Full on Sport

Football, Racing, Rugby + More

    • Sports People Who Came Back from Bans
    General

    Sports People Who Come Back From Bans

    Full On Fella Posted on

    In the world of sport, regardless of the specific sport in question, there is a sense that everything is fair for everyone competing. Whilst it might be an open secret that that isn’t really the case in some sports, in the majority of cases, in the eyes of the public at least, no one should have an unfair example.

    Sometimes, of course, sports stars do something that doesn’t give them an unfair advantage, such as performance enhancing drugs, but still sees them banned from the sport that made them famous. They don’t always recover from it, but sometimes they do and manage to get back to the top of their game afterwards.

    Michael Vick

    To many, there are few things as reprehensible as doing harm to animals. Michael Vick was a quarterback in the National Football League when, in 2007, he was indicted for running a dog-fighting ring. He was suspended from the NFL and eventually got given a prison sentence.

    Having served 21 months and also losing his major sponsors like Nike, Vick went back to the NFL after being signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, playing for the side for five years. Whilst that obviously doesn’t reflect well on the side that signed him, the fact that he won Comeback Player of the Year and also played for the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers before retiring doesn’t look good for the sport as a whole.

    Muhammad Ali

    If you want an example of a sports star being given a ban that reflects significantly worse on the organisation that banned him than on the person themselves then you need look no further than Muhammad Ali. Having been conscripted for service in the Vietnam War, Ali refused on religious grounds, describing himself as a conscientious objector.

    Arrested for refusing to serve, he had his licence suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Association stripped him of his title, with others following suit. He did not fight between 1967 and 1970, but when he returned he once again became the heavyweight champion of the world.

    Justin Gatlin

    The remarkable thing about Justin Gatlin isn’t that he was banned from his sport yet made a comeback, it’s that he did so twice. In 2001, Gatlin won both the NCAA outdoor titles in both the 100 metres and 200 metres. Not long after, he was given a two year ban after testing positive for amphetamines.

    On appeal it was reduced to one year internationally, but he was still allowed to run in NCAA events. After turning professional he became Olympic champion and world champion, then in 2006 was given another doping ban. After making his comeback, he once again enjoyed success in the Olympics and on the world stage.

    @trackbuzz Justin Gatlin was the villain of sprinting world Follow me for more track content ✅ #trackandfield #justingatlin #usainbolt #sprinting #villain #fyp ♬ původní zvuk – TrackBuzz

    Ian Botham

    You might not think of cricket as being a sport filled with moments of controversy, but Ian Botham certainly put that theory to the test. A first-class cricketer for Somerset and England, in 1980 he completed the ‘Test Double’ of scoring 100 runs and taking ten wickets in the same match.

    In 1986, having been accused by the tabloids of shooting up heroin and having a ‘coke-fuelled shagathon’ with Miss Barbados, he was given a three-month ban from cricket after he confessed to having smoked weed. After making himself comeback he was back playing cricket for Worcestershire and England, going on to play for Durham before his retirement.

    Shane Warne

    Botham wasn’t the only cricketer who faced a ban over the years. Down Under, Australian bowler Shane Warne was given a ban after testing positive for a banned diuretic. Although he was allowed to play in charity matches, he was banned from organised cricket for a year after establishing himself as one of the best bowlers in the world.

    He returned to competitive cricket in the February of 2004, returning to the top of his game and eventually going on to become the first person to take 700 Test wickets after bowling Andrew Strauss during the Ashes series played at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the December of 2006.

    Luis Suárez

    There are numerous football players that have been given bans in the past, though perhaps none as egregious as Luis Suárez. Whilst playing for Ajax, Suárez inexplicably decided to bite an opponent, leading to a Dutch newspaper referring to him as the ‘Cannibal of Ajax‘ and the forward given a suspension.

    After moving to Liverpool, Suárez faced a ban after being accused of racially abusing a Manchester United player, then got given a 10-game ban for biting a Chelsea defender. In spite of being banned twice for the same offence, he agreed a move to Barcelona but was unable to play after biting someone else. He still won countless silverware during his career.

    @classicfootballshirts_ Suarez biting an opponent for the third time… 🇮🇹 🇺🇾 #fyp #foryou #classic #worldcup ♬ original sound – Classic Football Shirts

    Eric Cantona

    Is there a more infamous image in football than that of Eric Cantona jumping into the crowd in order to deliver a ‘kung-fu’ kick to one of Crystal Palace’s supporters? The kick was accompanied by some punches and saw the Frenchman given an eight-month ban from football and almost end up in prison.

    That was in the January of 1995, but when Cantona returned to football in the October he was soon back to winning silverware with Manchester United. Although it took him a while to re-find his groove, he won the FA Cup in the 1995-1996 season and the Premier League in the following campaign to return to the top.

    Women’s Football

    There are some feel-good stories about comebacks after a ban. During football’s more formative years, the women’s version of the sport was just as popular as the men’s. In fact, there was one match that saw 53,000 people turn up to watch, making it more popular than some men’s teams.

    In spite of this, the Football Association made a decision in the December of 1921 to effectively ban women from playing football, outlawing it taking place on pitches owned by the FA. The ban remained in place until 1970. Nowadays, of course, the women’s game is thriving and the Lionesses won the European Championship in 2022.

    You Might Also Like