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  • 1980s French rugby team 'loaded on stimulants'
  • dannyh
    Free Member

    Quelle surprise?

    I think not. Many an international player from the 80s and early 90s are pretty sure they were on something…..

    French rugby Nutters

    Suggsey
    Free Member

    The amount of ” pills” I saw being handed out before the start of a premiership rugby match a couple of months ago was no surprise………ephedrine anyone?

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Still happening. I know a young lad who plays in the top league of scottish club rugby, openly admits to using ‘illegal enhancements’, mainly in the close season to bulk up. He also claims they’re all at it at his level.

    I have no reason to doubt him, and he has nothing to gain by telling me this either. Quite sad really.

    Tom-B
    Free Member

    No surprises at all, aND given the way that the game is going….ie all the players are **** massive, then it’s got to be absolutely rife imo.

    Is it still called drugby in SA?

    samunkim
    Free Member

    Well lets just hope the football league aren’t turning a blind eye to this sort of thing. I am sure we can be successful again at international level even if our players are a foot shorter than those of other cheating countries

    Pigface
    Free Member

    Tim Rodber was allegedly on “stuff” to the point no one wanted to room with him. Could be just a rumour.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Amphetamines where widely used in the NFL at the time also.

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    Just check out the current sanctions list on the UK anti doping website, rather a lot of egg chasers

    kcal
    Full Member

    Then you just have out and out man mountains like Peter Wright (former blacksmith I think)

    dannyh
    Free Member

    I can recall one winger who played for Leicester Tigers. He was lightning quick, but was regarded as being a bit slight. Season ended in April/May, and he reappeared in September at the start of next season built like the Terminator. But with no loss of pace.

    Mmmmmmmmmmm.

    Anyway, this thread wasn’t technically meant to be about steroids etc. it was more about the old tales of the French rugby team coming out for a game wild-eyed and bleeding having beaten the shit out of each other in the showers.

    Just look up Armand Vaquerin if you want to read about someone who probably enjoyed the brawly aspects of the game a little too much…….

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Pro sport…..

    pk13
    Full Member

    Tame compared to tennis.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Tame compared to tennis.

    You’ll need to explain to me how a sport that is all about power, speed and the ‘big hit’ isn’t as open to drugs as a sport that is all about talent, with a dose of speed and endurance too, granted.

    duckman
    Full Member

    Steroids are so 2000’s, HGH is the mass builder de jour.

    hilldodger
    Free Member

    Just check out the current sanctions list on the UK anti doping website, rather a lot of egg chasers….

    was expecting a lot of rugby dopers but surprised just how many, 25 of 46 currently banned UK sportpersons are egg botherers, 6 league rest union.
    Another sport stunk out of the room by it’s cheating dopers 🙁

    lunge
    Full Member

    I wrote the below on another forum re. the doping by the Goldcoast Titans rugby league team and how to manage doping in rugby, vaguely relevant to this discussion I think:

    This is a bit of a pet subject for me as the other sport I follow is cycling which has obviously more than its fair share of doping scandals. I’m pretty firmly of the belief that most, if not all, professional sports have a lot of doping going on, football, rugby (both codes), tennis, you name it, they all dope. I would be gob smacked if the recent results at the Titans are a one off or a result of a few individuals who were the exceptions not the rule (though I have no doubt this is how it will be reported)

    The question is how to deal with it. Cycling, in recent years at least, has been very open about it’s problems, it tests more regularly than pretty much any other sport and is open and honest about any positive results than come through. As a result, you see and hear of lots of positive results and people draw their conclusions about doping being endemic in the sport. Football (soccer if you must) and tennis on the other hand do quite the opposite. Minimal testing with no interest in doing more of it, positive results swept under the carpet and/or hidden from the general public and a pubic stance of “no, not us, nothing to see here, we’re all clean as a whistle…”, very much like cycling in the 80’s and 90’s in fact.

    Personally, I would love to see rugby take a more cycling based approach and be rigorous in their testing and honest in the results. However, I see that as unlikely as why would a sports governing body sign up to something that will inevitably lead to more positive test results and so more negative press?

    globalti
    Free Member

    I’m 100% certain that EVERY other sport has the same problem. Cycling has been more open about it because the effects of drugs can so easily be measured in miles ridden per hour and feet climbed up a mountain compared with other competitors.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    I trained in gyms with rugby lads in the 80s/90s. They used as much gear as the meatheads. I can’t imagine it’s different today.

    samunkim
    Free Member

    Nobeerinthefridge

    Hmmmmm Let me think ………………….

    Oh yeah W***iams sisters

    hilldodger
    Free Member

    Yes, agree that most sports have some degree of doping.
    So what do we think:
    Cycling – probably over it’s “worst” due to the the pretty thorough examination it’s had
    Football – will probably never know, far too much money involved for the “truth” to ever come out
    Rugby – well as above, pretty much doped up to the eyeballs, not surprising given the main skill set seems to be “runnning into each other”
    Tennis – some players seem to have strange “dips and peaks” in form and given the length of the playing season not surpirsd if there’s plenty of creative medicine being used
    Athletics – long history of cheating in the power events – again like cycling, maybe over the worst?
    Golf – plenty of rumours and gossip but only upheld bans seem to be of “journeymen” type players

    wrecker
    Free Member

    HGH is the mass builder de jour.

    HGH is not anywhere near as effective a mass builder as steriods and it takes months for notable changes as opposed to weeks. Most bodybuilders would not cease taking steriods if taking HGH. It’s very slow at putting muscle on people in comparison even at very high doses. It is popular as it is nowhere near as dangerous as steriods, has none of the health drawbacks, indeed it’s often used for injury rehabilitation and supposedly improves your eyesight, skin and scar tissue.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    You’ll need to explain to me how a sport that is all about power, speed and the ‘big hit’ isn’t as open to drugs as a sport that is all about talent, with a dose of speed and endurance too, granted.

    Tennis has long brushed doping under the carpet using that exact argument. Move along, nothing to see here!

    Don’t think there’s much to choose between the top players when it comes to their level of skill, all massively high at that level. It’s being able to apply that skill over the course of a major tournament consisting of many games, some lasting hours. Things like stamina, endurance and recovery are likely much greater differentiators than skill. Mental side also a big aspect that could be enhanced with a bit of doping.

    ratherbeintobago
    Full Member

    Tennis has long brushed doping under the carpet using that exact argument. Move along, nothing to see here!

    I’m fairly sure a number of prominent tennis (and Real Madrid players) were alleged to have been clients of Fuentes.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Probably the reason the Spanish courts won’t allow the blood bags to be identified…

    However in December 2010, he (Fuentes) is quoted saying “If I would talk, the Spanish football team would be stripped of the 2010 World Cup”

    bombjack
    Free Member

    Not wanting to fan the flames too much, but from personal experience at (admittedly lower level) pro sports, if you can gain an advantage from being bigger / faster / stronger theres a drug for it.
    And its only cheating if you get caught (TM Armstrong, L)
    Golf / Tennis / Motorsports / Cycling / Rugby, you name it there will be PEDS involved, even down to amateur levels.

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