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This is one of the main reasons I like watching soccer. The smallest dude can dominate the world and it doesn't feel like I'm watching people destroy their heal

This is one of the main reasons I like watching soccer. The smallest dude can dominate the world and it doesn't feel like I'm watching people destroy their health for a chance at making it big.

Retric 8y ago
Soccer players still ‘benefit’ from drug use. A much larger issue was largely ignored by professional bodies. FIFA still only has a 2 year ban for someone caught, and does not try that hard to find users. According to a statement of one of UK Sport's Independent Sampling Officers (ISO), "If a club knows in advance we're coming, and the club suspects one of their players, they keep him off training and his name doesn't appear on the list I am given." In the 1999–2000 season, testers were present at just 32 of the over 3,500 league matches, taking samples from two players of each side. Compared to other sports in the UK, like cricket, cycling or athletics, footballers are far less likely to be tested.[13] A case of high-profile was the one of Rio Ferdinand, who missed a drug test in September 2003 and found himself punished for it, being banned for eight months.[14] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_association_football https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_association_footba...
bilbo0s 8y ago
I think any sport that is more like an art is gonna be like that. Soccer is more of an art. There are positions where the performance enhancing drugs definitely will help you. (And I'm sure a lot of players use those drugs if they are at those positions.) But you won't become Pogba, Messi, or Neymar by shooting up. Those guys are artists. Basketball is like that too. Shoot up with whatever you like, it will have no effect on your 3 point percentage. You want to shoot like Steph Curry? Then you'll need to be just as good an artist. You want to handle the ball as well as Kyrie Irving? You'll have to be just as good an artist. I know people might disagree with this one, but I think some hockey positions are like that. People should try this experiment, go to your local ice rink, and try weaving through traffic at top speed on skates and putting the puck in that 6 inch window that a keeper might give you to the back of the net. Steroids aren't gonna help with that. Those are all sports where a little guy can come in and just dominate through sheer asymmetry of skill. It's a beautiful thing to watch.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  The drugs enable more time spent practicing.
- tcoff91 8y ago
  PEDs can help with the things you describe because they allow you to train significantly longer and more frequently because you recover far better/faster.
  - germinalphrase 8y ago
    I once worked with a professional cyclist. His attitude about PEDs were largely similar to yours: less about increasing your maximum ability and more that they allowed for better recovery between training/racing sessions. This is anecdotal, of course. No idea if it’s true.
    - fudgie 8y ago
      There absolutely are PEDs that increase your maximum ability when it comes to endurance sports, like EPO. A reporter tried microdosing EPO (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932) and experienced a 7% increase in maximum performance in 7 weeks.
- bluntfang 8y ago
  for the basketball and hockey arguments you made...i'm fairly certain things like stimulants can be and are used to help maintain focus during practice. 3 point shooting is a boring mechanical repetitive motion. Doing that motion 1000 times a day is boring. Taking a stim might allow you to continue to focus and get the reps in that will allow you to perform the motion better. Taking the right drugs might allow you to avoid injury and reduce fatigue.
- patrickk 8y ago
  My favourite "conspiracy theory" is that PEDs are rampant in football/soccer. It's not a high profile issue because those in charge of running the sport don't want to look under the carpet for fear of what might be there. > Soccer is more of an art. True, skill is paramount versus other more physical sports, but the main purpose of PEDs is to recover from injury not to bulk up or make guys bigger or stronger. Interestingly, Messi was given HGH before reaching adulthood in order to overcome a growth hormone disorder[1] (completely legal). Without HGH it's unlikely he'd be half the player he is. Pep Guardiola tested positive for a banned substance during his playing career, although he was later exonerated. Arsene Wenger has publicly stated in the past that he reckons the sport is full of drug cheats.[2] Operation Puerto in Spain[3] involved a lot of blood samples, including those from footballers, being destroyed. Around that time, Barcelona and the Spanish national team were absolutely ripping it up. There was a doctor filmed in the UK[4] who allegedly supplied Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City with PEDs. Leicester went from relegation fodder in 2014-2015 (bottom of the league for quite some time), to winning the premier league in 2015-2016 season. They were 5000-1 odds to win the league, played a high intensity counter attacking football, with more or less the same 11 every week. I wouldn't swear in court that any of the above examples are definitely doping, but it's incredible that none of this is seriously being investigated. [1] https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1492546-lionel-messi-and-hgh-the-truth-about-the-best-footballer-in-the-world https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1492546-lionel-messi-and... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/14/football-arsene-wenger-doping-suspicions https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/14/footba... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3n_Puerto_doping_case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3n_Puerto_doping_c... [4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/03/cyclist-at-centre-of-drug-cheat-claims-against-150-sport-stars/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/03/cyclist-at-centr...
papermill 8y ago
Plenty of doping and cheating in soccer. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/08/arsenal-arsene-wenger-corruption https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/08/arsenal-ars... The problem is that soccer/FIFA is so lucrative and corrupt that there is very little testing or it's simply ignored.

