Yasir Shah tests positive for banned substance

[hendrix]

The more I think about this the more I think it should be a lifetime ban.

 

[indiaholic]

Hmm.. Wonder what message that sends out.. Cheat so that your team wins and you get a lifetime ban. Accept money to lose games and you get welcomed back with open arms.

 

[smash84]

Hmm.. Wonder what message that sends out.. Cheat so that your team wins and you get a lifetime ban. Accept money to lose games and you get welcomed back with open arms.

yeah, that's a fair observation i reckon.

 

[hendrix]

Hmm.. Wonder what message that sends out.. Cheat so that your team wins and you get a lifetime ban. Accept money to lose games and you get welcomed back with open arms.

except it's not just cheating so your team wins. It's cheating for personal gain just as much if not more than team gains. It's also preventing other non-cheaters from being selected, thus creating an atmosphere where you have to cheat in order to have a career in sport.

 

[indiaholic]

Fair enough.. But Yasir's cheating doesn't have a negative impact on the paying public while a fixer basically puts the fundamental premise of all sports into question.

 

[indiaholic]

That is without even mentioning the various criminal networks that players bring into the game when they decide to fix games..

 

[hendrix]

Fair enough.. But Yasir's cheating doesn't have a negative impact on the paying public while a fixer basically puts the fundamental premise of all sports into question.

that's true, but I would argue that the authenticity of a sport is also compromised by cultures of drug cheating. If the winner of a match is decided by whoever took the most drugs and compromises their health the most it also damages fundamental premises of sport.

 

[hendrix]

and even aside from the deterrent part of it, if you've taken PEDs you've enabled yourself to train harder and longer than a clean athlete could; you've effectively bought yourself time that wouldn't be available in normal circumstances. So once you've drug cheated, you're always a drug cheat, whether you're still taking them or not. You're constantly cheating for the rest of your life.

 

[indiaholic]

But all sportsmen compromise their health to some extent, no? Fast bowlers are prepared to suffer repeated back injuries, soccer, football and boxing almost ensures some level of brain damage.. Many of the fighting sports have severe weight cuts etc..

I am not disagreeing that doping is an offense and should be dealt with severely.. Just that in terms of overall damage to the sport, it ranks way behind match fixing. It changes the nature of the whole enterprise. It stops being a sport and devolves into mere entertainment.

 

[hendrix]

But all sportsmen compromise their health to some extent, no? Fast bowlers are prepared to suffer repeated back injuries, soccer, football and boxing almost ensures some level of brain damage.. Many of the fighting sports have severe weight cuts etc..

I am not disagreeing that doping is an offense and should be dealt with severely.. Just that in terms of overall damage to the sport, it ranks way behind match fixing. It changes the nature of the whole enterprise. It stops being a sport and devolves into mere entertainment.

It's not so much the compromise of health as the fact that it becomes a battle of chemicals rather than a human battle. And then the fact that that culture forces people who want to become career athletes to dope.

 

[indiaholic]

In the case of leg spin bowlers, surely the greatest benefit has to be injury prevention? Wouldn't go so far as to say it completely devalues the human element.

 

[cnerd123]

In the case of leg spin bowlers, surely the greatest benefit has to be injury prevention? Wouldn't go so far as to say it completely devalues the human element.

Less injury time = more time to train = a leg up on all the other leggies

 

[hendrix]

In the case of leg spin bowlers, surely the greatest benefit has to be injury prevention? Wouldn't go so far as to say it completely devalues the human element.

Well there are many different drugs that do many different things, and certainly a bit of extra strength and endurance helps if you're putting a lot of revs on the ball. But yeah, I generally think that injury prevention/recovery is probably the most widely applicable reason for using PEDs apart from the obvious ones in the obvious sports (blood doping in cycling, steroids in strength-critical sports).

 

[cnerd123]

FTR I don't believe in blanket, one-size-fits-all punishments for all offenders of a certain type. Be it doping or fixing. Every offence and every offender are different. I'd rather we respect the nuance involved and deal with each of them on a case-by-case basis.

 

[indiaholic]

How much scope for nuance is there though? How do you separate out different 'levels' of doping?

 

[Burgey]

No one is seriously surprised at this are they?

 

[indiaholic]

No one is seriously surprised at this are they?

Nope.

 

[Burgey]

Sorry, my post was meant for the "Cheap online kitchens in Southampton" thread

 

[Bahnz]

Honestly think that PED's are every bit as bad as match fixing and should be treated just as harshly. You only have to look at what happened to Athletics in the 80's and cycling in the 00's to see the extent to which PEDs have the potential to undermine the integrity of a sport in the eyes of the public.

 

[cnerd123]

How much scope for nuance is there though? How do you separate out different 'levels' of doping?

Not an expert so I can't say anything for the actual doping part; but surely there is scope for nuance with regards to circumstances, motivations, etc.