Soccer is a very competitive game and players need to step up to a higher level so they can match those who are achieving great feats. One fast, but illegal and unintelligent way to step up is through the use of drugs and through out the game’s history there has been players caught using drugs.
In soccer, players caught using performance enhancing drugs are banned or even terminated. There has been cases where players who have been caught using drugs being banned. On one case, Manchester United’s center defender Rio Ferdinand missed a routine drug test. The association was suspicious and therefore decided to ban Rio for 8 months plus giving him a 50,000 pound fine.
Exceptions for drug usage include pain killers and some anesthetics which can be used during a match to reduce pain or during operations. On a few occasions players might be carrying an injury which is not that serious, but at the same time wants to play a match. The pain can be reduced with the use of pain killers and they are legal to be used during matches. Although using pain killers during matches can actually worsen a player’s injury. For example, a player playing with a broken toe can numb the pain for the duration of a match, but when another players accidently stomps on the toe, it can far worsen the pain. So using anesthetics during a match is actually a short-term gain for a long-term risk.
Using drugs is an ingenious way to step up to a higher level. Although it can increase stamina endurance and skills, sooner or later players using drugs can be banned which is a higher price to pay.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/22/sports/sp-53993
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/drugs.htm
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-performance-could-suffer-from-medicine-use-35941
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/performance-enhancing-drugs-in-sports-35863