This is one of the main reasons I like watching soccer. The smallest dude can dominate the world and it doesn't feel like I'm watching people destroy their health for a chance at making it big.

Retric 8y ago

Soccer players still ‘benefit’ from drug use. A much larger issue was largely ignored by professional bodies. FIFA still only has a 2 year ban for someone caught, and does not try that hard to find users. According to a statement of one of UK Sport's Independent Sampling Officers (ISO), "If a club knows in advance we're coming, and the club suspects one of their players, they keep him off training and his name doesn't appear on the list I am given." In the 1999–2000 season, testers were present at just 32 of the over 3,500 league matches, taking samples from two players of each side. Compared to other sports in the UK, like cricket, cycling or athletics, footballers are far less likely to be tested.[13] A case of high-profile was the one of Rio Ferdinand, who missed a drug test in September 2003 and found himself punished for it, being banned for eight months.[14] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_association_football https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_association_footba...

bilbo0s 8y ago

I think any sport that is more like an art is gonna be like that. Soccer is more of an art. There are positions where the performance enhancing drugs definitely will help you. (And I'm sure a lot of players use those drugs if they are at those positions.) But you won't become Pogba, Messi, or Neymar by shooting up. Those guys are artists. Basketball is like that too. Shoot up with whatever you like, it will have no effect on your 3 point percentage. You want to shoot like Steph Curry? Then you'll need to be just as good an artist. You want to handle the ball as well as Kyrie Irving? You'll have to be just as good an artist. I know people might disagree with this one, but I think some hockey positions are like that. People should try this experiment, go to your local ice rink, and try weaving through traffic at top speed on skates and putting the puck in that 6 inch window that a keeper might give you to the back of the net. Steroids aren't gonna help with that. Those are all sports where a little guy can come in and just dominate through sheer asymmetry of skill. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

maxerickson 8y ago
The drugs enable more time spent practicing.
tcoff91 8y ago
PEDs can help with the things you describe because they allow you to train significantly longer and more frequently because you recover far better/faster.
- germinalphrase 8y ago
  I once worked with a professional cyclist. His attitude about PEDs were largely similar to yours: less about increasing your maximum ability and more that they allowed for better recovery between training/racing sessions. This is anecdotal, of course. No idea if it’s true.
  - fudgie 8y ago
    There absolutely are PEDs that increase your maximum ability when it comes to endurance sports, like EPO. A reporter tried microdosing EPO (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932) and experienced a 7% increase in maximum performance in 7 weeks.
bluntfang 8y ago
for the basketball and hockey arguments you made...i'm fairly certain things like stimulants can be and are used to help maintain focus during practice. 3 point shooting is a boring mechanical repetitive motion. Doing that motion 1000 times a day is boring. Taking a stim might allow you to continue to focus and get the reps in that will allow you to perform the motion better. Taking the right drugs might allow you to avoid injury and reduce fatigue.
patrickk 8y ago
My favourite "conspiracy theory" is that PEDs are rampant in football/soccer. It's not a high profile issue because those in charge of running the sport don't want to look under the carpet for fear of what might be there. > Soccer is more of an art. True, skill is paramount versus other more physical sports, but the main purpose of PEDs is to recover from injury not to bulk up or make guys bigger or stronger. Interestingly, Messi was given HGH before reaching adulthood in order to overcome a growth hormone disorder[1] (completely legal). Without HGH it's unlikely he'd be half the player he is. Pep Guardiola tested positive for a banned substance during his playing career, although he was later exonerated. Arsene Wenger has publicly stated in the past that he reckons the sport is full of drug cheats.[2] Operation Puerto in Spain[3] involved a lot of blood samples, including those from footballers, being destroyed. Around that time, Barcelona and the Spanish national team were absolutely ripping it up. There was a doctor filmed in the UK[4] who allegedly supplied Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City with PEDs. Leicester went from relegation fodder in 2014-2015 (bottom of the league for quite some time), to winning the premier league in 2015-2016 season. They were 5000-1 odds to win the league, played a high intensity counter attacking football, with more or less the same 11 every week. I wouldn't swear in court that any of the above examples are definitely doping, but it's incredible that none of this is seriously being investigated. [1] https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1492546-lionel-messi-and-hgh-the-truth-about-the-best-footballer-in-the-world https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1492546-lionel-messi-and... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/14/football-arsene-wenger-doping-suspicions https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/14/footba... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3n_Puerto_doping_case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3n_Puerto_doping_c... [4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/03/cyclist-at-centre-of-drug-cheat-claims-against-150-sport-stars/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/03/cyclist-at-centr...

papermill 8y ago

Plenty of doping and cheating in soccer. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/08/arsenal-arsene-wenger-corruption https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/08/arsenal-ars... The problem is that soccer/FIFA is so lucrative and corrupt that there is very little testing or it's simply ignored.