[carom]

This is an older article, but thought this would be a good place to put this:



http://www.4dfoot.com/2013/02/09/dop...s-of-evidence/

The one issue the world of football prefers to ignore is the issue of doping. Even when faced with the revelations of cyclists like Lance Armstrong, many footballers and coaches contend that all is well in their perfectly pristine world. Doping? It just doesn’t exist in football, they’d tell you. After all, “drugs don’t make you pass better.” Cycling, now that’s a sport that’s all about physique, so doping there is useful. Football, they argue, is about technique and tactics. Giving Rio Ferdinand EPO won’t turn him into Messi. So, there’s no need for footballers to even think of using doping, and therefore there’s no need for stringent testing either – as FIFA and other federations like to justify their weak testing policies.

An examination of doping cases in football shows that the history of the sport cannot be told without frequent references to doping. From the 50′s to the 00′s, doping, we must conclude, has always been an integral part of football.

1950's Germany
1960's Inter
1970's Ajax and Beckenbauer
1980's Netherlands, Germany, Algeria, and Brazil
1990's Marseille, Maradona (), Ronaldo (older one), Juve, England
2000's Parma et al

This is the big one. The case that has the potential to become the greatest doping scandal in all of football’s history. The case that should already have been the biggest doping scandal in all of football, if it hadn’t been for the Spanish authorities and their commitment to ‘protect’ Spanish football from the truth.

In 2006, Spanish investigators uncovered a wide doping network around doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Most big name cyclists from around the world were implicated and subsequently banned. Then something strange happened. As soon as reports surfaced that footballers too, were on Fuentes’ client lists, no further action was taken.

Even during the current trial of Fuentes, the Spanish judge has forbidden Fuentes to name any athletes other than cyclists. Clearly, some people don’t want the truth to come out.

Originally Posted by Fuentes

I can’t tell which clubs, I have received death threats. I was told that if I told certain things, my family and myself could have serious problems. There are sports against which you cannot go against, because they have access to very powerful legal means to defend themselves. And it could also cost the current chief of the sport his post.

Perhaps. In 1987 Paul Breitner said the public wasn’t ready to deal with the fact that doping is rampant in football. 26 years later, has the public become informed enough to accept the reality of doping in football?

Thoughts?