Rio Ferdinand found guily (shocker!)

bbop

8 months and a 50000 grand fine
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Ronan|Raven

Rio Ferdinand has been found guily and sentenced to an 8month ban and a fine of 50,000GBP as well as paying the costs of the personal hearing..

Was it the correct decision? Was it to harsh? Was it a conspiracy by Ron Atkinson headed by the demons from outer space?!

DMC

Wow.... that long... I'm surprised by the length.

Villain

are u serious??? source???

Ronan|Raven

Mine was less provocotive

ZENER

A fu**ing disgrace. Way too harsh. He's being made an example of by the FA out of fear of FIFA.

I wonder will the appeal do him any good or make matters worse !!!

Tinky

DMC

BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3333091.stm

Villain

Originally posted by irish1
are u serious??? source???

edit /

you are
http://www.sky.com/news

edit

Cyrus

deserved it, skipped a drugs test if hes too thick to remember something that important thats his problem

super_furry

I'm surprised by that, I thought he'd get away with a fine and at the very most a three month ban. Seems the FA have found their backbone, but I don't expect this to be the end of things by a long way. Can't wait to here Slur Alex's 'response', he's head's probably just exploded.

Villain

I think they knew Sepp Blatter would do it for them if they didn't, that'l teach the rest of them to take the tests

Cork

This seems no harder than the treatment of other Athleates.

zAbbo

United knew he was guilty but persisted on playing him, thats whats pissing ppl off. If i was a Utd fan i`d be disgraced

The Muppet

This seems no harder than the treatment of other Athletes.

Considering Jaap Stam, Edgar Davids and Frank De Boer were actually found with performance enhancing drugs in their sample and they got 4 months it does seem excessive. Also the Man city player found guilty of the exact same offence got a £2000 fine. The ball is in UTDs court now and it will be very interesting if they take it further. I hope they take on the FA in a civil court.

On The plus side the ban doesn;t start until 16th January so I can see Fergie going for Van Buyten or Mexes in the window.



Realistically it amounts to a 5 Month ban for United but he also will miss the Euro championships next summer..

ZENER

If i was a Utd fan i`d be disgraced

Well you're obviously not a united fan and I think the majority of those of us who are feel that Rio was harshly dealt with considering the precedence set last year !

|Tinky

The Muppet

If i was a Utd fan i`d be disgraced

Think i,ll switch to newcastle or leeds or chelsea or Arsenal.

ZENER

Now that he has been found guilty I wonder will UEFA and the FA dock the points won while Rio played ?

Tinky

The Muppet

Now that he has been found guilty I wonder will UEFA and the FA dock the points won while Rio played ?

How can they even after being found guilty his sentence does not start until 16th jan.



United and proud of it BTW

zAbbo

sigh

Its not a ABU thing, If it was Owen or Gerrard, i`d be pretty damn pissed off at my team(pool) playing a player who is obviosly guilty and has admitted it. If this happed in the workplace(essentially it has), then you expect the employee to either be suspended or fired.

James R

I think it was a poor decision. True he missed his drugs test and deserved a punishment but eight months? bit harsh! As someone already mentioned, players who have been convicted for use of drugs only got about half that suspension.

At the end of the day he is a stupid eejit for missing the test but he is not a druggy.

Also I don't think Utd should be deducted points for playing him because if that were the case then the FA/UEFA/FIFA should have come out and said you can't play him he is suspended. They never did this so why would Utd leave a 30 million man on the sidelines for 3 months.

Thanx 4 The Fish

They cannot be deducted points for playing him, that is a fact. But if United go to the civil courts before the csa then they do risk being kicked out of any football league that is fifa affiliated as it is in the statutes of FIFA. Is it likely that they will take that chance and by the time he gets his day in court how much of the ban will already have been served ?

