Toni Minichiello, the coach behind Jessica Ennis-Hill’s success, has called for football to do much more to catch drug cheats and said those within the sport are naive if they think there is no problem with doping.
Earlier this week Manchester City were charged by the Football Association with failing to provide accurate information about training arrangements and player whereabouts on three occasions over a 12-month period.
Minichiello, who is one of the most respected figures in British sport, told the Guardian he believes a bigger problem is the lack of testing in the game. Around 200 tests a month are carried out in English football among the 92 Football League clubs and nine women’s Super League teams – a figure Minichiello believes is only a 10th of what is required.
“I hope the FA aren’t proud of that figure,” he said. “When it has a nought on the end then it’ll be a start. At the moment they are doing about 200 tests a month on average. Divide that by the 92 league clubs and the nine women’s Super League teams, and that works out at two players at one club a month. Jess would be tested between 12 and 15 times a year – how many footballers are tested that much?
“The FA should go into clubs once a quarter and say: ‘OK lads, line up – you’re all being tested’. When you do that, you start to discourage doping. Add to that extensive post-match testing and you have a credible anti-doping system.”
The FA insists it has the most comprehensive drugs testing programme in world football and points out it pays Ukad to do a range of tests, including taking blood from players for an athlete biological passport programme. It also hopes to conduct 3,200 tests by the end of the season and says increases are planned for next year. Last season, some Premier League players were tested as many as eight times. Furthermore it stresses that top players will be tested more frequently than those lower down the leagues, and that they can also be tested at their home, even if they have been at training earlier in the day.
However, Minichiello said he was surprised the FA does not require clubs to provide player whereabouts in the close season; players have to provide only a residential address where they regularly reside overnight. That theoretically means that from late May to July, players could go away on holiday and take banned substances knowing they had a minimal chance of being caught.
“The days when players spent their summer break eating chips are over,” Minichiello said. “They are professional athletes now. They keep training. So why aren’t all footballers across the globe required to state detailed whereabouts 365 days a year in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s administration and management system (Adams) so that their whereabouts can be checked by anti-doping officials?
“People tell me there is no drug problem in global football but to me that is naive. How do you know if you’re not really looking? If you don’t look for it, you ain’t going to find it. It’s a sport with speed and power at its core, therefore the use of doping is a distinct possibility.”
Paula Radcliffe, the women’s marathon world record holder, has said she believes footballers should take more responsibility for whereabouts regulations. “It would be better to fall on the individual,” she told the Times. “In terms of fairness to the players this is not the best system. ‘Whereabouts’ puts a little extra onus on athletes, but footballers are paid a lot of money and have the time and ability to do it. It’s a case of trusting them to take responsibility on their own shoulders. It would restore credibility within football.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency has told the Guardian football still needs to “improve further” when it comes to drug testing. The Wada spokesman Ben Nichols said: “There are still countries where national anti-doping agencies are not permitted to test athletes or players, but instead the national federation is conducting the programme, and in many instances pursuant to rules which do not include correct results management.”
Nichols stressed that some federations, such as Uefa, were now performing “quality anti-doping programmes” and cited the FA as one of the better organisations. However, Wada’s view remains that all footballers should be part of its athlete management system to ensure they are more comprehensively monitored and tested.
“We are optimistic Fifa will begin using Wada’s Adams system in order to advance its use of the athlete biological passport, along with its other important anti-doping work,” said Nichols. “Wada looks forward to meeting with Fifa in the coming months to discuss the advancement of their anti-doping programme.”
