Football in new cocaine shame

Football was facing a new drugs shame today after it emerged that a Football League player has been banned for six months after twice testing positive for cocaine.

The player, who has not been named by the Football Association, first returned a positive finding early last year and appeared before a disciplinary hearing in August.

He was ordered to reappear in April 2005 while his case was reviewed but was caught again when drug-testers swooped between October and December.

According to UK Sport's anti-doping database, the player appeared before an FA disciplinary hearing last month and was banned from all football-related activity for six months and fined.

The cocaine case will re-focus attention on the number of players using recreational drugs.

Romanian striker Adrian Mutu was banned for seven months and sacked by Chelsea in October after testing positive for cocaine and admitting to using the drug.