BTW to all of those who think this is an ABU thing, get serious, he has broken the rules of the game, he has had a penalty handed down and the penalty was for skipping a drugs test, he maintained that he forgot but obviously the panel didn't believe him. There is no precedent set as each case is judged on it's own merits and said Man city player may have had mitigating circumstances that the panel actually believed. Don't think that it helped Rio that he lied for so long until was proven that he had his phone on and then only a couple of days ago was it revealed that he called the testers (on a phone that was off) and said that he had forgotten and would come back.

GuanYin

It hinks it probably the correct decision.

The FA and football world in general had just made a commitment to stamping out drugs in football, meaning more tests and harder treatment.

In any other olympic sport he would have gotten two years, no questions asked. I think the FA realised that this was the first high profile incidence and gave him a pretty lenient 8 month ban. I think the next player caught in a similar situation will get a longer/harsher punishment.

This had to be done if the FA were to be seen to be taking drug eradication seriously. It sucks for Man Utd. supporters that its one of their players, but I believe that the message it sends will be for the good of the game.

kida

Can any ABU rationally explain how missing a drugs test warrants a larger ban than failing a drugs test?
United will have a field day with this if they took it to court. Hope they take on the FA & FIFA in a court of law as it is obvious that an example has been made of him.

Pacifico

Ah rio out for 8 months...............

Excellent

Thanx 4 The Fish

Whether you are an ABU or an I cannot see past the Man U jersey I am wearing fanatic, the explanation is the same. FIFA and the FA has said that they are cracking down on drugs use. They have said that they will treat harshly with any more drugs/doping cases. This is the first step, by enforcing stiffer penalties for this than have been applied before, it may make an athlete think before they skip a test or indulge in a bit of class A fun, or even take some nature of performance enhancing drug. And as I have already said, it would be folly for United to go to the civil courts, especially if they do so before going to the CSA as they would essentially be giving FIFA a good reason to kick them out of any FIFA affiliated league.

ABU or man u fan or pure football fans can surely see that this penalty will be for the greater good of the game.

Sherlock

Shamrock Rovers Barry Ryan got a 15 month ban for using recreational drugs so I'd say Rio got off lightly enough with an eight month ban for avoiding a drugs test that he might have failed.

jank

Originally posted by kida
Can any ABU rationally explain how missing a drugs test warrants a larger ban than failing a drugs test?

who are you talking about here?? who got away with a lighter sentence

United will have a field day with this if they took it to court.

never happen mate unless you want to see utd kicked out of every competition bar maybe the "northern east division milk league". Any arguments to do with civil courts etc will fall on deaf ears and just shows utd's arrogance with regards this situation.

Hope they take on the FA & FIFA in a court of law as it is obvious that an example has been made of him.

read above..


Do you realise that if he was an athlete (which he is really!) that he would have recieved a MIN 2 YEAR ban. And thats the fact of the matter.

just because he gets payed 80 grand a week doesnt mean he is above others when it comes to rules. Yea the fa made an example out of it just like the incident of in old trafford earlier on in the season!! Arsenal took it on the chin as regards that matter, Rio should do the same

It didnt help that he lied about him moving house, then it was his phone turned off, rang his personal doctor etc. You dont have to be a detective to know something was up

People can argue for all they want about this player or that player got less or whatever but this is now and FIFA and the FA have made their stand and any other football player caught doing the same thing will be given the max ban of 2 years.
The precedent is NOW

This for the good of the game overall I think. Drugs have no place in sport recreational or otherwise. Not many reds are disputing the fact that he is guilty but there dispuiting the punishment which is already stated in the rules and he got less then half the max but most are still people are saying its harsh.
If it was any other job he would be fired as of from today.
DO the crime Pay the crime

this could actually help utd as rio is over rated anway but they do need to but and this may divert resources from a striker to a defender

PHB

So who are they gona buy?

jank

Japp Stam:D

The Muppet

Posted By T4TF
And as I have already said, it would be folly for United to go to the civil courts, especially if they do so before going to the CSA as they would essentially be giving FIFA a good reason to kick them out of any FIFA affiliated league.

