The Return of the Rio!

By The Mad Hatter
September 18 2004

With Rio Ferdinand now eligible to play for Manchester United again, ManUtdWeb columnist and Man chester United fan 'The Mad Hatter' takes a look at the fairness of his ban in the firstplace. Hatter looks into previous bans on footballers, Rio and the FA.

With Rio Ferdinand now eligible to play for Manchester United again, ManUtdWeb takes a look at the fairness of his ban in the firstplace.

Rio Ferdinand missed a drugs test. Not ''a player has missed a drugs test''. Not any player, but Rio Ferdinand. The player's name was given out, and the theory that you are innocent until proven guilty was dispensed with, as the player was tried and sentenced by the press before the hearing even took place.

The FA at once boarded the Blunder Bus and in their supreme fairness decided to try Ferdinand by an independent commission. Made up of FA members.

The press weren't the only ones to make their feelings known. Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, decided to offer his infinite wisdom on the subject. Taking a break from complaining that women's football kit was not ''feminine'' enough, he took his chance to drive on in his own little personal crusade against English football ,ongoing ever since the FA opposed his re-election as FIFA president, citing that should Manchester United take the FA to court over the Ferdinand case, he would intervene. Dont you just love him?

So Rio missed a drugs test. Everyone's reaction? ''To the BanMobile!'' Hmmm. So what? You would expect the same for any other player, why should Rio be an exception? Well, apparently not. The thing is, Rio was an exception.
The players named below all failed drugs tests. They were sentenced, but had their bans reduced on appeal.

Jaap Stam: 4 month ban, tested positive for Nandralone

Edgar Davids: 3 month ban, tested positive for Nandralone

Frank de Boer: 4 month ban, tested positive for Nandralone

Those players all tested positive, that's right, positive for drugs. Compare their sentence to Rio's.

Rio Ferdinand: 9 month ban; missed drugs test - later accepted by FA that he had not taken drugs.

Right. So some players test positive for illegal drugs, and gets a ban half the one of someone who missed a drugs test and does not test positive for illegal drugs. Hell, Davids even threatened to take the case to court. Why does everyone turn a blind eye to this? It seems quite incredible. Yet Blatter wants to take a hardline stance on drugs. As did Palios in his glorious reign at the FA. Quite. But there's more.

A Premiership player who missed a drugs test, Christian Negouai, got off with a fine. No 9 month ban. Just a fine. And the FA claims to treat all cases equally. A player misses a drugs test and gets a fine. What sort of a message did that send out about the consequences of missing a drugs test?

There is no argument that Ferdinand had to be punished for his mistake. But an 8 month ban, when compared to the cases mentioned above, a ban twice the length of that for someone who actually tested positive for drugs, seems extremely harsh. Also, if Rio really wanted to cheat a drugs test, surely there was a better way than just ''forgetting''. For instance, the legendary Argentinean Diego Maradona used to use a plastic penis filled with urine to cheat drugs tests. Ingenious.