Ferdinand hearing: Rio Ferdinand will today argue that procedural errors by anti-doping officials were responsible for his failure to provide a drug test, an omission which could cost the Manchester United defender his place in the finals of Euro 2004.
Ferdinand's defence will be made on the second day of the Football Association disciplinary hearing at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton, and will centre on the conduct of the officials from UK Sport who arrived to carry out a random drugs test at Manchester United's Carrington training ground on September 23rd.
It is understood Ferdinand's legal team, drawn up by the formidable United director Maurice Watkins, will argue that the officials made significant errors when they attempted to collect the sample and also failed to give Ferdinand a chance to return when he realised his error.
UK Sport is contracted by the FA to carry out drug testing on its behalf, and its officials are required to follow the FA's guidelines, which differ significantly from those in other sports.
UK Sport is confident, however, that its officials' conduct will stand up to scrutiny. A source said the organisation believed the sampling officers had acted properly.
Ferdinand's legal team will attempt to exploit ambiguities in the FA's anti-doping regulations, which do not make it clear who is responsible for notifying a player that he has to take a test or for making sure he does.
It is understood the UK Sport officials did not notify Ferdinand in person that he had been selected to take a test, and instead asked United's club doctor, Mike Stone, to tell him. Crucially, Ferdinand will also claim that the doping officers should have stayed with him until he had taken the test.
Ferdinand's team are reported to have collected statements from four other Premiership clubs who claim it is standard practice for sampling officers to stay with players until they have provided a sample. The FA may counter that the sampling officers were able to collect samples from Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and a youth team player on the same day as Ferdinand's failure.
In athletics, which follows the strict World Anti-Doping Agency code on drug testing, testers chaperone athletes from the moment they have been selected to take a sample until it has been produced.
The FA's regulations are far woollier and indicate the club is responsible for making sure players are available for testing. They make no mention of whether players should be accompanied before the test is taken, stating only that "the collection of urine should be witnessed by a doping control officer".
Arguably, the key clause appears in the preamble to the regulations: "Any departure from these guidelines shall not invalidate a finding of misconduct . . . unless such a departure casts real and substantial doubt on the integrity and reliability of the finding."
Ferdinand's barrister, Ronald Thwaites QC, will also argue that the player was not given sufficient opportunity to return to Carrington after he realised his mistake. Telephone records will be produced to show Ferdinand called Carrington offering to return at 2.02 pm, 25 minutes before the last doping officer had left.
As well as a personal statement from Ferdinand, the panel will today hear evidence from his manager, Alex Ferguson. Witness statements will also be given on behalf of Ferdinand's former manager Harry Redknapp and his friend and former team-mate Eyal Berkovic, with whom he went shopping on the day of the non-test.
The sampling officers are thought to have given evidence yesterday but, in keeping with the rest of this saga, precious little information emerged from the fog-bound stadium after seven hours of deliberation. Barry Bright, the chair of the three-man disciplinary panel hearing the case, instructed FA officials who had promised to keep journalists informed to make no comment until the case is concluded.
Alongside Bright on the top table were Peter Heard, the chairman of Colchester and a member of the FA professional game board, and Frank Pattison, FA council member for Durham.
If found guilty, Ferdinand faces a ban of up to two years. The hearing resumes at 9 a.m. today.
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