Doping in Soccer/Football

[coinneach]

I see what you did there. Very clever

Well, you did present him with a bit of an open goal there!

 

[SundayRider]

Interesting reading the comments here a while back about RvP, got me thinking. 8 seasons at Arsenal, didn't stay fit for an entire one, except the very last one. Has gone on to stay fit at Man Utd, not suspicious in itself per se, but certainly cause for raised eyebrows amongst the Arsenal faithful. I watched the Real/Utd game last night and there was a moment where they re-played him dinking past a couple of defenders and I was amazed by the size and definition of his legs' musculature.

This being a player I have watched for 9 years, and his physique has changed I think. He looks much bulkier, his legs are certainly much bigger, and he generally looks like a street fighter, rather than someone who was described by Arsenal medical staff as having a knee made of glass.

Maybe I have been reading in this place too long, but that physical transformation, coupled with him staying fit, coupled with him forcing a move away from Arsenal, with Wenger being a staunch anti-doper, makes me wonder exactly what his motives were. I also watched Ryan Giggs, 37 years young and looking tough as nails and still very pacey.

It's just a little too good to be true.

Giggs is 40 this year not 37!

 

[JimmyFingers]

Giggs is 40 this year not 37!

40, damn! I was confusing him with Beckham. Sorry but that is freaky

 

[JimmyFingers]

Well, you did present him with a bit of an open goal there!

Plus he's Dutch, they're pretty tasty with a football

Bergkamp is a God. That is all

 

[the sceptic]

Didnt united build a new state of the art medical facility this year as well?

 

[Caruut]

Anybody see channel 4 UK news tonight:

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/
Click on Top Footballers attend clinic

Can you figure out who the names are?
Ronaldo?? (Brazilian version M1)

Love the C4 news opening theme.

Here's the exact link guys:
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/130213/clipid/130213_DRUGS_13

Why the on earth are they bleeping out the names in the blinking interview? Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghh all this complicity drives me blinking mental.

 

[Frosty]

40, damn! I was confusing him with Beckham. Sorry but that is freaky

He doesnt play every game though. He's often been injured at some point in previous seasons meaning he gets a bit of time off. He has actually changed the kind of player he is too.

Also, playing for Wales he gets every summer off whereas players from most other european nations have to play a tournament every other summer. A full summer off to put your feet up and relax before starting training again must be a help. He gave up the welsh cause completely 6 years ago.

 

[molina]

Ronaldo 100% sure no doping in football

http://http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2013/02/07/3732977/cristiano-ronaldo-there-is-no-doping-in-football

Anyone seen this? Ronaldo says:

"Is football a clean sport? Yes, 100 per cent. I don't think these types of things exist."

Nice of him to put an end to that discussion!

 

[Caruut]

He doesnt play every game though. He's often been injured at some point in previous seasons meaning he gets a bit of time off. He has actually changed the kind of player he is too.

Also, playing for Wales he gets every summer off whereas players from most other european nations have to play a tournament every other summer. A full summer off to put your feet up and relax before starting training again must be a help. He gave up the welsh cause completely 6 years ago.

He's still nearly 40 and playing at the top level. If anything he's better than he was 5 years ago. He gave up the Welsh cause 6 years ago at the spritely age of 34. Many players are thinking about full retirement then!

 

[Briant_Gumble]

http://http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2013/02/07/3732977/cristiano-ronaldo-there-is-no-doping-in-football

Anyone seen this? Ronaldo says:

"Is football a clean sport? Yes, 100 per cent. I don't think these types of things exist."

Nice of him to put an end to that discussion!

Seems he has something to hide, he's the best of the dopers so its in his interest to say that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...redible-header-against-Manchester-United.html

This article banging on about his vertical jump. IMO heavily influenced by juice.

 

[peterst6906]

"Is football a clean sport? Yes, 100 per cent. I don't think these types of things exist."

Nice of him to put an end to that discussion!

No need for them to introduce any new tools to fight doping then. Oops, what a waste of money this will be:

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footb...2043/index.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_news

Proof will be in the implementation and lots of room to make it an ineffective smoke screen, but no doping problem? FIFA don't seem to agree.

 

[Bobito_B]

And Arena Football is played indoors on a flat artificial surface. It makes kicking easier, makes running easier, there's barely any long passes and certainly nothing of the kind of length you see with real deep throws in the NFL, and there's no weather conditions to deal with. It's still a variation of the same sport, and Kurt Warner could still use the skills he used to be good at Arena Football en route to becoming a future Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL. He just had to use them differently and develop other parts to the game on top.

Lionel Messi is a better pro football player than top futsal players not necessarily because of having better ball control skills or whatever, but because of having the same skills but a much better adaptability so that he can call upon them for longer, under greater strain, in a range of conditions, against more opponents and still be able to execute them mostly flawlessly. That ability to adapt those skills to a much wider range of situations is a skill in and of itself.

It's like Hitch once said about biathlon when it was being mocked (wrongly, as it's God's chosen sport) by somebody along the lines of "putting a dartboard atop Mont Ventoux", and "I don't care if Usain Bolt can fire arrows or Wayne Rooney can execute a triple salto", that they were forgetting that biathlon is a sport in and of itself, and cross-country skiers don't do it. Yes, cross-country skiing is a skill that both groups share, but only one has to develop the skill of "cross-country skiing as fast as possible whilst still retaining the level of composure required to shoot accurately". The skiing and shooting are two different skills, but it's the third - adapting the one to another - that is the difference-maker.

I didn't write the quote you attribute to me.

 

[Caruut]

I didn't write the quote you attribute to me.

You messed up your (/QUOTE) bookend when quoting sniper, so it came out broken when LS quoted you.

