But taking cocaine is not cheating...

Also, you have no evidence that the players you've listed never took any illegal substances. In fact, since there was very little testing during that era, it's quite possible that some, or all, of the players you listed could have taken substances which would now be considered illegal.

So no alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, anti-inflammatories, painkillers and so on?

The PEDs in a sport I can fully agree upon, however, non-performance enhancing recreational drugs? What happens if cannabis became legal here and effectively falls under the same rules as alcohol? If it's still banned in sport why? There are already cases in the US where this is happening. A legal substance leads to a ban but getting drunk doesn't.

Something used as an anesthetic is a performance enhancer? I'm pretty sure we can't measure performance enhancement by it making you laugh. Also made illegal in the UK in 1920, although ironically the UK is the worlds largest exporter of legal cocaine and heroin.

I never said I had any evidence Jeff. I accept times are different, and there are variants of drug chemistry which enhance or don’t, but will never endorse recreational drug use, or PED, while you are earning a living as a professional sportsman, you can dress it up as much as you want.

As a recipient of what we thought at the time was cocaine at the dentists in the sixties, if you are correct that it was banned in the U.K. in 1920, what exactly was injected Goobervision, another variant.

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There is a vast chasm of difference between endorsing drug use and not discarding young men who made a mistake.

Laughing gass through an inhaler

When do you discard a player? Is a serial offender not in more need of support to tackle their issues? look were the choices of Scott Moore and Malcom Alker have taken them. Has RL let them down? Or is the level of support you get dependent on your RL playing talent?

But look at someone like Ryan Bailey. In trouble with the law as a young lad, went to prison. Leeds gave him a second chance, and he became one of the most decorated players in SL history.

There is no black and white in any of these matters, it is all shades of grey. What works for one player, may not work for another.

A player like Scott Moore was given multiple chances. Every time a new indiscretion came out, his career went further and further down the spout. He went from Saints, at a time when they were one of the most dominant forces in SL, to Bradford in League One, all in a matter of ten years or so. I cannot comment on the support he received at his plethora of clubs he played at, but it certainly seems that clubs were willing to help him in his career.

The fact is, some players you just cannot help. But that is not to say that we don't continue to help players with issues.

With Hardaker, he has had his troubles, he will serve his ban and then time will tell. Perhaps whoever signs him will get a coke fiend, homophobic, aggressive thug. But maybe, they'll get a reformed character with a will to make good on the promise that allowed him to get a deal in the first place.

Nobody here knows what will happen in 2019, but one thing I do know is that he deserves a chance to redeem himself. Hardaker knows that this is the last chance saloon, and any indiscretions in future, could see him out of the game entirely.

well we went for Hock in the off season so Hardaker is no worse for me

Fans carried on loving Feka after getting convicted of breaking a puny mans jaw, to my knowledge Hardakers never even been to court, i could be wrong but i never found anything on the Google