Gareth Hock

Quote: Mintball "However, you could still fail a sports drugs test for having too much caffeine in your system – whether from a Red Bull, coffee or Pro Plus tablets.

Just as you could fail a drugs test for using an over-the-counter cold remedy.

The situation is currently ridiculous. Started as a proxy war in the Cold War, the issue of drugs in sport is totally out of control when consumption of a Lemsip would see you fail a test. It long ago (if ever) ceased to be about the health of the athlete and has become a sort of sports eats itself circle of craziness, with the testers always slightly behind the drug/masking producers (who are probably quite large companies, given the research etc needed – they're not just some bloke with a chemistry set in the garden shed).

The entire list should be scrapped completely and then we sit down and think out a rational and coherent approach to the issue.

On recreational drugs – slightly complex, since the cocaine could possibly improve performance. On the other hand, I'd leave something like a player using dope to their club as an internal disciplinary matter – since one would think it might do exactly the opposite of improving performance. As a slight aside, that then raises the question of booze

Sums up the current state of affairs rather well me thinks. I can only imagine that coke would improve performance if it was taken a relatively short period of time before the game. Having a few snifters with some beers 3 or 4 days earlier is unlikely to have any positive effects, quite the opposite imo