[diothoir]

Originally Posted by Rob How can the FA or FIFA justify Rio getting a longer ban than Davids, Stam and Bosnich who all failed tests while Ferdinand actually passed his 36 hours later? How can they justify Rio getting a longer ban than Eric Cantona got for assulting a fan or Paulo Di Canio got for assulting a referee? What about that Man City player who failed to take his test much like Rio and he wasn't banned? Gonna make it all the sweeter when we win the Premiership now.

For a start, Cantona got a worldwide 9-month ban ( http://www.unitedmanchester.com/spor...-biography.htm ) which is longer than Rio's for you math impaired people.

The fact is that he missed a test. If an athlete like Paula Radcliffe missed a test, imagine the uproar. Why should football be any different? Anyway, its been pretty clear that Palios has been desperate to tighten up the rules since he took over, and Rio was the first one he could get at.

Also, it was obvious that Ferdinand was going to get banned until after the European Championships because there would have been a furore about hypocrisy otherwise.

Rio missed the test, Man Utd didn't remind him, I'm honestly surprised he didn't get a longer ban. If this were any other player I'd expect the same: Drugs are unacceptable and missing a test is completely unacceptable.