this is bonkers.....
I wouldn't be too keen on this if I was one of the players. How invasive
PLAYERS IDENTIFIED FOR DRUG TESTS
The Football Association have agreed the names of 10 to 20 England players who will have to be available for random drug tests 365 days a year, the new head of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has revealed.
Andy Parkinson, the chief executive of UKAD, said however the players themselves had yet to be informed.
Most of the players will come from Fabio Capello's England senior squad although under-21 players may also be involved, and will have to provide details of their whereabouts for an hour a day, every day of the year even when they are on holiday.
Even David Beckham, who plays abroad for AC Milan and Los Angeles Galaxy, would not be exempt - UKAD could call on testers from foreign anti-doping agencies to take samples.
Parkinson said: "We have agreed the names of the players in the pool, and we are in the process of agreeing how and when we inform those players and how we introduce them to the system.
"It is between 10 and 20 players from the national team."
The programme is much stricter than the testing regime required by FIFA - the world governing body's programme approved by the world anti-doping agency say players only need to be tested on club duty at matches and training unless they are long-term injured or suspended.
No other footballing country will have such stringent 'whereabouts' tests - the FA have effectively been forced to make this number of England players provide individual details or face the possibility of having public money for grass-roots football withdrawn.
Parkinson is unapologetic however they are doing more than FIFA require.
He added: "I make no excuse for the fact we want to have a strong and robust doping programme in the UK.
"We are bringing footballers into line with the domestic programme, which we are absolutely entitled to do.
"We would like to be consistent across team sports, as we have done for rugby union and rugby league, and individual sports."
In terms of England players who are based abroad, Parkinson said they could also be part of the testing pool.
He said: "If they are playing abroad but are close to us we can send our own doping control officers to pick up samples, or we can use other national anti-doping organisations to pick up samples on our behalf."
The new system is expected to be in operation before the World Cup finals next summer, and Parkinson said the new regime would mean greater public confidence in the players.
"We need to make sure the players have sufficient time to get used to the idea but I would hope it was up and running by next summer.
"We want them to be successful and win the World Cup and we want them to be clean, for the public to know that they are clean and to be proud of their success."
An FA spokesman would only say: "The principle is agreed but the details are still being discussed."
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) have called for testers to limit invasions of privacy to a minimum.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said: "I think this is something we are going to have to live with for the time being and see how it goes.
"I would just hope that the testers are not going to be too invasive, particularly when players are on holiday.
"If the players feel they are then we will have to look at this again. In Holland for example, they have not even considered football as one of the sports where this is necessary."
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