Willie Johnston was about to discover that he'd failed a drugs test. The story broke the following day:
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/06/a...-scottish.html
Significance: This was the earliest 'sports scandal' I can ever remember, with the hand wringing and earnest faces on the news and World Cup Grandstand. Total hypocrisy, obviously, as teams had been using various means of performance enhancement for decades, but also a way for the tabloids to fill the dead time between the Peru and Iran games.
Willie just seems to have been very naive and rash, and I wonder if he'd have been as harshly treated if they'd beaten Peru and didn't need a distraction. Good career profile here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football...rangers-celtic
Your memories of this?
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/06/a...-scottish.html
Significance: This was the earliest 'sports scandal' I can ever remember, with the hand wringing and earnest faces on the news and World Cup Grandstand. Total hypocrisy, obviously, as teams had been using various means of performance enhancement for decades, but also a way for the tabloids to fill the dead time between the Peru and Iran games.
Willie just seems to have been very naive and rash, and I wonder if he'd have been as harshly treated if they'd beaten Peru and didn't need a distraction. Good career profile here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football...rangers-celtic
Your memories of this?
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