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NFL Clears All Active Players Accused of Steroid Use by Al Jazeera Documentary
It appeared that an explosive “steroids in football” scandal was brewing in the National Football League (NFL) after the broadcast of a sensationalistic Al Jazeera America documentary called “The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers” in December 2015. The documentary accused several NFL players of using anabolic steroids. However, an NFL investigation found “no credible evidence” that any of this was true.
In a statement released by the NFL on August 31, 2016, the league, for all intents and purposes, debunked the accusations made by Al Jazeera America and its primary source, pharmacist technician Charlie Sly.
"The NFL found no credible evidence that Pittsburgh's James Harrison and Green Bay's Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers were provided with or used substances prohibited under the NFL-NFLPA Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances following a comprehensive investigation into allegations made in a documentary by Al-Jazeera America, it was announced today," according to the NFL statement.
The NFL struggled to obtain the cooperation of most of the players named in the documentary. With the exception of Denver Broncos' Peyton Manning, who promptly gave his full cooperation to NFL investigators and was quickly cleared of wrongdoing, the NFL was met with resistance from the other players. Green Bay Packers Mike Neal, Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews and Pittsburgh Steelers James Harrison initially refused to cooperate with the NFL investigation.
It was not until Adolpho Birch, the NFL senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs, threatened to suspend them that the players changed their tune. The NFL threatened to suspend them indefinitely for “conduct detrimental” if the players didn't agree to interviews by a deadline of August 25, 2016. All four players immediately agreed to cooperate.
In the documentary, Sly claimed that Neal, Peppers, Matthews and Harrison were his clients. He bragged about administering the synthetic anabolic steroid called Delta-2 (D2) to his clients. Delta-2 is a non-methylated version of desoxymethyltestosterone (also known as Madol and Pheraplex).
The Al Jazeera America documentary relied exclusively on the secretly-recorded allegations by Sly to substantiate its story of doping in the NFL. When Sly recanted everything he told Al Jazeera in the days following the broadcast of the documentary, the basis for the allegations all but evaporated.
The NFL proceeded with its investigation nonetheless. The players had never tested positive for D-2, anabolic steroids or any other performance-enhancing drug. In the absence of Sly's testimony, the NFL found nothing to substantiate the documentary's accusations.
It should be noted that the NFL has yet to clear Mike Neal. Neal is currently a free agent and is not considered an active NFL palyer at the moment. The NFL has accused Neal of submitting an affidavit with “demonstrably false” statements. It is unclear if the NFL will move to ban Neal for his lack of veracity even if there is no evidence of steroid use.
Of all the players linked to steroids by the Al Jazeera documentary, Neal is reported to have had the closest relationship with Sly. The two attended high schools in neighboring towns and have been friends for many years.
It appeared that an explosive “steroids in football” scandal was brewing in the National Football League (NFL) after the broadcast of a sensationalistic Al Jazeera America documentary called “The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers” in December 2015. The documentary accused several NFL players of using anabolic steroids. However, an NFL investigation found “no credible evidence” that any of this was true.
In a statement released by the NFL on August 31, 2016, the league, for all intents and purposes, debunked the accusations made by Al Jazeera America and its primary source, pharmacist technician Charlie Sly.
"The NFL found no credible evidence that Pittsburgh's James Harrison and Green Bay's Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers were provided with or used substances prohibited under the NFL-NFLPA Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances following a comprehensive investigation into allegations made in a documentary by Al-Jazeera America, it was announced today," according to the NFL statement.
The NFL struggled to obtain the cooperation of most of the players named in the documentary. With the exception of Denver Broncos' Peyton Manning, who promptly gave his full cooperation to NFL investigators and was quickly cleared of wrongdoing, the NFL was met with resistance from the other players. Green Bay Packers Mike Neal, Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews and Pittsburgh Steelers James Harrison initially refused to cooperate with the NFL investigation.
It was not until Adolpho Birch, the NFL senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs, threatened to suspend them that the players changed their tune. The NFL threatened to suspend them indefinitely for “conduct detrimental” if the players didn't agree to interviews by a deadline of August 25, 2016. All four players immediately agreed to cooperate.
In the documentary, Sly claimed that Neal, Peppers, Matthews and Harrison were his clients. He bragged about administering the synthetic anabolic steroid called Delta-2 (D2) to his clients. Delta-2 is a non-methylated version of desoxymethyltestosterone (also known as Madol and Pheraplex).
The Al Jazeera America documentary relied exclusively on the secretly-recorded allegations by Sly to substantiate its story of doping in the NFL. When Sly recanted everything he told Al Jazeera in the days following the broadcast of the documentary, the basis for the allegations all but evaporated.
The NFL proceeded with its investigation nonetheless. The players had never tested positive for D-2, anabolic steroids or any other performance-enhancing drug. In the absence of Sly's testimony, the NFL found nothing to substantiate the documentary's accusations.
It should be noted that the NFL has yet to clear Mike Neal. Neal is currently a free agent and is not considered an active NFL palyer at the moment. The NFL has accused Neal of submitting an affidavit with “demonstrably false” statements. It is unclear if the NFL will move to ban Neal for his lack of veracity even if there is no evidence of steroid use.
Of all the players linked to steroids by the Al Jazeera documentary, Neal is reported to have had the closest relationship with Sly. The two attended high schools in neighboring towns and have been friends for many years.