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It is time for Manchester City to take a stand against doping

It is time for Manchester City to take a stand against doping

Allegations of doping has been going on for years in the football world. Recently, the rumors have popped up again, with allegations claiming that many big clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea have players who dope. With Liverpool’s Sakho recently caught for using a banned substance it is obvious that despite what many fans would believe, illicit drug use is a major problem in association football today.

Are there footballers who use banned substances for performance reasons? I am 100% sure that there are dopers in association football. Every once in a while a fan in denial would claim that “doping doesn’t help” or something of that sort with regards to doping in football, a ridiculous claim. Blood doping increases endurance, something critical in a sport where the competitors are running for the better part of 90 minutes. Anabolic steroids help muscle growth and strength, allowing footballers to better muscle opponents off the ball. Just as sprinters use steroids to increase their speed, footballers can use steroids to help with their pace and acceleration. Finally, HGH is often used to make footballers recover from injury faster.

The current response to doping in football is essentially a joke and is far from enough to seriously combat performance enhancing drug use in association football. The FA’s drug testing program is vastly inadequate both in intensity and technology. According to the FA’s numbers, last season 2286 drug tests were conducted, of which they caught 9 instances of rule violations. The FA doesn’t mention what divisions that they test, or whether they test youth and women, but even we assume that this is the number of tests conducted on Premier League and Football League players, some back of napkin math would show that it is vastly inadequate.

Ignoring youth players and reservists, each club has 25 first team players. There are 20 clubs in the Premier League, and 24 clubs in the Championship, League One, and League Two, 92 clubs in the top four divisions in total. At 25 players per club, that is 2300 players. At 2286 drug tests, that’s approximately 1 drug test per player. Since the drug testing is random, some players would get tested multiple times, some players won’t get tested at all.

The current levels of drug testing by the FA is whole inadequate. The level of drug testing is too low, and the FA is completely incapable of detecting certain forms of doping such as blood doping under the current system. The Football Assocation conducted only 2286 drug tests in total. For an organization who oversees nearly 10 levels of organized professional men’s football, women’s football, and amateur football the pitiful number of drug tests is not nearly enough. Surprisingly, drug testing outside of England is often worse, for instance the Scottish FA only conducted 8 tests in 9 months.

This is why I believe that as a top tier club, Manchester City should take a stand against doping and performance enhancing drugs. The club should hold our players to a much higher standard than the FA. If Manchester City claims that the club is a global powerhouse with superstar athletes, then Manchester City should set a high standard and take a stand against cheating.

Performance enhancing drugs of any sort should be completely banned in the Manchester City dressing room. It should be made clear to every single player contracted to Manchester City that doping is not condoned, and will be punished. Every player at Manchester City, including the reservists, youth players and women should be tested regularly for doping.

Players caught doping should be punished. Anybody caught doping should be transferred out of the club as soon as possible, City should not keep cheaters who have to rely on performance enhancing drugs to keep their spot on the team, and if were to promote the club as a world class

From a more pragmatic perspective, having a playing caught doping would be massively embarrassing. Imagine the fan and sponsor backlash if a Manchester City player gets caught with performance drugs. Imagine how much more embarrassing it would be if it comes out that other City players and coaches know about it and are engaged in some sort of cover-up.

Other stronger anti-doping initiatives should be introduced too. The clubs medical staff and coaches should be well informed on the latest anti-doping regulations, and they should know which supplements contain banned substances and the coaching staff should ensure that no player would inadvertently use a banned substance. Manchester City’s scouting team should also be weary of players who may be using performance enhancing drugs when it comes to talent assessment. City should make it a policy to test all potential new signings and reject every potential signing who has tested positive for banned substances.

I feel that similar to baseball and cycling, doping in association football has the potential to become a big scandal in the next few years. As a football club clawing to the top aspiring to be one of the best in the world, doping is where Manchester City should take a stand. If City truly hopes to become one of the world’s top clubs, we should be above signing cheaters and dopers. Performance enhancing drugs should be where the club makes a stand, and City should make sure that no player with chemical help ever steps onto the pitch in the sky blue shirt again.