biggest most muscular from then.

 

[Brian Butterworth]

'Roids and HGH

(plus a line or two of Chan before a match)

 

[martinvickers]

The problem for rugby, as for cycling before it, was the doping changes the nature of the sport. When you have flankers with the speed of wingers, and wingers with the size of second rows, the game ceases about skill, sleight of foot and hand, seeking the gap and avoiding the contact - it becomes about seeking the contact, no gaps anywhere and wars of attrition - a direction rugby League (and Gridiron for that matter) went in decades ago - no surprise that RL and US football were/are riddles with steroid abuse, with RU catching up at pace.

Indeed, i wonder do the 'obvious' doping sports - cycling, track, swimming etc - ever feel hard done by when if anything systematic abuse in the oval games are worse.

Hell, its even crept into completely amateur Gaelic football, to much the same effect as spanish soccer. And again, it change the nature of the sport - the 'handpass' game is accurate, but labour intensive, requiring huge aerobic ability - the classic kicking to catch or space game, arguably the more skillful gets pushed aside because the 'handpassers' can now keep it up for 70 minutes and the 'kicking' teams can't run the sheer athleticism out of their legs to allow pure skill to take over.

Luckily, no amount of EPO can prepare you for a hurley struck round the ankles. But since every man jack hurler frankly should be on the anti-psychotics, its six of one, half a dozen...

 

[del1962]

Wonder what Kimmage thinks about O'Driscoll's penchant for thuggery

 

[Hawkwood]

One of my academic colleagues worked on a HGH drug abuse project in the late 1990s and 2000s. Several papers came out of this reseaarch. He told me that without a doubt UK rugby players were on HGH.

 

[Zaragon]

Wonder what Kimmage thinks about O'Driscoll's penchant for thuggery

With all due respect to Brian O'Driscoll (meaning the good player that he is), that stamping incident in the Irish/Italian match was, quote; "an absolutely appalling reaction, that has no place on a rugby field nor any other sport, and incidents such as this should be met with an immediate red card, and dealt with harshly there after by a disciplinary board (which will of course happen in this case)".

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmHajpPCg4



O’Driscoll citing to be heard in London.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/o-driscoll-citing-to-be-heard-in-london-1.1331862

The recommended suspension for a low-end stamping offence is two weeks, the mid-range five weeks and top-end nine weeks, up to a maximum of one year.

 

[wansteadimp]

Wonder what Kimmage thinks about O'Driscoll's penchant for thuggery

Hopefully he'll realize that thuggery in rugby was going on well before PEDs came into the game.

If you're on the wrong side and preventing the ball coming out you'll get danced on occasionally.

 

[Zaragon]

As has already been posted, the average size of rugby players from one to fifteen has increased
considerably since the onset of the professional era in 1995. That much is apparent.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Re O'Driscoll, he erred on the wrong side of "aggressive rucking" at the weekend. He is not a player with a long track record of this, so he shouldn't be judged too harshly.

Re doping in general, I think this is a minor problem in the English game compared to the way flair and creativity is coached out of promising players.

As it's a contact sport, you can't really choose to compete clean if that leaves you 10kg lighter and a lot weaker than your opposite number, as you'll increase your risk of serious injury as a result. Clean cyclists don't risk being physically smashed to pieces by a doping rival.

 

[Bicycle]

I have little doubt top level RU is riddled with PED use just like other sports. 20-30 years ago the backs were quick lithe types like Phillipe Sella, John Rutherford - these guys would get smashed to pieces now by the hulks who now fill the threequarter line.

 

[Brian Butterworth]

Re doping in general, I think this is a minor problem in the English game compared to the way flair and creativity is coached out of promising players.
.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. Are you saying that there is doping and it is a problem but a minor problem compared to the coaching-implying that the coaching is a problem

Or are you suggesting that the coaching accounts for a large chunk of the success of English rugby and mitigates drug use.

Personally, I think English rugby is riddled with PEDs at all levels.

 

[del1962]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. Are you saying that there is doping and it is a problem but a minor problem compared to the coaching-implying that the coaching is a problem

Or are you suggesting that the coaching accounts for a large chunk of the lack of success of English rugby and mitigates drug use.

Personally, I think English rugby is riddled with PEDs at all levels.

Fixed it,

Anyway if you were being cynical on doping on Northern Hemisphere rugby, you first target would be the welsh front row, who physically destroyed the English one, then you might have a look at Irish Rugby, not saying that English Rugby is clean or not

 

[Brian Butterworth]

England just came second in the Six nations remember...that is hardly a lack of success. Plus they only lost one match in the whole tournament.

I don't think the drug use is national team dependant. remember what these guys do for a day job. I think it is endemic in pro rugby, whatever the nationality.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here.

I don't doubt doping is prevalent in rugby, but it only affects the game on moral grounds. There are some un-naturally big b*ggers who play for all top-rank sides (6 Nations, Tri-nations, Argentina). Some of these big fellas play entertaining, enterprising rugby (eg Oz, and NZ) whereas others, notably England don't. Therefore, doping in and of itself doesn't really distort the spectacle that is rugby. Therefore, people will only really be turned off rugby by doping on moral grounds because they don't like doping, rather than because it inherently leads to a bad "product".

A cursory reading of rugby forums will highlight that doping rarely gets mentioned. What does get mentioned a lot is that the senior England side is deathly dull to watch and limited in terms of its chances, as it is very easy to defend against and also that some players can't even execute a proper tackle. The England age-group sides, however, are very entertaining and enterprising, so somehow, between the ages of 17 and mid 20s, the England players have the entertainment and enterprise coached out of them.

The issue of where English flair disappears is far more important in terms of the success on-field and commercially than whether players are un-naturally 10k-15kg heavier than they might have been in the past.

 

[frenchfry]

According to the ALFD, rugby is the sport with the highest percentage of positives resulting from testing in 2012.

http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article...mier-sport-touche-en-france_3148959_3242.html

In order, the sports with the highest levels of positives:

1. rugby
2. football (soccer)
3. track and field
4. triathlon
5. basketball
6. cycling
7. handball
8. swimming

If positives for cannabis are taken out, the highest level of positives are:

1. rugby
2. track and field
3. triathlon
4. cycling
5. swimming
6. football (soccer)
7. basketball
8. handball

 

[Catwhoorg]

Thanks for that link.

 

[nevada]

Be more useful if iy showed the number of tests per athlete under scope.

 

[Roude Leiw]

A cursory reading of rugby forums will highlight that doping rarely gets mentioned.

WHAT !!?? No clinic?

 

[RownhamHill]

I don't doubt doping is prevalent in rugby, but it only affects the game on moral grounds. . .Therefore, people will only really be turned off rugby by doping on moral grounds because they don't like doping, rather than because it inherently leads to a bad "product".

The issue of where English flair disappears is far more important in terms of the success on-field and commercially than whether players are un-naturally 10k-15kg heavier than they might have been in the past.

I don't really get this post. It's hard to think of anything other than moral grounds to object to doping in any sport - does doping in cycling, for example, really lead to a 'bad product', and if so is that the primary objection to cyclist's doping?