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Self-confessed French doper found dead at the age of 41

Binge drinking has generated negative headlines for rugby in Ireland (Getty Images/Dino Panato)

Self-confessed French rugby doper Anthony Martrette has been found dead at the age of 41 in his apartment in Port-Vendres in the Pyrenees-Orientales.

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The former Perpignan back row, whose list of other clubs in France included Aurillac, Bourgoin, Poitiers and Colomiers, completed his career in 2012 in Mazamet.

After revealing how he had doped for much of that career, he vowed to highlight how doping is allegedly very prevalent in French rugby. 

In an October 2016 French Television interview, Martrette lifted the lid on the testosterone-based products he had used over the years.

”I was called the Catalan shears,” he later told L’Equipe in an interview. “I always had a good tackle. I was strong, I did a lot of bodybuilding. I started at the age of 17. I was running pretty fast too. Jeff (Tordo) said that after Stéphane Glas, I too would play one day for France.

”I quickly understood that to pass a course I would have to gain muscle mass. I started to dope at the age of 25 and I continued until 33.

“I used anabolic steroids, I took Deca-Durabolin. In wanting to gain mass, I first lost speed, endurance. I had to rebalance. I took testosterone, Stanodrol for explosiveness and aggression.

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“To keep the mass, I took Clenbuterol, an anti-catabolic. The injections of Masteron also allowed me to feel really good, stronger. Physically but also mentally since these products have an influence on the hormones and aggressiveness.”

“I take responsibility for what I did and I would do it without problem (again) if the opportunity arose. With better products maybe. Today there are undetectable growth hormones.

“These drugs had no effect on my health. They are not dangerous. It’s just a question of ethics. So, why not (take them) when we know, anyway, that everyone is doing this,” he continued, insisting doping in rugby didn’t begin and end with him. “Most players load.”

In speaking out, Martrette claimed he was “putting an end to this great hypocrisy” that rugby is a clean sport. 

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“My family is proud of me,” he said. “I have a lot of friends who have called me since the broadcast of the report to tell me that I was right to speak. I had no hostile reaction, just encouragement. I’m proud to have done that.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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