 

[blackcat]

http://http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2013/02/07/3732977/cristiano-ronaldo-there-is-no-doping-in-football

Anyone seen this? Ronaldo says:

"Is football a clean sport? Yes, 100 per cent. I don't think these types of things exist."

Nice of him to put an end to that discussion!

soap


in

teh



shheeeh

oowwwwwerzz

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

He's still nearly 40 and playing at the top level. If anything he's better than he was 5 years ago.

Other factors to maybe consider is that he is playing in completely different role to when he was younger. No longer can he skip and dance past players. If he were still doing that then it would be much more suspicious. Players with good technique tend to play on longer then those without. Not saying nothing is going on but certainly some points to consider as well as the point made earlier about him playing far fewer games.

He gave up the Welsh cause 6 years ago at the spritely age of 34. Many players are thinking about full retirement then!

Then again he didn't exactly have to train for major tournaments during the off-season even when he was playing for them.

 

[Caruut]

Other factors to maybe consider is that he is playing in completely different role to when he was younger. No longer can he skip and dance past players. If he were still doing that then it would be much more suspicious. Players with good technique tend to play on longer then those without. Not saying nothing is going on but certainly some points to consider as well as the point made earlier about him playing far fewer games.


Then again he didn't exactly have to train for major tournaments during the off-season even when he was playing for them.

I agree, to a large extent. The Giggs of the late 90s and the Giggs we see today do indeed play very differently. The fact that he is still going is pretty remarkable, nonetheless.

Giggs was been a first choice winger in a club playing ~50 games a season for about 15 years before he drifted inside and started to play a bit less. When you consider that, I don't think playing 5-8 games every other summer even brings your average international football close to him in terms of games played.

 

[Bicycle]

Interesting reading the comments here a while back about RvP, got me thinking. 8 seasons at Arsenal, didn't stay fit for an entire one, except the very last one. Has gone on to stay fit at Man Utd, not suspicious in itself per se, but certainly cause for raised eyebrows amongst the Arsenal faithful. I watched the Real/Utd game last night and there was a moment where they re-played him dinking past a couple of defenders and I was amazed by the size and definition of his legs' musculature.

This being a player I have watched for 9 years, and his physique has changed I think. He looks much bulkier, his legs are certainly much bigger, and he generally looks like a street fighter, rather than someone who was described by Arsenal medical staff as having a knee made of glass.

Maybe I have been reading in this place too long, but that physical transformation, coupled with him staying fit, coupled with him forcing a move away from Arsenal, with Wenger being a staunch anti-doper, makes me wonder exactly what his motives were. I also watched Ryan Giggs, 37 years young and looking tough as nails and still very pacey.

It's just a little too good to be true.

Maybe but he was injury-free during his last season at Arsenal - so this 6 months at United is just really a continuation of that.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Giggs was been a first choice winger in a club playing ~50 games a season for about 15 years before he drifted inside and started to play a bit less. When you consider that, I don't think playing 5-8 games every other summer even brings your average international football close to him in terms of games played.

I think the advantage is in having the chance to rest and recover from injuries that are no doubt picked up during the season. Although there are only a few games in the tournament they would still have to train and there is also the increased chance of injury. Factor in qualifying games and I think there would be a definite advantage.

 

[Caruut]

I think the advantage is in having the chance to rest and recover from injuries that are no doubt picked up during the season. Although there are only a few games in the tournament they would still have to train and there is also the increased chance of injury. Factor in qualifying games and I think there would be a definite advantage.

Giggs was playing in qualifying games from 18 to 34 though! He still has 64 caps, which is not to be scoffed at. Over his career he's made 998 (!) senior appearances - 930 for United, 64 for Wales and 4 for GB in the Olympics. That is more than double most pros.

 

[Bicycle]

Early in his career Giggs always seemed to be out with a niggling injury - probably a case of Ferguson handling him very conservatively - his longevity might be a result of this. Contrast this with players like Owen, Fowler, Torres who played a lot in their youth but developed injury problems and were pretty much finished by their mid 20s.

 

[Open Horizon]

I read through all the pages of this great topic to compile some of the best doping cases in football. Listed them here:

http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/doping-in-football-fifty-years-of-evidence/

 

[The Hitch]

I read through all the pages of this great topic to compile some of the best doping cases in football. Listed them here:

http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/doping-in-football-fifty-years-of-evidence/

****ing amazing mate. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

 

[Tom375]

I read through all the pages of this great topic to compile some of the best doping cases in football. Listed them here:

http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/doping-in-football-fifty-years-of-evidence/

Very interesting and enlightening article - thanks,
On a slightly lighter note anyone notice the Juve player that ain't got his shorts on??

 

[Tom375]

I read through all the pages of this great topic to compile some of the best doping cases in football. Listed them here:

http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/doping-in-football-fifty-years-of-evidence/

I thought the article was brilliant but one thing of particular note for me was the possible connection/connection between doping and the rising number of recent cases of footballers fatally collapsing or near fatal collapsing as in Fabrice Muamba last year. I'm not saying his case was directly linked but there has definitely been an upsurge of these in recent years and you struggle to find a reasonable explanation for this. Possibly we now have one.

I wouldn't hold my breath on football's governing authorities to investigate though, if cycling think's its bodies are corrupt? - You ain't seen nothing like Blatter & Co.

PS. Just noticed this was your first post on this site, Good way to start..

 

[Cyivel]

I read through all the pages of this great topic to compile some of the best doping cases in football. Listed them here:

http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/doping-in-football-fifty-years-of-evidence/

I've read a bit of this and its great, bookmarked for tomorrow morning, top stuff brother.