Rio Ferdinand Goes Down For The Count (yes, tis about Footie)

So, he still gets busted for, bascially, letting his calls go to to voicemail.

So much for being innocent, until proven guilty. Must only qualify as a US thing.

Still, that's one hell of a chunk of change considering the size of his paycheck. Suspensions still mean he won't be earning.

More serious charges of neglect of proper duty should be set on UK Sport and to a lesser extent Manchester Utd officials for not having systems and procedures in place to ensure that he did NOT leave the ground.

he's guilty of missing the dope test, nichole, and that's what he's being punished for

I know, Sinker. However, something says the FA just wants to make an example of him.

I humbly submit that I haven't always seen this as an overriding concern among all athletes.

True, enough. That doesn't mean that it shouldn't matter at all, however. (Pardon. My secret idealist streak asserted itself for a second.)

ask the question: in your time of working with Rio - did he come across as forgetful?

- Not wilful; it's an interesting distinction. The FA had two options - wilful failure (which equates to failing a test in the rules) and failure to attend. In that sense, it is a lesser charge. However, the range of punishments is exactly the same; the stricter charge simply lessens the discretion over punishment options, but the tariff of penalities is the same. If it's not splitting hairs - wilful evasion equates with Ferdinand effectively saying 'I do not wish to take this test because I do not agree with testing / I think I might get caught for being a naughty drug using boy'. The charge he's been done on is perhaps more the FA saying 'You are a fuckwit who has completely undermined the point of the drug testing rules, and though you might not have done it deliberately, you are negligent beyond belief.'

- What will he get? Today's Grauniad this morning suggest a year.

- Innocent until proven guilty - the thrust of anti-doping law is strict liability which effectively reverses the dictum. Whether that's right or wrong is another debate, but it is the same the world over.

- Prevalence of drugs in football - a mate was on telly with an ex-pro talking about this affair, and the ex-player was stating that there was no drugs problem in sport. When the cameras were switched off, he admitted he had been telling a few porkies and that infact football had a problem here. It stands to reason though; if someone will take supplements to win a race that might get them a couple of grand, surely where the rewards are greater the incentive is even greater (witness Serie A nandrolone shennanigans a year or so ago). Also, a major factor in a game is stamina; look at the number of goals scored in the last 10 minutes - he who runs longest had more chance of winning. Or retaining their place in a side in a league where the virtues of industry and energy and 'putting yourself about' are extolled (= it's all Hopkins fault.) If you listen to what ex-players say about yer modern game, they all say that skillwise, they reckon they could compete, but the speed, pace and stamina required now is so much more. Either this is due to the neglect of chips in favour of pasta or maybe there is more going on here. Not saying there is, but all the ingredients of the desire to use performance enhancers are there - competition for places, emphasis on stamina, great rewards to the victors. It would be far more strange if football didn't have a problem to honest. maybe it doesn't; maybe it retains a sense of honest work-ethic. I don't know. And nor do the FA, hence the desire to improve the track record on drug testing in the game.

- Final conspiratorial thought: Key evidence = Rio's mobile records. Provided by Vodafone. Who sponsor ManYoo. Who stand to lose a player for some time, thus affecting their playing potential. Thus making the chances of ManYoo players pictured with the championship wearing Vodafone plastered gear. Not to mention pictures of Rio (The Drugs Fiend!) in a Vodafone plastered shirt. Also has big impact on Man Yoo books - do they pay him 80K a week when he's not playing, and will come back tarnished and lacking match fitness? Whose value depreciates further on their balance sheet, where they amortise his transfer fee over the length of his contract? Basically, a key provider of evidence (in a non-judicial setting) is also an extremely interested party in L'affair Ferdinand. Maybe they're honest as the day is long, but our old friend 'massive conflict of interest' barges his way to centre stage in a football related story.

Apologies for wanky Frenchness at the end.

Ban him.

appeal...

Which is actually what the FA wants IMO.

They were unduly influenced by Blatter's bluster.

also...Bosnich got 9 months for being a druggie

got to admit I always defended Eric from tabloid abuse, mainly because the abuse he got incarnated the cultural compartmentalism which sickens me about those papers; he was certainly a key figure in a lot of Man Utd fans' consciously "un-English", even anti-English, identity. the same unfortunately can't be said for Rio, however many "two fingers to old establishment institutions like the FA" justifications Richard Kurt might put on it (K-Punk to thread).

a) Take the test, get fired, get banned for two years

b) "Forget" and get 8 months holiday on full pay

Answers on a postcard marked "I know footballers are stupid but FFS!"

Mutu also lost his job remember, he's been punished twice.

Was Paul Merson punished for admitting to taking cocaine?

Lee Bowyer's punishment for taking recreational drugs at Charlton was a money spinning transfer to Leeds, while his less sellable teammates were sacked.

Double standards are rife at clubs as well as a FA.

It baffles me that people can say that. Mutu has about one, maybe two duties to his club by contract: Stay Clean, turn up.

He screwed up. I would lose my job if I didn't turn up half the time and tested positive for drugs! It is common sense, and his own fault. My sympathy doesn't extend to a man stupid enough to, in a sense, bite the hand that fed him by breaching his contract.

which is a problem for football's governing bodies - hence additional ban.