UK Anti-Doping called for a meeting with Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger "over his concerns about drugs in football and said it would be naive to believe the sport does not have a problem," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. UKAD CEO Nicole Sapstead said that "she would welcome a meeting with Wenger."
The Arsenal manager has been outspoken over many years in his belief football has a doping problem that is not being confronted, two years ago saying the sport is "full of legends who are in fact cheats." Sapstead said, "I think it’s foolish for any sport to think that they’re immune from doping, I really do. You’ve got a sport that commands huge salaries -- players command huge salaries -- there’s huge television rights. There’s a lot to be gained from doping, irrespective of looking at the physiological requirements of the game itself. Look at how the game is played, the recovery rate with injuries. Football, tennis, other sports: something doesn’t feel right." Sapstead confirmed UKAD could sign a contract to help Russia re-establish its laboratories to a World-Anti-Doping Agency compliant standard "in the wake of the country’s ban from athletics" over a huge state-sponsored doping program.
She said WADA had made an initial approach to UKAD but that "no contract had yet been signed" (GUARDIAN, 1/20).