Poted By Jank
never happen mate unless you want to see utd kicked out of every competition bar maybe the "northern east division milk league". Any arguments to do with civil courts etc will fall on deaf ears and just shows utd's arrogance with regards this situation.

UTD is based in a European Country covered by european laws and as Marc Bosman showed Fifa have to abide by those laws too. I couldn,t imaging them fancying have to pay united the money any such move would cost them in a restriction to practise law suite. Thats only scare mongering and is unlikely to deter united, Utd are definitely going to appeal and the the judges in the appeal will be Queens Councils , so it willl ll come down to the law as it was at the time of the offence. We will have to wait and see the outcome.


Someone above said that precedent didn,t come into it and they may have been mitigating circumstances in the Man City Players case. Any Law student can explain the importance of precedent when it comes to Law.

The man city players excuse was that he had to pick his mother up from the train station, thats hardly a life and deathe situation now is it?

Posted By Jank
who are you talking about here?? who got away with a lighter sentence

If you actually read the thread before replying to it you would see 3 players who got 4 months bans for actually failing drugs tests.
:rolleyes:

Do you realise that if he was an athlete (which he is really!) that he would have recieved a MIN 2 YEAR ban. And thats the fact of the matter.

From my understanding of Athletics you are given 3 chances to provoid a Sample and only then will you be banned.

ZENER

I see on Sky Sports News the Arsenal manager has come out in support of Ferguson's criticism of Septic Bladder !

The ban effectively started yesterday as it's unlikely that Rio will be in a fit mental state to concentrate on any game from now !

Tinky

jesus_thats_gre

Anyway lads, back on topic. You dont see me going off topic...

The facts are that he missed a drup test. He lied about the reasons for missing the drugs test. He was obviously found out and has been punished.

I would be pretty certain that the ban would not have been a severe if he had not of lied... Simple, he lied and one has to wonder why he lied for so long. There must have been a reason...

kmart6

Originally posted by jank
who are you talking about here?? who got away with a lighter sentence

Read all other post's first.Somebodty has all ready said that some Man City player was found guilty of the same offence and was only fined a few grand

James R

I'm all for the FA cracking down hard on drug users/ people who willingly miss drug tests but should there not be a warning?

How would u feel if your mate got stopped for speeding and got a 50 euro fine and u got stopped got fined 5000 and lost your licence without warning?

Naturally the Government would have to come out before they do this to you and say that from now on this will be the punishment.

The FA have never once done this and as a result it is not a fair verdict. They have never said from now on we will fine players a huge sum and ban them for nearly a year. As a result I think it is unfair.

Also, would a division 3 player or division 2 or whatever have been fined 50,000? If they are going to enforce rules they should be the same across the whole of the leagues regardless of the fact Rio probably makes more than that a week.

jank

Originally posted by The Muppet
UTD is based in a European Country covered by european laws and as Marc Bosman showed Fifa have to abide by those laws too. I couldn,t imaging them fancying have to pay united the money any such move would cost them in a restriction to practise law suite. Thats only scare mongering and is unlikely to deter united, Utd are definitely going to appeal and the the judges in the appeal will be Queens Councils , so it willl ll come down to the law as it was at the time of the offence. We will have to wait and see the outcome.

Bosman was a contract/employment law issue. When a player's contract ran out with one club, was he entitled to seek an alternative employer or whether his old club still held his registration. Seems like a pretty obvious answer now. Not an FA disciplinary matter

The courts are just as anti-doping as anyone so i dont think they will look too kindly on rio if this came to the fore plus utd will get kicked out of all club competitions. is that worth it?? it would take how long to get to court? 1 year or 2 years
that would ruin utd as a club

