Doping in Soccer/Football

[Briant_Gumble]

Looks to me like his face is awfully puffy in comparison to how lean and defined his body is.

I thought Bale was a doper as soon as I saw his goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, unprecedented speed very late in the match.

Real Madrid in particular look very dodgy to me. It was under Fiorentino Perez presidency that they were linked to Operacion Puerto, now back under his presidency they are the champions league winners.

 

[Red Rick]

Story from The Netherlands. Dutch amateur (but with a significant budget, in reality its semi-pro) team players used doping collectively. 2 players came forward with this story.

Substance called Methylhexanamine was on the anti-doping list since 2004 (according to Wikipedia three athletes were caught using it during the Olympics in Sochi, remember that time when we were all cozy with Putin), in 2011 club officals of the club started banning the usage (they were aware of its usage). Since then the usage continued but without official endorsement from club officials. Appararently a new coach stopped allowing the substance for good. Club management deemed it not necessary to report the case.

Details in Dutch: http://nos.nl/artikel/684351-dopinggebruik-bij-sv-spakenburg.html

I'd like to add that an ex-pro who played there, Ricky van den Bergh, at one points was hospitalised with acute heart arrhythmia's, likely due to the use of that drug. They said that before a match, there would be bottles of sports drinks with the drug in it. Its said that 7 players used the drug during every match. From what they told, effects were a lot like cocaine. None of the players of this team were tested at any time since they started using it. Some people in that club (can't remember which) said they'd get busted 100% if they were tested.

Amateur team, really

 

[sniper]

I'd like to add that an ex-pro who played there, Ricky van den Bergh, at one points was hospitalised with acute heart arrhythmia's, likely due to the use of that drug. They said that before a match, there would be bottles of sports drinks with the drug in it. Its said that 7 players used the drug during every match. From what they told, effects were a lot like cocaine. None of the players of this team were tested at any time since they started using it. Some people in that club (can't remember which) said they'd get busted 100% if they were tested.

Amateur team, really

interesting story.
haven't been following it closely though.
any follow ups?
wonder what is the tenor in the dutch press/media?
probably will be dealt with as an incident rather than symptomatic for football at large.
nobody wants to hear about doping in soccer.
Meanwhile Legia Warschau get punished hard for an insignificant error.
#blatantfarce

edit: wrt Bale, that's perhaps the most impressive/explosive body i've seen in soccer ever.

 

[sniper]

try and read this without raising an eyebrowe or two.
Arsenal joining forces withFortsythe (formerly EXOS), who is also working with die Mannschaft.

Before joining Arsenal, Forsythe worked for EXOS, an American organisation who are influential in what the founder, Mark Verstegen, defines as “performance culture”. It is an intense approach. The pillars of their work are “mindset, nutrition, movement, recovery” and no resource is left unexplored in the search for clues to unlock a player’s maximum potential. If you buy into it, you buy in completely. It becomes akin to a lifestyle choice as much as the job from the player’s perspective.

Philipp Lahm, says: “From the beginning ... EXOS has always pushed us to achieve our full potential.”

Verstegen says that the Germans at times ran roughly 113km per match as a team compared with roughly 100km by their opponents.

i'm expecting a lot from arsenal this season.

 

[blackcat]

gareth does chicken rasmussen in july
its an absurdist sequel to Weekend At Bernies directed by john waters replete with homo-erotic interludes

 

[gooner]

FIFA say doping is a minor problem. Glad to see Tygart sees through the nonsense.

http://keirradnedge.com/2014/10/09/tygert-warns-football-against-complacency-in-battle-against-dope-cheats/

 

[del1962]

FIFA say doping is a minor problem. Glad to see Tygart sees through the nonsense.

http://keirradnedge.com/2014/10/09/tygert-warns-football-against-complacency-in-battle-against-dope-cheats/

Good stuff from Travis, don't think it will be picked up much in the football media though

 

[RownhamHill]

Good stuff from Travis, don't think it will be picked up much in the football media though

I haven't kept up to speed with this thread, but something in that link reminds me to ask about Messi during the World Cup - I didn't catch many of the Argentina games, but what I saw from him in the final was awful, barely running at all (especially in contrast to earlier rounds). Was he injured or were the 'blood and urine' controls mentioned in that article catching up with him?

