At least 15 Premier League players have failed drug tests between 2015 and 2020.
None of them were disqualified.
The corresponding investigation was published on Sunday by the British edition of the Daily Mail.
According to the newspaper, in just five years, 88 tests of footballers at various levels have tested positive, but the British Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) provided details of only 39 of them - and, as it turned out, Premier League players were involved in 15.
As for another 49 positive tests, the organization refused to give details, since some of the cases are related to the use of drugs that are prohibited by WADA, but not by the Football Association of England.
Among other reasons, protection of the rights of underage athletes was cited, as well as the interests of the UKAD itself, since the disclosure of information could interfere with ongoing investigations.
At least one out of 15 cases involving Premier League players has not yet been closed: proceedings have been ongoing for five months.
One way or another, in none of the cases mentioned, no sanctions were applied to the athletes.
According to the Daily Mail, the football players came across substances such as amphetamine, gonadotropin and indapamide.
There were also four positive tests for methylphenidate, three for triamcinolone, and two for prednisolone and its derivatives.
In British sports there has already been a scandalous case with the use of triamcinolone.
It is a synthetic glucocorticosteroid, the use of which is prohibited in-competition, and cyclist Bradley Wiggins was caught using it in 2012 after winning the Tour de France.
The athlete had a therapeutic exception, but subsequently the British Parliament's committee on digital technologies, culture, media and sports came to the conclusion that Wiggins and his team, although they did not violate WADA rules, "crossed the ethical line."
According to experts, the racer used the drug not so much for medical purposes, but for the sake of improving results.
However, the five-time Olympic champion had already retired by that time and this parliamentary investigation did not entail any consequences, except, perhaps, reputational ones.
At the same time, according to the Daily Mail, all three football players who tested positive for this anti-inflammatory drug also had therapeutic exceptions.
Also interesting are four cases of discovery of methylphenidate, a substance that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
As you know, it was this drug that the four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles took for a long time - naturally, having received the appropriate medical permission.
It is not known how justified the prescription of the drug to the illustrious American was, but her teammate Shawn Johnson, who won the gold of the 2008 Games, once admitted that the national team doctor prescribed her another drug for ADHD to help her lose weight and be more energetic.
The former head of the Rossport Anti-Doping Committee, Nikolai Durmanov, commenting on the investigation, stressed that the list of drugs found in British football players looks rather strange in modern conditions.
“It’s not even interesting to discuss these names, they are 20-45 years old, or even more.
Unearthly beauty is now “working” in football based on messenger RNA, recombinant proteins of the latest generation, monoclonal antibodies, gene approaches, ”the specialist said in a conversation with RT.
According to him, in the last 25-30 years, the topic of doping in Western European football has been completely tabooed, and those scandals that have arisen from time to time were hushed up immediately, before they had time to flare up.
This is due to the fact that allegations of doping entail reputational costs, and the possible suspension of football players, and problems with scouts.
“Big sports business, as we know, is a bit greyish and a bit illegal.
In this sense, monstrous money grinds all considerations of the anti-doping fight, common sense, reputation.
I am not surprised at anything, especially in the English version.
I won’t even be surprised if 150 players are caught in one year, and not 15 in five, ”said Durmanov.
The role of the financial issue, only from a slightly different side, was also touched upon by the head of the sports practice of the legal group "Clever Consult" Anna Antseliovich.
“We are talking about the Premier League, about people with fairly large salaries.
If, for example, a Russian weightlifter who is not part of the national team can hardly pay for the services of a lawyer, then the Premier League players have the opportunity to hire the best specialists, conduct some kind of medical research and provide the necessary package of documents for the trial, which leads to an acquittal. , - said the RT expert.
At the same time, from a legal point of view, the information, in her opinion, does not raise questions: in almost every case, an explanation is provided by UKAD why the sanction was not imposed or an investigation is still underway.
A situation in which no punishment is imposed for the use of these drugs is quite possible.
“It is my understanding that in the case of glucocorticoids, TUEs have been issued.
In a number of cases, there was talk of an unintentional intake, and if it is a special substance, then the punishment may be limited to a reprimand.
In the case of minors, if their insignificant guilt is proved, there is also the possibility of obtaining only a reprimand.
It is impossible to say how it was in each specific case, because for this you need to see the documents, but in general the situation does not look out of the ordinary, ”the specialist explained.
According to Ancielovich, it is understandable why this topic raised questions among many.
In the eyes of the layman, it often seems that a positive doping test automatically leads to a four-year ban.
“But the system of sanctions for doping violations is quite flexible.
The goal, of course, is to punish for the use of a prohibited substance, but the investigation in each case is carried out individually, taking into account all the circumstances.
After all, it is one thing to take anabolic steroids, for example, and quite another - the same glucocorticoids that are used for sports injuries, ”the lawyer explained.
Nevertheless, Olympic speed skating champion and State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova was outraged that none of the players who passed a positive test was punished.
In her opinion, there are double standards in the fight against doping.
“Had this happened to us, a scandal for the whole world would have been provided.
We need to understand who these players are.
It's one thing to play inside the championship, it's another thing to play internationally.
Moreover, many of the world's leading football players play in the English championship.
If everything happened inside the country, then I admit that the players repented, wrote an explanatory note, where it all came from, and, probably, for the first time, they forgave.
We wouldn't be allowed to do that.
That's right!"
- quotes the words of Zhurova "Match TV".