Prompted by Kolo Toure's recent failed drug test, former Spurs and Toronto FC player Rohan Ricketts decided to use his column for The Sabotage Times to claim that drug-taking among footballers is "far more common than we might think."
Rohan's first revelation is a dubious, yet not at all shocking one.
We still don't know whether the Manchester City player is guilty or not of intentionally taking illegal substances but it's not the first I've heard of big name players taking drugs. I've even heard about one England international who likes to take Charlie [cocaine] and go out clubbing with his partner.
Oh, you've heard, have you, Rohan? Well that settles it. Then again, I could just as easily say I've heard of one former Spurs player who does a fistful of mescaline before every match. Which is why he now plays for SV Wilhelmshaven in the German fourth division.
Rohan's most sweeping allegation is reserved for MLS, though -- where he played for Toronto from 2008 to 2009.
When I played in MLS, there were loads of young players straight out of college who liked to smoke weed. They were just carrying on their campus lifestyle even though they were now pros. One guy I played against got caught but the whole affair was swept under the rug which seemed a little unfair when just six months later two New York Red Bulls players Jon Conway and defender Jeff Parke got banned for taking performance enhancers. I guess it's all about who you know…
In a league that boasts a real-life Ras Trent and has a large number of players with college experience that may or may not have included late nights eating Funyuns and listening to the Dave Matthews Band, it's not hard to imagine this being true. But as FourFourTwo's James Maw pointed out, Rohan sometimes has an awful memory when it comes to the most basic of facts. So keep that in mind before you go to an MLS match hoping to get a contact high.
Photo: Getty Images
No comments:
Post a Comment