 

[thrawn]

I haven't kept up to speed with this thread, but something in that link reminds me to ask about Messi during the World Cup - I didn't catch many of the Argentina games, but what I saw from him in the final was awful, barely running at all (especially in contrast to earlier rounds). Was he injured or were the 'blood and urine' controls mentioned in that article catching up with him?

I'm going with injury. Saw him play live in May and he was the same then too, just as he was through the whole world cup.

 

[The Hitch]

I haven't kept up to speed with this thread, but something in that link reminds me to ask about Messi during the World Cup - I didn't catch many of the Argentina games, but what I saw from him in the final was awful, barely running at all (especially in contrast to earlier rounds). Was he injured or were the 'blood and urine' controls mentioned in that article catching up with him?

It's always hillarious when posters whose entire raison detre on the forum is to defend obviously doped athletes from their own country start throwing out the same arguments they normally ridicule, the second the subject changes to someone from a different country.

You cannot spend all this time inventing excuse after excuse after excuse to defend the massive and constant fluctuations in the performances of youknowwho 1 and youknowwho2 over the last 5 years, as being anything but doping related and then turn around and suggest that a football player having 1 bad game was a result of doping.

 

[gooner]

I haven't kept up to speed with this thread, but something in that link reminds me to ask about Messi during the World Cup - I didn't catch many of the Argentina games, but what I saw from him in the final was awful, barely running at all (especially in contrast to earlier rounds). Was he injured or were the 'blood and urine' controls mentioned in that article catching up with him?

That was something which was leveled at Messi for Barca last season. The lack of intensity with the Atletico game away in the Champions League in particular.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/lionel-messi-slammed-for-only-running-6-8km-v-atletico-only-a-little-more-than-keeper-pinto-5-3km/

 

[RownhamHill]

It's always hillarious when posters whose entire raison detre on the forum is to defend obviously doped athletes from their own country start throwing out the same arguments they normally ridicule, the second the subject changes to someone from a different country.

You cannot spend all this time inventing excuse after excuse after excuse to defend the massive and constant fluctuations in the performances of youknowwho 1 and youknowwho2 over the last 5 years, as being anything but doping related and then turn around and suggest that a football player having 1 bad game was a result of doping.

Once I can get over the spiteful bile with which you post, The Hitch, you're always hilarious too.

 

[Alcanelo]

It's so obvious Ronaldo is doped to the gills it actually sickens me seeing it

 

[Briant_Gumble]

It's so obvious Ronaldo is doped to the gills it actually sickens me seeing it

I agree, no way can you rise to the status of best athlete in a game like football/soccer right now and be clean.

Between doping and diving he's taken cheating to a whole new level in the game.

Worst part of it is he hasn't had to deal with nearly the same level of skepticism as other athletes.

People might say it's jealousy but I don't have anywhere near the same level of distaste for David Beckham who has just as many female fans.

 

[Gavandope]

Looks to me like his face is awfully puffy in comparison to how lean and defined his body is.

I thought Bale was a doper as soon as I saw his goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, unprecedented speed very late in the match.

Real Madrid in particular look very dodgy to me. It was under Fiorentino Perez presidency that they were linked to Operacion Puerto, now back under his presidency they are the champions league winners.

I saw Bale live for one of his last games for Spurs, he's always had speed in abundance and ball control has been improving year on year. We gave him the world of abuse in the away end till he scored an absolute brilliant goal.

He looks different physically since his move to Madrid which rings a wee bell in my head like many others here about the performances of that team in particular...

 

[gooner]

One thing from reading Roy Keane's book was the amount of times he said he played after painkilling injections. He did it on multiple occassions. One thing I disagree with him on is he suspects it's less so done nowadays due to advancement in sports science. Players and clubs still do it, only last year Rooney took one before playing Bayern Munich.

Michael Barry in his book talks about painkilling use and he gets criticised. I remember even Geraint Thomas at the Tour last year getting flagged up. Nothing is ever said about it in football.

Keane as a player said he was only tested twice at the training ground. Most of his tests were after games.

What hope is there with two tests.

