WADA chastizes soccer -- FIFA abd UEFA -- organizations for anti-doping stances

WADA boss John Fahey tosses out some barbs at the governing organizations of world soccer, accusing FIFA and UEFA of head butting anti-doping policies.  AFP reports:

World anti-doping chief John Fahey accused FIFA and UEFA of ignoring reality, after they rejected rules that ease out-of-competition drugs testing of individual footballers.

"One of the key principles of efficient doping control is the surprise effect and the possibility to test an athlete without advance notice on a 365 day basis," the World Anti Doping Agency President said in a statement.

"Alleging, as FIFA and UEFA do, that testing should only take place at training grounds and not during holiday periods, ignores the reality of doping in sport.

"Experience has demonstrated that athletes who cheat seize every opportunity to do so and dope when they believe they won?t be tested," he added.

FIFA rejected out of season testing:

The footballing bodies on Tuesday formally rejected the 'whereabouts' rule, arguing that team sport players should be treated differently.

UEFA chief Michel Platini and FIFA President Sepp Blatter had already signalled their opposition in recent weeks, reopening an old rift over the tougher global drive against doping in sports.

Blatter had been at loggerheads with WADA for years, mainly over the penalties for drug taking, and FIFA only came on board unified rules in May 2007 - the last Olympic-affiliated sports federation to do so.

While unsavory, out of season testig appears obvious if a sports league is serious about anti-doping.

Comments

[tennis roids]

WADA has a point, but they really need to catch some of these guys. They aren't just using steroids in the off-season.

[Jenky]

They just caught a team on "match fixing": UEFA did. If the sport has this illness that shows itself from time to time, surely the sport has these other kinds of problems as well.

[Jenky]

http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/UEFA_charge_club_with_matchfixing_news_279384.html

A Macedonian club getting quizzed over match fixing. In recent years, clubs in Poland and Belgium have been caught as well as Italy's big scandal. It makes you think that more or less, no country is untouched by this save England.

You mix in soccer's problem's with hooliganism and the diving and injury faking in the world cup and it's popularity in Spain and Italy, two countries that I believe have had their share of doping athletes let alone Russia and the old USSR and I think there are a lot of elements that would lead one to believe that there must be some doping going on. There is plenty of history with the use of amphetamines long ago though I would draw a blank as to the rate of drug use. Painkillers are obviously used. There is some player who wrote a "Ball Four" type of book, played in the French league.

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