Since the early hours of Thursday morning and the last instalment of Bleeding Edge, some smarter than average bears have had their say. Arsene Wenger and Jonathan Vaughters are two of the more interesting and insightful voices in football and cycling respectively and equally forward thinking in their approaches to team management. The point that both unifies and sets them apart from their peers is their willingness to speak out with little regard for the way the wind is blowing.
breath of reason
Arsene
Wenger spoke not only of the need for blood testing in football, but also
of the shortcomings of the Operation Puerto trial, match fixing and the odds of
footballers doping at tournaments such as the world cup. His frustration with
UEFA is evident, mentioning his repeated requests to introduce blood testing. He
cites the sluggish speed of urine tests post-match and his belief in greater
doping controls, stating that “honestly, I don’t think we do enough”. Wenger
does not share the naivety of many when it comes to the realities of doping in
football, and is not duped by the stats that would otherwise indicate clean
competition:
"It is very
difficult for me to believe that you have 740 players at the World Cup and you
come out with zero problems. Mathematically, that happens every time. But
statistically, even for social drugs, it looks like we would do better to go
deeper.”
Displayed clearly is the inadequacy of anti-doping controls
in football. Let us be crystal clear on this: in an international tournament,
watched globally, played by fiercely competitive players in a sport awash with
cash, there will be doping. The stats
do not represent the reality, and reflect the failure of doping controls in the
sport.
Wenger points to the resistance of blood tests and the reluctance
of those within the sport to have blood examined. What do they have to hide?
It is a sign of the times that Wenger mentions the trial of
Eufemiano Fuentes. He, like many in Vaughter’s sport of cycling, is perturbed by
the failure of the trial to dig deeper. What of the blood bags? Who do they
belong to? Why is there no will to test them and catch those who have doped? In
Bleeding Edge’s last post, the argument was made for the prosecution of doping
to involve the more traditional aspects of law enforcement. In Spain, however,
this doesn’t appear to be much of an option.
In a blog
for cyclingnews.com, Jonathan Vaughters today wrote on the absurdity of the MPCC
potentially taking legal action against Lance Armstrong. JV’s blog is essential reading and a few very
important points must be taken. Firstly, those in cycling and the bodies that
govern it are neither capable of nor correct for dealing with the mess the sport
finds itself in. Bleeding Edge made a similar point yesterday, and JV’s words
really do put the actions of those within the sport into sharp relief. The second
point to take is that the infighting, blame-shifting and responsibility-shirking
within cycling is infantile, damaging and narcissistic. JV is perfectly correct
when he argues that those in cycling cannot be trusted to sort out their own
problems.
Going forward, the importance of funding for the appropriate
bodies (WADA, USADA, AFLD for instance) is vital. Like most of science, it is
not so much a case of where there is a
will, there is a way but rather where
there is money, there is a way.
Hopefully tying up the last couple of days…
It would appear that the more reasoned heads within cycling
and football see the solutions, but are exasperated when faced with the
difficulty of enacting them. As put forward in Bleeding Edge yesterday, the
debate on doping needs reframing. This is true of sport in general, and perhaps
cycling most of all. Changes in the law, funding for independent anti-doping
organisations and the integration of law enforcement into the solution are
desperately needed. What we are getting is children fighting in a sand pit: we
are seeing playground justice and infantile politicking when we need to see
mature and independent authority and governance.
But you knew that already…
(I was hoping this
would be a brief post…)
As ever get rowdy @_BleedingEdge_ or in the
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