Laurent Benezech - "Doping in Rugby as bad as cycling" [MOD WARNING POST #1]

The idea that doping or some other form of cheating doesn't exist in any professional sport is naive at best.

It's really a matter of what our testing standards are like and laws regarding AUTs.

And if it is though I hope it gets exposed, best to bite the bullet and clear house otherwise it becomes a bad joke.

No surprise. Jean Pierre Ellisalde was interviewed recently and said that, when he was playing, drug taking was common practice by players and known within the game. He stated it was particularly prevalent among southern hemisphere players but it was often seen in France too.

It's a very much unspoken matter in rugby given the game has strong ties to an amateur ethos. If there was a large scale investigation, I think there would be some serious revelations. There are tell tale signs of drug taking among a number of professional players.

Isn't there a lot of strict anti-doping regimes in the pro sport though? Lots of random drug testing etc., etc. Remember that Japanese player a while ago got banned for using a banned substance that was in this cream he was using to help grow a 'tache!

Mid-level I can understand players getting away with it, but at high club pro-level/international level I'd be very surprised if players were getting away with it.

Cheating happens in every sport from Rugby and Football to chess and Tiddlywinks.

Human nature make people strive to be the best. However when genetics and luck don't make you the best it can leave people looking for 'alternatives' to make up the short comings.

So is drugs rampant in the sport? Truthfully, it's to hard to tell but I wouldn't be surprised. The one thing that would make me inclined to believe it is true is the lack of any major scandals.

As I said people cheat in every sport, so some people ARE using drugs but we don't see to be finding them.

The problem is when cheats aren't being found it forces everyone else to try and 'up' their game and sure if the other bloke isn't being caught they make use the same shortcuts to help them.

Now there will be a minority that says there is nothing wrong with taking steroids, and that all you are doing is enhancing the human body to help try and push it beyond it's natural boundaries and as someone flirted with powerlifting I myself am not fully against steroid, if that is what you do, ONCE you are doing it with within a sport that allows it. So in Powerlifting there is the drug free federations with strict anti-doping tests and then there are the ones that have no testing.

Rugby is a tested sport and now an Olympic sport so it should be a drug free sport, so I have absolutely no time what so ever for drug cheats in it. They are doing a massive disservice to the sport and they are helping make the sport a more dangerous place to be and shorting the career of players, while leaving players open to having more long term physical issues after they leave the sport.

So I really hope the sport starts to take it seriously of it's own accord because if it doesn't and a drug culture only comes to light via a scandal it could wreck the game

.ak wrote: »

Isn't there a lot of strict anti-doping regimes in the pro sport though? Lots of random drug testing etc., etc. Remember that Japanese player a while ago got banned for using a banned substance that was in this cream he was using to help grow a 'tache!

Mid-level I can understand players getting away with it, but at high club pro-level/international level I'd be very surprised if players were getting away with it.

There is testing and regimes. I wouldn't say they're all particularly strict. Of all people, Joey Barton spoke some sense on the issue. He revealed than in over a decade of being a professional footballer (the sport with more money and power in it than any in the world) he had never, once, in his entire career, been blood tested. He had been urine tested but that only reveals certain elements.

Why would a massive sporting body want to introduce in depth tests to their sport? They run the risk of the sport being shown up to be a sham and driving away their patrons. Cycling is a cautionary tale for the likes of FIFA and the IRB. The level of respect and interest in road cycling has fallen off a cliff.

Buer wrote: »

Slightly off topic but here's a fascinating interview from Spiegel in Germany with Angel Heredia on drug taking in athletics. It's a complete eye opener. You'll need to use Chrome or Google Translate to read it in full.

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/a-571031.html

It's hard to believe that any sprinter in an Olympic final is clean after reading it.

Or you know speak german:P

Any testing that doesn't include blood testing and long term profiling is flawed.

Macy0161 wrote: »

Just at a relatively low seriousness level, I'm always amazed how many athletes across all sports are apparently asthmatic.

Fighting the urge not to say what half the board are thinking and has the mods hovering over the warning button....

A number of NFL players get bans each season under the terms of the NFL Substance abuse policy. Bans are typically short enough in duration.

Now people can believe whatever they want to believe, but I would argue that it's naive to think that players are getting through 25+ high intensity games at the top level each season without additional recovery aids. Remember, this stuff doesn't do the training or take the hits for you. It's all about recovery and maintaining consistent intensity throughout seasons that grow ever more packed.

I'll just say that I don't personally care. Choosing to pursue a professional Rugby career is a fairly unhealthy life choice as it is, and I like the increased intensity of the modern game. It would be hypocritical to love what modern rugby is while roaring for better PED testing standards.