RIO – NO APPEAL
Last updated : 22 March 2004 By Editor
Rio tells the Sun, “I still think the ban was harsh and that
I have been made an example of. But I've decided it is time
this case came to an end. When my appeal was rejected last
Thursday my first reaction was to keep going. But I've had a
chance to think about it and don't feel it would serve any
purpose by dragging it out.
“The point has been made that I'm not a drug-taker. Everyone
accepts that, which was very important to me. I feel I've
cleared my name in that regard.”
In an interview on 'The Real Story' screened on BBC1 at
7.30pm tonight, Rio says:
“I love playing for England, I love playing for my club. My
club means so much to me, I go out there and play for the
fans and for my family and for myself and to have that taken
away from me in such a way was disheartening and something
that really did shock me.
“I'm man enough to admit that I did cry.” If the club means
so much to him, why did he decide to begin the ban early,
force Wes Brown into a premature comeback, cripple our
season only to then be kicked in the face by the FA who
United should have known better than to have put any faith
in? Euro 2004?
Talking about the day in question he said:
“I made a conscious decision to phone the FA which I did
after that phone call and they said the person who you need
to speak to was on holiday, so I'd done my utmost to try and
rectify the position that I was in at the time and to
rectify the mistake I'd made - but there was no safety net
there for me to go back and do the test.
“A person that is trying to get away from doing a test for
some reason doesn't make attempts to phone back the club
doctors and the FA to rectify his position.”
Speaking about the phone call to his urologist, Rio said:
“I'd just come back from injury, that doctor had been
consulting me on issues to do with that injury. After every
training session I was speaking to him just letting him know
how I got on and if I was feeling OK.
“My phone record bill showed I was phoning them at a
consistent time over those weeks after training, so that was
no different from any other day.”
