No, sorry, I've no juicy gossip involving some player you hate and a load of narcotics, though Roy Keane could probably do with some tranquilisers.

Rather Edgar Davids and Fernando Couto have both tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone, according to Italian TV station Rai Uno. Couto's countercheck also tested positive and the big Portugese defender is now threatened with a long suspension, and possibly even a prison sentence. There have long been inuendos in the Dutch media as to the lengths some Italian clubs medical staff go to get their players in top condition. Given the sordid mess athletics and cycling have found themselves in over 'doping' it's troubling to see footballers now (apparently) caught cheating. I fear we're going to get a lot more of this in the future.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

Answers

any opinions?

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

I seem to recall the Yugolavian guy coaching in Italy - Zemen - causing a furore a couple of years ago by accusing a number of Italian clubs, notably Juventus, of using steroids to increase the muscle bulk of several players - including Del Piero, and I think Vialli. He suggested the problem was rife. He was threatened with legal action then, so this latest revelation is probably no real surprise.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

I wouldn't be surprised if there was fairly widespread drug abuse in football. But I think the issue of Nandrolone is fairly contentious. It is possible that creatine supplements (widely used and not illegal) could have contained the drug as the following article from this February shows.

Tests on around 100 food supplements at the International Olympic Committee-sanctioned laboratory in Cologne found substances on 16 occasions that would lead to adverse nandrolone findings. "The data we have gathered over the last two years clearly indicates that nutritional supplements can be cross-contaminated by pro-hormones which the body metabolises to create nandrolone," said Professor Wilhelm Schanzer, who led the research. "For a long time now we have been advising athletes to only use products whose quality control is 100 per cent sure."

He said the presence of nandrolone could be explained by the inefficient cleaning of machinery used to manufacture the supplements. "A machine can be used to make hormone-based products and then, after quick and incomplete cleaning, be used to make dietary supplements," said Schanzer. "One-100,000th of a microgram is then sufficient to contaminate the dietary supplements."

He said the 16 nandrolone-tainted samples were all brands of "widely available" supplements, some of which contained creatine which is not banned by the IOC. Creatine is sold in synthetic form as an amino acid powder. It helps build muscle and speeds recovery from training.

The supplements tested in Cologne, which were bought in Europe and the US, did not include nandrolone or related compounds among their listed ingredients. Christophe Dugarry, the French international footballer, former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda, and Olympic gold medallists Linford Christie and Dieter Baumann are among those to have tested positive for nandrolone in the past three years. Olympic drug testing laboratories reported 343 positive tests for nandrolone in 1999, the most recent year for which figures are available.

"Any athlete who feels the need to take supplements has got to be certain that they are clear of any suspicious ingredient," said David Moorcroft, the chief executive of UK Athletics. "If in doubt, don't take it." The IAAF maintains a rule of "strict liability", which says that the athlete is fully responsible for what is found in their body. However, the IAAF council can waive a full ban under its "special circumstances" rule.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

The problem of drug use in sport is never far from the news. The cynical view is that all athletes and sports personalities are on some form of performance enhancing substance. Thus detracting from any outstanding achievements and casting a doubt over any records set.

The only way to avoid this is to have a “ open house “ on drug use in all sports. Take what you want any time you want.

Imagine in a few years time. You’d have swimmers with size 25 webbed feet, hands like a navis shovel and the skin of a shark. Cyclists with heads the shape of them daft helmets and the 100 meters completed so fast the only way to show would be in slow motion. Darts players with one huge right eye etc.

Some sports are becoming increasingly dull. They need a new injection in one form or another.

Now that I would pay to see!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

Absolutely hilarious Hiro. I can't wait to see the one eyed darts players. Mind you, look at WWF, already happening with those boys.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

It's all been done before. Look no further than yesterday's oposition manager ;-)

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

That's true Screacher, very true.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001