Someone above said that precedent didn,t come into it and they may have been mitigating circumstances in the Man City Players case. Any Law student can explain the importance of precedent when it comes to Law

true but precedants change all the time dont they and now the precedent is set so that all players will think twice about it

as i said before you can whinge and moan all you want and write saying utd will take them to court etc etc

but he missed the test and LIED a number of times thats fact and the fa didnt look too kindly on this. he deserves 8 months

any red out there please explain those lies for me or else just drop it
You know coke clears the system in 24 hours! maybe he contacted his doctor to clear out his system! maybe not, oh wasnt his phone off for those few hours:D but he was also moving house too while out shopping, arent footballers great, they can do 2 things at the same time no wonder the get paid so much:D

SteM

Originally posted by Sherlock
Shamrock Rovers Barry Ryan got a 15 month ban for using recreational drugs so I'd say Rio got off lightly enough with an eight month ban for avoiding a drugs test that he might have failed.

Ironically, this has reduced from 15 months to 9 months yesterday on appeal! So no, Rio didn't get off very lightly did he?

Sundy

Originally posted by The Muppet
Think i,ll switch to newcastle or leeds or chelsea or Arsenal.

Ah the true spirit of a man Utd, loyalty to the end........to whichever team is winning!

.............wait now for the ive supported utd since i was a 2 yr old bit!:D

Sundy

Originally posted by Sundy
Ah the true spirit of a man Utd, loyalty to the end........to whichever team is winning!

.............wait now for the ive supported utd since i was a 2 yr old bit!:D

and on the Rio thing i think he deserves his ban, simple the rules say a player must be there for the test. Its basically the same as drink driving, refuse a sample and you get a worse sentence than you probably would have got for giving one.

Nike_Dude

Probably was deserved. I dont think he had taken any drugs, but the whole man u attitude was disgraceful. They think they can bully the F.A. into making decisions. Rio and man u should just take the punishment and get on with it.
It ridiculous to be talking about going to the high court etc, Neither the courts in england or the european court of justice have been very accomidating when it comes to drugs in sport, the nearly always side with the association in question.

The Muppet

Ah the true spirit of a man Utd, loyalty to the end........to whichever team is winning!

As you probably realise I was Being sarcastic naming teams whose players have been accused and are either awaiting trial or found Guilty and jailed in some cases of serious Criminal offences and highlighting the hypocrisy of the post saying United Fans should be ashamed of Rio for not taking a drug test.

Probably was deserved. I dont think he had taken any drugs, but the whole man u attitude was disgraceful. ...................................

Thats rich from a supporter of a club where a self confessed cocaine abuser never recieved anything like an 8 Month Ban.

Ping Chow Chi

the man city player was before FIFA came out and said that they where cracking down on drugs in the sport though, thats the main difference.

It would hardly be big crack down if they did nothing more than they did before.

ManU will have to be carefull if they plan to take the FA to court as Blatter has said he will fight back with the full power of FIFA and ManU may find that FIFA are not as easy to push about as the FA.

"I hear of a threat to go to the civil courts - even to the European courts - but that is strictly prohibited in our rules," Blatter said.

You do not go to court. You present your case to our tribunal in Lausanne and you pay the consequences.

"These are the rules of Fifa and they will be adhered to."

I think this could run for a while to come.


On a personal note I would have thought a three month ban and public statement of what a missed test in the future would get you would have been enough, but since it has become such a high profile case, I think the FA and Blatter have decided to make this an example.

The Muppet

the man city player was before FIFA came out and said that they where cracking down on drugs in the sport though, thats the main difference.

There was no change of law between both cases and the players were not offically informed of any policy changes.

ManU will have to be carefull if they plan to take the FA to court as Blatter has said he will fight back with the full power of FIFA and ManU may find that FIFA are not as easy to push about as the FA.

That didn't seem to worry athletico bilbao who have done exactly that and have a player (Carlos Gurpegi ) still playing 2 years after being banned due to a pending legal challenge . I don't see FIFA thretening them with suspension so the threat is unlikely to deter united unless of course they are going to treat united differently yet again.

Anway if FIFA and the FA have acted within the law what are they so afraid of that they have to make such a threat to try stop legal action.. Utd are the biggest club in the World and European base so is protected by european law, not some team from a south american tinpot country where such a threat may have the desired effect.

