http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34314851.

Looking at the UKAD current sanctions list it suggests that both codes have a drugs problem. Why isn’t more made of it?

I think most sports are still at the stage cycling was 10 years ago, still keeping the omerta, and attacking the messenger, at both an administrative level and among the competitors.

No, no, it’s all down to “Professionalism”

😆

Yes! If they’d all skin up a bit more there would be none of this running around being aggressive.

Richie McCaw was clearly trippin’ on Sunday. But I don’t think that is what you mean.

No, theres no drug problem here sir, move along now, its just protein shakes and a healthy diet…

Drugs? Yes. Problem? Only when it gets found out.

indulge at your peril:
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=22225

Probably not as bad as WWE , but not by much

Our investigation found that the average weight of the England team in 1994 — a year before the advent of professionalism — was 14st 5lb (92.3kg). The England team that took on Ireland last Saturday averaged 16st 6lb (105.1kg)

(apologies for quoting the daily fail)

29lbs has magically through protein shakes and training been added to the average weight of a rugby player since the game went pro.

Next question, what’s the average mass that gear use adds to a 14 stone man? One wonders.

Yes, absolutely. Whether they want to do anything about it is a different matter all together.

This is a great quote from that article:
“When it comes to anti-doping, there is a very obvious Catch-22. Take it seriously and catch people (because there are cheats in every area of human activity), or pretend to take it seriously and catch nobody. Do the former and you have a “drugs problem”; do the latter, no problem…until a superstar makes a mistake and the edifice of propriety collapses.”

It’s not just the mass though. It’s the fact that they are so lean and faster than ever.

Inevitable. Any sport which swings more towards the physical aspect and away from the skill/ability/talent aspect will be blighted (and undeniably, rugby has swung this way since professionalism). I’d bet if there was a drug available which magically improved talent (awareness, co-ordination etc), it would be rife in the sports at the ability end.

Next question, what’s the average mass that gear use adds to a 14 stone man? One wonders.

Not a lot without the correct training and diet.
IMHO, the bigger rugby players (back rows etc) are at the very edge of what’s achievable naturally (I’m not for a second suggesting they’re all natural). Steroid use if absolutely rife, even for relatively casual gym users.

Don’t drugs shrink your old man? If so, my experience of the changing rooms at Pennyhill Park would suggest the answer is no!! 😉

Personally, I am sceptical about all pro sport. It the modern version of the coliseum.

lunge – Member
Yes, absolutely. Whether they want to do anything about it is a different matter all together.

This.

All sports are absolutely awash with doping. As with cycling, the authorities will wilfully ignore the elephant in the room, until it becomes completely untenable not too. Theres too much money at stake with TV rights, and all the rest of it, so those making fortunes out of it have no interest in changing things.

Nothing to see here….

Pro sport of all kinds has always had a drugs issue. There is something badly wrong with rugby right now, as its unsustainable to have as many major injuries that players are getting.

a year before the advent of professionalism

So the average weight of 14st was essentially that of an amateur sportsman who may have a career as well as playing rugby. Compare that with 16st now which is the weight of a dedicated professional with little else to do but train himself to the peak of his abilities.

It’s not just the mass though. It’s the fact that they are so lean and faster than ever

That happens when you dedicate yourself to training full time.

Pro sport of all kinds has always had a drugs issue. There is something badly wrong with rugby right now, as its unsustainable to have as many major injuries that players are getting.

I can’t be bothered to watch the world cup because of this. The marketing makes me wince, with all the focus on the Big Hit. It’s beginning to become as charmless a sport as football.

Agreed the big hit thing is garbage, I’d rather see some proper skill. When wingers are as big as centers or 7’s then something is pear shaped.

That happens when you dedicate yourself to training full time.

bwahahahahaha

when you have 3rd cats doping, and people doping on sportives – do you really think that your top of the game sport stars are clean? 😆

£££££££££££££££$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You can thank Lomu for that, dragon!

need to take back my question about shrinking – almost forgot the lunchbox!

That happens when you dedicate yourself to training full time.

Can’t disagree with that. Creates a problem for the guys coming up that can’t train full time though.

