ANTI-DOPING IN FOOTBALL

Background There is a concern among policy makers and sport stakeholders that doping outside the elite sporting system is an expanding and problematic phenomenon, giving rise to the belief that the misuse of doping agents in recreational sport has become a societal problem and a public health concern. The level of awareness is missing among amateur football players representing a major issue if we consider the social harm and impact upon both users and sport communities doping abuse might create. Objectives Despite calls from European institutions for a coherent approach there is much to be done in football. The lack of a coordinated approach at EU level undermines the possibility to have a comprehensive picture of the overall situation and understand which actions must be urgently delivered. The objective of this project was to develop a coordinated approach and address the issues outlined through the development of relevant training and support materials. Implementation This project has developed a training tool and suite of support materials to meet the anti-doping education standardization criteria. The project aimed to contribute to the development of these new standards in respect of grassroots football players by the implementation of a series of relevant and appropriate training and support materials. Achievements This project sought to address the issues around anti-doping in the amateur grassroots football game by way of (i) surveying over 700 individuals/clubs to understand the problem and evaluate the current situation; (ii) The creation of value-based education training materials, (iii) The creation of guidelines for “anti-doping coaches” who will act as ambassadors in the fight against doping and (iv) The creation of an Anti-Doping Code of Conduct for Amateur Grassroots Football.