Ferdinand forgot to take a drug test. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/england/3169798.stm
I know the NFL regards a missed drug test as a failure, I guess we are lucky the FA doesn't have the same policy.
Gordon Taylor: I feel bad for Rio for missing the the England - Turkey match, but I'm frankly more concerned over any suspension period he must face and how that affects United.
Ah man... There should be someone in every major sports organization whose main job is to see to it that athletes don't mess up for stupid reasons. He should call every player the day before the drug test and be like "your ass better be at the clinic tomorrow". Better yet, he should just take the drug test for them.
Agreed. He deserves a suspension, IMO. Otherwise it sets a precedent that anyone "forgetting" to take their test is A-OK.
BBC has an interesting picture display about what players go thru when taking a drug test. Its amusing to say the least: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ - you have to choose that you are in the UK to see it. The link is right next to the the Rio story
----------------------------- United had fought desperately to stop the FA from excluding Ferdinand from the squad. And speculation arose that United had threatened to withdraw all their players in protest. When asked about that possibility at Tuesday's news conference, Eriksson said: "Let's hope not. That would be even worse." ------------------------------ ah, good ol sven, master of the obvious
What a C*ck up The FA does. This affair does not reflect well on anybody. In the past the FA have kept such stories secret until after a hearing. From an England point of view it’s probably the right decision for him to miss the game. Don’t want to give Turkey any legal options if we beat them. He apparently realised later that day and phoned the testers but none were available, for a retest. The FA needs to revise their procedures to make sure this will not happen again.
Re: Ah man... wow, I would be really surprised if there isn't someone who's supposed to be on top of these sort of things. it sounds a bit weak to say you 'forgot', even if it's true.
The thing that ticks me off is the fact that once Rio realized he had forgotten to report for the test he phoned and came back to the grounds to be test - only two hours after his scheduled test. United phoned up for the testers to come back but they did not return for two days. I would have limo'd Rio to the FA so he could piss on their front door that night!
Double standard? A similar case involving a Manchester City player was kept secret and the punishment was 2000 pounds and no suspension. Article in the Independent: http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/manchester_city/story.jsp?story=450995
"Well done, Beckham" Not so. Anyway, it doesn't matter if a City player didn't get a suspension or not. Rio's suspension is due to him missing a drug test and the punishment of that is that he won't be a representative of his country for a match.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3172568.stm what is going on? the BBC says the players are still considering a walkout, 3 days before the match.
Well, it doesn't bother me because they have a certain solidarity here, as opposed to a split between the players. This can only help team morale, IMO.
point taken, but if they walk out then England is disqualified from Euro 2004, aren't they? s*&tty situation all around. maybe it will bring the squad together though. Talk about adversity. First of all playing in the cauldron of Instanbul. Then the rape case. Then the Owen injury. Now the Rio drug test brouhaha. I predict that England is going to smash the Turks. But that's just my opinion.
I don't think there's much of a chance that the England players will not play. They won't let the country down just to stick it to the FA. But this Palios chap won't last long at this rate... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=279788&cc=5901
Rio's urged his teammates not to boycott. This was inevitable, and allows the team to show their support for him whilst still demonstrating their anger at the FA.