Giving a new spark to WADA’s new code, football could face Olympic axe if its chief bodies, FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA, do not meet the terms of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) “whereabouts” code.

WADA wants the sport to join athletics against steroid abuse fight by providing players’ location for one hour each day of the year for doping test procedures. However, FIFA and UEFA said that they wanted to respect players’ privacy and did not accept that controls be undertaken during the short holiday period of players.

Wada general secretary David Howman said, “The sport could be removed from the Olympics.” He also added, “There is a clause in the IOC (International Olympic Committee) charter that states this - it falls in the IOC jurisdiction and not ours.”

In a teamwork effort to fight against doping, FIFA and Uefa asked Wada to reconsider its position on the ‘whereabouts’ rule. The governing bodies wanted to point out the fundamental differences between an individual athlete, who trains on his own, and a team sport’s athlete, who is present at the stadium six days out of seven, and thus easy to locate. Because of that, FIFA and UEFA wanted to replace the individual ‘whereabouts’ rule by collective location rules.

From BBC:

Football’s place in the Olympics could be under threat if its chief bodies do not comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) “whereabouts” code.

Wada wants football to join sports like athletics and provide players’ location for one hour each day of the year.

World football body, Fifa, and its European counterpart, Uefa, said they wanted to respect players’ privacy.

“The sport could be removed from the Olympics,” Wada general secretary David Howman told BBC 5 Live.

He added: “There is a clause in the IOC (International Olympic Committee) charter that states this - it falls in the IOC jurisdiction and not ours.”

President of Wada, John Fahey responded, “One of the key principles of efficient doping control is the surprise effect and the possibility to test an athlete without advance notice on a 365-day basis. Alleging that testing should only take place at training grounds and not during holiday periods, it ignores the reality of doping in sport.”

However, Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who sits on Wada’s board, said that football’s world governing body had teamed up with other team sports, such as basketball, ice hockey and rugby union, to oppose the rules. “We are a little bit surprised that through certain declarations [Wada] say there will be no exceptions made,” he said.

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) had already signalled their opposition to the WADA’s new code of doping.

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International footballers may not be into steroids, the kind that thrust A-Rod into the spotlight, but they were definitely into non-steroidanti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Research has revealed that these can lead to liver and kidney damage. These are similar side-effects that result from steroid use. However, recent drug tests results showed that almost 60% of football players in the Euro 2008 had the presence of NSAIDs in their urine samples. England wasn’t even included in the testing.

While players like John Terry openly admits he uses anti-inflammatory injections. But he seems confident that the sophisticated – and expensive—medical care in England would prevent scandalous headlines screaming of drug abuse and addiction. While the injections are regulated, there are still health risks that the players should consider.

From Telegraph:

Terry could end up in a wheelchair while even those of his team-mates taking NSAIDs must be made aware of the “side-effect risks“, according to Uefa.

Footballers have always risked long-term pain for short-term gain, pushing their bodies to the brink and beyond. The sight of a Seventies legend hobbling into a commentary box, his knees shot by too many cortisone injections, is a staple of modern match-day life.

In the five months leading up to Euro 2008, Uefa granted permission for 16 of the 368 players due to play in the tournament to receive cortisone injections, while eight more were injected during the June tournament itself.

Those numbers are manageable, greatly reduced from the Seventies and Eighties, as players begin to appreciate the dangers. NSAIDs are now the main concern because of the numbers of players taking pills.

The use of NSAIDs according to Uefa was for the treatment of musculo-skeletal problems. A debate was requested by Professor Jan Ekstrand on the reports that NSAIDs can lead to liver and kidney problems. English football should listen to Ekstrand who did a research to prove that those players who did not have any winter break are likely to experience injuries five times more than those who had time to rest. And this was proven with David Beckham in 2002 and Wayne Rooney in 2006 prior to World Cup.

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