Doping in other sports

[dragon72]

You do realise how good Bolt has been all his life don't you?

I'm well aware of his stellar youth. He's still too quick (for me personally) to believe, and a product of a dodgy system.

 

[Noodley]

no it doesn't, drugs are mainly used in the recovery from injuries, that's were they get most benefit, if EPO was the drug of choice and all the top teams were using as Armstrong stated it would be a level playing field, so little or no benefit to the top teams, football very rarely changes the same teams get to the latter stages of tournaments, mostly those with the best players and most games are lost before fatigue becomes on issue, plus 90 minutes for a professional footballer isn't really a problem or 3 games in a week even without drugs but again I not saying drugs are not on issue and not disputing the use of EPO within the game but the Republic of Ireland on EPO would not beat a drug free Brazil 9 times out of 10.. but even the underdog gets lucky once in awhile...

You're not getting it are you?

 

[rich p]

Yes I am, I just don't agree, how and when drugs are used in football,

@Noodley is right, stamina is an essential ingredient in football. I know, I used to have a ciggie at half time.

 

[Hip Priest]

If you've got two football teams of a similar level, the team that has been treated with EPO has a signifcant advantage over the team that hasn't, in terms of being able to operate at their physical peak over the course of a match or season.

David Millar described being on EPO as having your best day as an athlete, every day. Now if you're having your best day as a footballer every day, then you're going to be performing better than a paniagua footballer suffering normal human levels of fatigue.

 

[Hip Priest]

I disagree, EPO isn't going to improve a professional footballer in peak condition enough to make any real difference as to say a cyclist doing 200km a day... 90 minutes just isn't enough time for any great difference in performance, the average of a top professional covers in a game is around 10 - 12km, even a sunday morning player can cover close to these km's so even with a cocktail of drugs this average won't change as football isn't as some believe a game of stamina or endurance, footballers rarely cover more than 20 metre sprints then rest, there are much better drugs than EPO to assist footballers, they are more inline to 100 - 200 metre sprinters than cyclist...

Sprinters train for a single all-out effort, which lasts 10-20 seconds. Footballers play for 90 minutes. And if the average pro covers 10-12km per match, then a doped pro could run further, faster, longer and then recover quicker.

If football teams didn't benefit from EPO preparation, then they wouldn't do it. And it seems fairly clear that some footballers, and teams, have used EPO.

 

[Hip Priest]

footballers don't play for 90 minutes, the game lasts for 90 minutes, football is a game of short bursts of energy with plenty of recovery time in the match...When I was playing drug free 2 90 minutes games on a sunday was doable, morning then an afternoon game but 2 games over the weekend was no problem relatively to my fitness level of course

But we aren't talking about park footballers. We're talking about professional footballers - athletes - who are trained to operate at their physical peak. As in any sport, if you've got two opponents of similar ability - both at the peak of their fitness - PEDs can offer one team an advantage over the other.

If you're 120 minutes into a fraught final between two evenly matched top teams, which player do you think is more likely to make the mistake that leads to a match-winning goal? The one who is fatigued or the one who remains fresh & alert?

 

[400bhp]

But we aren't talking about park footballers. We're talking about professional footballers - athletes - who are trained to operate at their physical peak. As in any sport, if you've got two opponents of similar ability - both at the peak of their fitness - PEDs can offer one team an advantage over the other.

If you're 120 minutes into a fraught final between two evenly matched top teams, which player do you think is more likely to make the mistake that leads to a match-winning goal? The one who is fatigued or the one who remains fresh & alert?

PED's Probably help in injury prevention and rehabilitation too.

 

[totallyfixed]

a professional footballer in peak condition

Contradiction in terms.

 

[Noodley]

So why do we hear managers complaining about too many games and players being tired, not enough recovery time between games, fatigue setting in during games, the temperature being draining, etc?

 

[beastie]

Contradiction in terms.

Bit of a blinkered view that.

 

[Crackle]

....I just disagree on the benefits to the 90 minutes of football where skill and technique are more important......



...the gap is a lot smaller than you think between "park" football and the professional game....

Just highlighting those two statements, I have my doubts on both. On the first, older players in particular would benefit from something like EPO, because the skill and technique is of no value if you can't keep up with the flow of the game and movement off the ball and most of the running is done off the ball, not with it.

And on the 2nd, it's the fitness and movement that most park players don't have, even if they have the skill, that's why they are park players.

 

[smutchin]

level playing field

 

[Hont]

I just don't see the evidence to wide spread use of EPO in football

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/dec06/dec08news

Despite the Spanish court's declarations that there were no footballers or tennis players involved in Operacion Puerto, Fuentes said that he did not treat cyclists alone. "I have done the same thing with other sports. I have given advice on treatments for football teams, athletes, and tennis players, among other sports. My professional oath forbids me from revealing their names. There have been only selective leaks. I am indignant about that."

 

[smutchin]

There's plenty of circumstantial evidence suggesting widespread use of blood doping in football.

You'll never catch anyone if you don't test for it.

 

[rich p]

Well, irish, most people on here and in the world of sport would disagree with you...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/mar/31/football.sport

D'Hooghe did not name the individuals he believes are cheating but said they were more likely to play for the country's most successful clubs. Players across Europe resort to banned products such as EPO, growth hormone and anabolic steroids to help them cope with the large number of games they play, he said