Ping Chow Chi

I thought that they did act within the 'law'

I thought that their rules stated that if someone refuses or misses a random drugs test they could be banned for up to 2 years? and that they would be enforcing this law more in the future.

Sorry if I got this wrong.

Utd are the biggest club in the World and European based so is protected by european law, not some team from a south american tinpot country where such a threat may have the desired effect

I think this is particaly why Blatter will fight this, to prove that its one rule for all clubs, regardless of the size.

The Muppet

I thought that they did act within the 'law'

If they have acted correctly why not let United waste their money on a legal challenge without issuing threat of further sanction.

What are they afraid of?

jank

Originally posted by The Muppet
not some team from a south american tinpot country

thats exactly the reason why utd fans are so hated by so many,
and the reason that utd are a big club is the reason that FIFA and the FA will kick them out of any competition if this goes to court

ill say this now for the 3rd time but please any red out there (especially muppet) explain why he continually LIED about where he was and what he was doing that
day!! What was he hiding?? why did he ring his doctor but say his phone was turned off, PLEASE explain or drop it!

as regards the Christian Negouai case well didnt he take the test within the allocated hour that same day when he found out about it. Isnt he from Cameroon and barely spoke a word of english then. Man u fans will say that the 2 cases are the Exact same but there are big differences there between them

IMO utd and ferdinand will be laughed out of court if this happened, just look at his photo in the paper with his braded hair and his diamond studded ear rings, does that look like a man who was hard done by??Him and utd are the epitimy of arrogance

At the end of the day its utd fault for this mess, why are utd the only club that insist that their club doctor is the liasion between the player and the testers??
That is a situation that would never be allowed at any other club in english football. the testers stick like glue to these players but utd insist on their palyers to be given more freedom. They should have guidelines and rules laid down in the club for all players and enforce them but obvioulsy they dont and this is where they ****ed up!!

Man utd?? should be called Moan utd
take it on the chin yer lucky its not more

Nike_Dude

The rules are the rules it doesnt matter how many examples of people getting off etc there are, Rio broke the rules and deserves to be punished. The case of the Man City player who got the fine is different, he explained to the drug testers that he had to pick his mother up from the airport and they allowed him to go, he got delayed and they were gone when he came back. Rio just went without any explaination. Its a shame that a young talented (and probably innocent) player had to get such a punishment, but if he got off lightly the whole drugs testing system in soccer would collapse

PHB

As a Man Utd. supporter I think he should be punished.

The fact that he was innocent, or had a valid excuse means absolutely nothing.
He lied and when he was caught he confessed.
Thats totally different to the Man City incident.

Just like in the Man Utd. vs. Arsenal match a precendent had to be set, the book had to be thrown at them, and rightly so. Precedent is an interesting thing, but it also has to be set. Now its time for a precedent to be set here, see how many players miss a drugs test now The cases are completly different and Utd. havn't a "precedent" leg to stand on.

This won't hold up in an actual law court and once Utd. really look at it they will drop the case, and buy a fancy shiney new world class defender.

Villain

If the FA had acted when the offence occured and suspended Rio for 3 months then, I don't think Fifa would have got involved. The fact is the FA got it wrong they were slow to react on one hand, by not suspending him straight away. But on the other hand they stopped him playing for England????

I think Sepp Blatter is pissed off because of the FA's slowness to deal with the matter and the fact that one of the most expensive footballers of all time failed to take a drugs test and continued to play for long time, that doesn't send out the right kind of signal to make other players think twice about missing a test.

Aliminator

Blatter's pissed cos Ferguson had the audacity to continue playing ferdinand. AFerg basically gave 2shiny fingers to Blatter. Shame Rio misses the world cup. (or not, i do'nt support england). Aferg acted like a spoiled kid, time he gets disciplined!

astrofool

thats probably the most clueless post ever

zAbbo

Originally posted by astrofool
thats probably the most clueless post ever

Not true, most of these rank very high