Wrecker sure can, although he’d look fairly normal in the game now!!

1994 – the year of professsionalism

that was also the year that Geweiss had 3 riders on the podium at the Fleche Wallonne with a c8min gap over everyone else
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/race_news/racenews-07/the-too-good-to-be-true-fleche-1994/#.VgEnn6T4-Hs

bigger they are the harder they fall.

RU keeps pushing itself as the purer, cleaner sport, attracting families through a heavy reliance on respect between players, officials, supporters etc. its a long way down from those lofty heights.

teamhurtmore – Member

need to take back my question about shrinking – almost forgot the lunchbox!

Posted 11 minutes ago #Report-Post

It’s the testicles that shrink,they no longer see the point in producing testosterone. Google is your NSFW friend here. I suppose shinkage would make the little fella look bigger…

Thanks a treat for the commute after the 189pp reports 😉

RU keeps pushing itself as the purer, cleaner sport, attracting families through a heavy reliance on respect between players, officials, supporters etc. its a long way down from those lofty heights.

Yeah, but to be fair that was always cobblers. It gets really boring listening to the egg-chasers banging on about premiership footballers and their behaviour, as if all rugby players are like the Dalai Lama, or something.

The fact of the matter is that the popularity of the sport is absolutely minuscule compared to football, so theres far less at stake. Thus the profile of the players receives nowhere the same kind of scrutiny, and the money involved isn’t anywhere near the same level, so theres less scope for the dodgy agents, hooky transfer dealings etc that football entails.

If you think for one minute that this supposed golden standard of respect, sportsmanship, blah, blah, blah would continue (if indeed it existed in the first place) if the authorities got their wish, and started puling in Premiership football sized audiences, you’re living in cloud cuckoo-land.

I don’t think the testing regime is too strict in the premiership. Funny how the pace of the game just gets faster and faster, season on season, isn’t it?

no one gets to be like that in any sport through clean living and healty eating

RU keeps pushing itself as the purer, cleaner sport, attracting families through a heavy reliance on respect between players, officials, supporters etc. its a long way down from those lofty heights.

RU has been taken over by commercial interests. Attracting families, getting more TV viewers (especially women – hence the tight kits), focusing on the Big Hit are all the initiatives of the marketing men and women who increasingly rule our professional sports.

But the long-term effect is to flatten all sports and make them increasingly boring. I always have to flip channels when the inevitable music montage starts.

Banned rugby players could form their own league…
or union…

http://www.ukad.org.uk/anti-doping-rule-violations/current-violations/

It may involve pictures THM…

Did I really just read that – Rugby players wear the tight playing tops to attract more female viewers ? I am not sure who should feel more patronised by that idea.

It’s no joking matter, but did anyone see the boxer on that list banned for life?!?!?

Clomiphene, Dihydrotestosterone, Mesterolone, Methyltestosterone, Nandrolone, Oxymetholone, Stanozolol, Testosterone, Trenbolone

****ing hell!!!!
I mean, ****ING HELL!!!!!

Did I really just read that – Rugby players wear the tight playing tops to attract more female viewers ? I am not sure who should feel more patronised by that idea.

From an article by a female writer on the Telegraph a few days back:

“Ah. Okay. You’ve caught me. It’s not the game. It’s the gamers. For a large part of the female audience, the greatest attraction of the Rugby World Cup is not the competition, the Corinthian spirit, the chance to relive glory days or whatever it is that attracts male viewers to the sport, but the chance to ogle big beefy men doing big beefy manly things.”
Link.

****ing hell!!!!
I mean, ****ING HELL!!!!!

And that’s just the stuff he was caught for.
PEDS in rugby is a massive issue, even at an amateur level. If the advantage is there it’ll be taken, and unfortunately the chain goes all the way to the top (see Cronulla sharks / Horse pills)

Fascinating link to UKDA with all the banned athletes.

Seems to me that rugby, union but league more so have a problem.

Attracting families, getting more TV viewers (especially women – hence the tight kits)

Garbage. The kits are tight to make them harder to grab hold of. That’s the case in league anyway. Pretty sure that the same stands for kick and clap.