Fourth player fails drugs test
A FOURTH footballer tested positive for cocaine this year, The Mail on Sunday can reveal, as failed tests in English football hit record levels.
Official FA figures show nine anti-doping rule violations in 2014-15, up from four the year. All of the positive tests were for recreational drugs.
Sources have told The Mail on Sunday there have been several positive tests for cocaine in 2015.
Jake Livermore of Hull, then in the Premier League, tested positive in April. Championship goalkeeper Aaron McCarey of Wolves and striker Jose Baxter of League One side Sheffield United also failed tests.
Sources say at least one other unnamed Championship player tested positive for cocaine this year and made a mitigating ‘no fault’ plea based on alleged spiking and received a short suspended ban.
THERE were more positive drug tests in English football last season than in any other on record. Official Football Association figures show nine anti-doping rule violations in 2014-15, up from four the year before and almost double the number in any single season in the past decade.
All of the positive tests were for recreational drugs. Separately, sources have told The Mail on Sunday that there have been several positive tests for cocaine in the calendar year 2015 alone.
One of those was in April when Jake Livermore of Hull, then in the Premier League, tested positive. He was suspended by his club on the same May weekend that Wolves of the Championship and Sheffield United of League One respectively suspended goalkeeper Aaron McCarey and forward Jose Baxter for failing out-ofcompetition drug tests.
Livermore faces a maximum two-year ban for his offence because his failed test was an in-competition result. His manager at Hull, Steve Bruce, said last week Livermore had been in a ‘dark place for a long, long time’ emotionally when he took the cocaine, following the death of his newborn child last year.
McCarey, 23, received a four-month suspended ban, for testing positive for an unnamed substance. Baxter, 23, received a five-month ban, with three suspended, after testing positive for ecstasy. He claimed his drink had been spiked.
Sources say at least one other unnamed Championship player tested positive for cocaine this year and made a mitigating ‘no fault’ plea based on alleged spiking and received a short suspended ban.
There were more than 2,000 drugs tests on footballers playing in England last year. As well as testing for performanceenhancing drugs, the FA add a layer of testing for recreational drugs in an attempt to have the cleanest game possible.
The FA are not obliged to perform recreational testing, or to reveal details of those who fail out-ofcompetition tests for recreational drugs. Most cases are handled in secret.
A spokesman said: ‘The FA does not report the name of any player who tests positive for a social drug out of competition as this offence is not a World Anti-Doping Agency code offence.
‘Under the WADA code, recreational drugs, such as cocaine, are banned only when they are detected in-competition, on the day of a game or immediately afterwards.
‘The FA does, however, prosecute players under its own rules because it believes cocaine and other recreational drugs damage health, impair judgment and adversely affect the image of the game.
‘Players who are found to have taken performance-enhancing substances are publicly named.’