 

[BradCantona]

It's so obvious Ronaldo is doped to the gills it actually sickens me seeing it

With the testing in football as it is, would be churlish to definitively defend any top level player from these accusations. Only thing I'd say in mitigation for Ronaldo is that I gradually saw him get stronger and more of an athletic specimen at United over a number of years, and he was clearly dedicated to this aspect of his development. On the assumption he wasn't doping before signing for United, he was already a fabulous player, if anything poor decision making was his earliest fault. Makes me think football is a sport where some could get to the top without doping, but frankly who knows right now

I think it's astonishing the transformation in Bale's build over such a rapid period of time, something certainly doesn't sit right for me there

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

You don't see many Brits going to play in Spain, probably because the higher sense of morals in the UK means not many Brits are prepared to dope. Obviously Beckham was there for non footballing reasons so had no need to dope and Owen didn't want to hang around when he realised what the Spanish expected from players. Bale is probably the first British player in recent years to fully endorse the Spanish culture (Macca was there before doping spread to football I believe).

 

[Gavandope]

You don't see many Brits going to play in Spain, probably because the higher sense of morals in the UK means not many Brits are prepared to dope. Obviously Beckham was there for non footballing reasons so had no need to dope and Owen didn't want to hang around when he realised what the Spanish expected from players. Bale is probably the first British player in recent years to fully endorse the Spanish culture (Macca was there before doping spread to football I believe).

Now that made me truly lol - British footballers more moral than the Spanish! Main reasons why british footballers dont go abroad are:

They earn high wages here in the PL
Cannot be bothered to learn another language
Are athletes turned into footballers and not vice versa, hence why most of them aren't good enough.

 

[l.Harm]

There are almost no Brits outside Britain, not for dope reasons and higher moral standards but because they're getting salaries which they would never get abroad.

Or you're just kidding me here.

 

[The Hitch]

One thing from reading Roy Keane's book was the amount of times he said he played after painkilling injections. He did it on multiple occassions. One thing I disagree with him on is he suspects it's less so done nowadays due to advancement in sports science. Players and clubs still do it, only last year Rooney took one before playing Bayern Munich.

Michael Barry in his book talks about painkilling use and he gets criticised. I remember even Geraint Thomas at the Tour last year getting flagged up. Nothing is ever said about it in football.

Keane as a player said he was only tested twice at the training ground. Most of his tests were after games.

What hope is there with two tests.

After the 2010 world cup it was revealed 40% of players took painkillers prior to every game.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Now that made me truly lol - British footballers more moral than the Spanish! Main reasons why british footballers dont go abroad are:

They earn high wages here in the PL
Cannot be bothered to learn another language
Are athletes turned into footballers and not vice versa, hence why most of them aren't good enough.

I think this is pretty general rule in football these days, not just in Britland.

Give me 50 pushups, run 100m under 12s and we will teach you how to play football.

 

[yespatterns]

You don't see many Brits going to play in Spain, probably because the higher sense of morals in the UK means not many Brits are prepared to dope. Obviously Beckham was there for non footballing reasons so had no need to dope and Owen didn't want to hang around when he realised what the Spanish expected from players. Bale is probably the first British player in recent years to fully endorse the Spanish culture (Macca was there before doping spread to football I believe).

This has to be a poorly written joke right?

 

[slowspoke]

You don't see many Brits going to play in Spain, probably because the higher sense of morals in the UK means not many Brits are prepared to dope. Obviously Beckham was there for non footballing reasons so had no need to dope and Owen didn't want to hang around when he realised what the Spanish expected from players. Bale is probably the first British player in recent years to fully endorse the Spanish culture (Macca was there before doping spread to football I believe).

Yup, there's no way the upstanding FA would try and cover up any of our brave boys doping.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/fallen-football-ace-garry-oconnor-4429103

 

[the sceptic]

Yup, there's no way the upstanding FA would try and cover up any of our brave boys doping.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/fallen-football-ace-garry-oconnor-4429103

brits dont dope. Their superior morals wouldnt allow it.

bring back the british empire. Thats the only way to show the rest of the world how to behave properly. And perhaps the 3rd world still has some resources to steal?