Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea claim that the publication of doping allegations made by the Sunday Times are "without foundation," according to Nick Lustig of SKY SPORTS.
The three Premier League clubs were named in a Sunday Times report which claims a doctor -- named by the newspaper as Dr. Mark Bonar -- "had been secretly filmed allegedly discussing working with numerous professional athletes, who used banned treatments."
The report stated that Bonar "had claimed to have treated players from Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea." Those claims "have been rejected by all three clubs, who also expressed their disappointment at the publication of the report." In a statement, Leicester said, "Leicester City Football Club is extremely disappointed that The Sunday Times has published unsubstantiated allegations referring to players from clubs including Leicester City when, on its own admission, it has insufficient evidence to support the claims."
A Chelsea statement read, "The claims The Sunday Times put to us are false and entirely without foundation. Chelsea Football Club has never used the services of Dr Bonar and has no knowledge or record of any of our players having been treated by him or using his services." Arsenal, like Leicester and Chelsea, "were similarly dismissive of the allegations." A statement read,
"Arsenal Football Club is extremely disappointed by the publication of these false claims which are without foundation" (SKY SPORTS, 4/3). The BBC reported Championship side Birmingham City said, "The club have not used the services of Mark Bonar and has no knowledge or record of any of our players, past or present, doing so." The FA released a statement regarding the claims, saying, "These are very serious allegations. As such, The FA welcomes UK Anti-Doping's decision to immediately launch an independent review into the matters raised by the Sunday Times." World Anti-Doping Agency President Craig Reedie said it was "pretty dreadful news" and backed calls for an inquiry, but added, "It is best to wait for UKAD to do their own investigation, then we have full knowledge of the facts to work with" (BBC, 4/3).
BONAR DENIAL: In London, Ben Rumsby wrote Bonar "was said to have boasted about treating players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City and Birmingham City, although there is no evidence the clubs were aware of any alleged relationship he might have had with their footballers."
The doping claims, if true, "would represent one of the biggest ever drugs scandal in British sport." Bonar "denied doping sports stars to enhance their performance and said he had not breached GMC rules." He said, "The fact that some of my patients happen to be professional athletes is irrelevant. If they have proven deficiencies on blood work and are symptomatic, I will treat them. They are well fully aware of the risks of using these medicines in professional sport and it is their responsibility to comply with anti-doping regulations" (TELEGRAPH, 4/3).
DOPING STATS: In a separate piece, Rumsby wrote more than 3,500 players have played in the Premier League "and only one has ever been banned for taking performance-enhancing drugs."
But "no right-thinking person would argue that former Liverpool, Everton and Middlesbrough defender Abel Xavier is the only footballer to have doped during the competition’s 24-year history."
Equally, "no right-thinking person would conclude the Premier League was riddled with drugs cheats from the Sunday Times’s explosive claims a British doctor admitted prescribing banned substances to some of its players." The truth "clearly lies somewhere in between, although the very nature of doping makes it impossible to say precisely where."
The FA, "which is responsible for administering the Premier League’s anti-doping programme, will argue the problem is as isolated as its own statistics indicate."
These show that among hundreds of urine and blood samples collected across English football every year -- 2,286 last season -- there "are only a handful of rule violations, often as a result of recreational drug use." If Premier League footballers are doping, "it is also far more likely to be on an individual basis than as part of some illicit club-wide programme" (TELEGRAPH, 4/3).
