Tester pays the price
Thursday, December 18, 2003
From the Guardian
Rio Ferdinand's doping case looks set to claim its first high-profile victim even before his two-day hearing begins at Bolton's Reebok Stadium today with Michele Verroken, the woman who oversaw the test missed by the £30m Manchester United and England defender, being forced to resign from UK Sport.
Verroken, UK Sport's head of ethics and anti-doping, looks certain to pay the price for Ferdinand's name becoming public, which has so angered the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor that he has threatened to pull his members out of all tests with UK Sport.
Verroken was told at a meeting on Tuesday with Sue Campbell, the interim chair of UK Sport, that she has no future in her role with the agency that oversees the development of elite athletes and drug testing in British sport.
She is now on paid leave at home and John Scott, the director of international relations and major events, has filled her role temporarily.
Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, expressed his regret. "She's been the face of British anti-doping for a number of years," he said. "One thing she's always argued for is, if you have a doping agency, it has been independent. Otherwise there are obvious dangers."
It was Verroken to whom the drug testers reported Ferdinand's failure to turn up for the test at Manchester United's training ground at Carrington on September 23.'
SUN on Rio's case
Thursday, December 18, 2003
From the SUN
' THERE is no argument that Rio Ferdinand missed a drug test on September 23.
He was told he was required for a sample, walked out of Manchester United’s training ground without giving one and went shopping in the city centre.
Case closed, argue the anti-Rio brigade. Ban him for the maximum two years.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is their champion. The only thing Blatter has not advocated as a punishment for Rio is a public execution — but, hey, give him time.
Yet Blatter admits he does not know the circumstances. So is it not right and proper he should consider some of the evidence before shooting his mouth off?
Ferdinand says he “forgot” to take the test and once he realised made every effort to get it done.
As SunSport revealed, Ferdinand made contact with United at 2.02pm on the day in question and the testers did not leave until 2.27pm.
The UK Sport testers told him he was too late and they were not prepared to wait for him.
But, as we point out today, it would have taken Ferdinand 18 minutes, sticking to the rules of the road, to get back to the Carrington training base from where he was.
Why could they not wait? A player’s career was on the line here and they knew what the consequences would be. Or was it they just wanted to get a famous notch on an empty test tube?
There will be many arguments over the next two days about who said what to whom and when.
For instance, the testers did not make contact with Ferdinand themselves on arrival. They asked the United medical staff to do that.
The United doctor, Mike Stone, will be called to give evidence at the FA tribunal in Bolton today to explain how the breakdown in communication came about and what efforts were made to find Rio.
It could be argued it was the club’s fault Ferdinand walked out because they should have made sure he turned up.
This puts Maurice Watkins, the club solicitor and director, in a tricky position. He represents both United and Ferdinand and will advise defence QC Ron Thwaites.
They aim to get Ferdinand off a ban without the club being culpable.
Yet the FA rule book is unclear on who has what responsibilities during a random drug test.
It has been argued UK Sport guidelines are that, in the case of an unannounced drug swoop, a test should begin within an hour. But FA rules do not explain what the consequences are if it does not.
Only in the case of arranged tests does it say officials will wait for up to two hours beyond the time agreed before the FA are informed a test has been missed.
Ferdinand, 25, was never given a specific time for his test, so no one can say for certain by what time it should have been completed.
One of four United players summoned that day, Nicky Butt, went for lunch before taking his test.
Nowhere in FA rules does it say a player must remain on site before taking the test. FA executive director David Davies says the rulebook will be tightened but has virtually admitted Ferdinand did not break current regulations.
Ferdinand’s defence team have obtained a written statement from Manchester City’s Eyal Berkovic, a former West Ham team-mate of his, which states the player made every effort to get the test taken once he realised his mistake.
United boss Alex Ferguson will argue it was a simple case of forgetfulness while England coach Sven Goran Eriksson has written stating Ferdinand is a man of honesty.
The England defender is charged with ‘failure or refusal’ to take a test. The FA have a job on their hands proving refusal but Ferdinand’s team will find it equally hard to get him off ‘failure’.
The three-man commission hearing the case is led by FA councillor Barry Bright, the head of the FA disciplinary committee — and he can be a tough taskmaster.
But leading sports lawyer Simon Tracey said: “If Rio offered to come back and UK Sport said ‘don’t bother’ I think there are persuasive arguments to say that, regardless of the timings, he did not fail to take the test.”
Let battle commence.
Seems to me the FA havent got a fuckin clue!!
Also the FA are reportedly not happy at Svens glowing ref for the United defender.
