Deaths of Italian footballers fuel doping fears

Deaths of Italian footballers fuel doping fears AN Italian judge is investigating the suspicious death of 70 football stars amid fears that drugs their clubs gave them may have triggered their fatal illnesses. Mr Raffaele Guariniello, a magistrate in Turin, is probing the unusually high incidence of cancer, leukaemia and a rare disease of the nervous system among players who have appeared for top clubs such as Juventus, Roma and Milan. "Out of 400 deaths since 1960, we …

…players who have died for these reasons to see who might be responsible. It is emerging that there are some clubs where there have been many more deaths than in others," said Guariniello.. A Torino player now suffering from ALS told the judge about pressure from clubs: "They made me play when I was already ill. But the club convinced me not to stop. They said I had a future." Sophie Arie and Denis Campbell