Actually I don’t think there is in cycling either. What there is, is the above using drugs, especially weight loss drugs, not on the banned list yet, and wilful blind eye turning imo.
Thats why i think some lads are nervous.
Clubs though i am talking about now. French & English in particular.
I’m making a distunction between clubs and players here . Some players are. I doubt the clubs are sponsoring and driving it like in cycling
Funnily enough, the only pro I have seen in the flesh recently who was bigger than I expected was Danny cipriani.
I think the players are starting to shrink again anyways. Realisation that you can be massive for 6 or 7 years and retire injured or medium sized for 10+
Agreed. I think also that this is due to a gradual cultural shift on bodybuilding drugs.
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I agree with all that. The amateur-pro thing is silly at this stage in that context. And as ypu say, they are actuall smaller now than early professionalism
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Probably not like cycling. However look at Essedon in AFL. It wasn’t really club sponsored or driven. But it was systematic from within with certain staff and a bit of ignoring going on.
I have little doubt clubs in the top 2 divisions in France and England have had something simialr if not now in the very recent past.
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Don’t think its the players driving that. Think its sports science and coaching realising that skill is still king and that size does not equal strength, and that after 3 development years generally you are “strong enough” for field sport. Its marginal gains physically after that. Players really have little choice in what they do.
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Yes but I think that the bodybuilding culture began earlier, amongst young lads who wanted a pro rugby career more than anything, and felt that size and strength were paramount in improving their chances. I think the culture started before the professional clubs got involved with them, and maybe spilled over ( iirc Blackrock college severed their link with the leister academy for this reason)
Once a few young lads start, others, easily swayed at that age as we all were, and still are, felt they needed to do likewise just for an even throw of the dice.
Nowadays, the clubs take swathes of these lads into their academies earlier and winnow them out at their leisure, and control the environment better. This also to an extent would remove the fear of not making that single jump from amateur to professional. It’s more of a smooth phasing in, or out.
I’m more suspicious of Epo use amongst some of the top top international sides these days than I am of steroids.
The trick in cycling is to be light and strong.
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There is a handy get out clause that many sports use that cycling is the most bent sport of the lot. I don’t buy that. Cycling is a scapegoat. It is basic human nature to be looking for a competitive edge. So Dan don’t be fooling yourself that rugby is clean. It is bent like every other sport.
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Also to be fair I think most cycling doping these days is not carried out on team wide basis (with exceptions of course). Most of it carried out by individuals or groups of riders but not led by team.
Hmm. Wouldn’t be too sure about that.
I’d say rugby now is where cycling was around about 1995 in terms of denial from those within the sport of there being a doping problem.
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Fair enough
Your entitled to your view. At no point did I say rugby was clean. I said I didn’t believe there was systematic doping programs like in cycling
Time will tell I guess
Dunno Dan, given the inordinate amount of punishment bodies take at high level rugby I’d be amazed if there wasn’t some form of chemical assistance being given in a systematic program
Grand Art. Not interested in trying to convince anyone otherwise. As I said only time will tell
Harlequins had a doctor who agreed to participate in staging fake blood injuries for the team’s benefit.
Why is it such a leap to think there may be other team doctors who may participate in doping practices?
It’s not as if it hasn’t happened in other sports, is it?
A better class of person plays rugby Sid. They just wouldn’t cheat.
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