Drugs testing in sports is farcical

Just as everyone thought that thought the Riogate saga was finally over, I decided that we should actually think about what actually happened and what it really means. The bare facts are that Rio Ferdinand missed a routine drug test and was then banned from football for eight months and fined £50,000 ($90 700; €75 000) as punishment.

Without going into too much details of the now infamous day, I agree that although he was wrong to have missed or "forgotten" to take the drugs test, because he was moving house, it seems that the punishment does not fit the crime.

Ferdinand seems to have been made a scapegoat, and the punishment therefore seems inconsistent. The other point, which I feel outraged about is that Ferdinand was publicly named and shamed-surely this was huge breach of his confidentiality. And to top it off he had been dropped from squad to face Turkey before he had been charged even though he was allowed to play eight games for Manchester United after the incident. This does not make sense-one rule for the club and another for the country. The one good thing was to see the support of the England team backing Ferdinand by threatening to strike.

Although I do not condone taking recreational drugs, I can agree to an extent with Eric Cantona when he was once quoted about Maradona's cocaine habits: "I respect someone like Maradona more than somebody who uses drugs to win."³

Whether or not Ferdinand purposely missed the test will remain unknown, however, urgent changes need to be made in drug testing in football to ensure that this could not happen again. Apparently, in previous decades, testers came at the start of a training session and took the selected players before training began. This ensured instant testing and would have prevented a similar situation from occurring.

What I find extremely distressing is the fact that in the past other footballers who have tested positive for Nandrolone having served shorter punishments than what Ferdinand is about to undertake, even though he took another test 36 hours after the initial incident and was found to be not guilty. For example in 2001, Lazio's Jaap Stam was found guilty of taking the performance enhancing drug nandrolone and was only banned for five months and fined €450 000.² This sends an odd message to the public as well as athletes that missing a drugs test is more important than having taken illegal substances.

Due to severe delays in the hearing, what could have a valuable opportunity for the Football Association to send a serious message about drugs in not only football, but sport in general, may have been lost. Instead, this incident was a mere publicity stunt for the then newly appointed chief executive, Mark Palios, to flex some muscle and gain some recognition. I hope there is an overhaul of how drugs are tested in sport and a review of consistent and appropriate punishments rather than the farcical recent events. It may be useful for the Football Association to take a note of how drugs are handled by UK Athletics. My fingers are crossed for Ferdinand's appeal: hopefully we will see him playing for England in Portugal.

1. http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/sport/football/manchesterunited/stories/Detail_LinkStory=69552.htmlCheck}
2. Pills, skills, and bellyaches. Guardian 2003 Oct 29.
3. Johnson S. Cantona: “drugs OK.” Observer 2001 Jun 24.