SOCCER: It was a case of splendid timing (or mistiming). On the weekend the English football world was torn asunder arguing about the appropriateness of the eight-month ban handed to Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand for having failed to attend a dope test, some of the most famous names in contemporary football were in court in Turin answering questions about medical practises at Italy's most famous football club, Juventus.

Roberto Baggio, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Angelo Peruzzi, Ciro Ferrara, Attilio Lombardo, Nicola Amoruso and Uruguyan Paolo Montero all appeared in court last Friday within the ambit of the ongoing Processo Juve or Juventus trial.

All of them were asked about allegedly widespread dressing-room practises such as the use of intravenuous drips, products with mysterious names like Samyr, Neoton, Liposom, Voltaren and, of course, the now infamous restorative integrator, Creatine.

Not all the players enjoyed the experience. Montero, for example, became progressively more reticent, eventually saying he did not like "all these people" gathered in the courtroom, perhaps in reference to the ranks of reporters and TV cameramen.

Visibly annoyed with Montero, judge Giuseppe Casalbore dismissed the Juventus defender, ordering him to return to court next month and warning him to leave the courthouse by a side door since he might be "frightened" by all the people outside the main entrance.

Others were more talkative. When asked why he had used Liposom, a product normally used for people with pyschological "problems", Ravanelli emphatically denied ever having had pyschological problems or suffering from stress. That answer, however, seemed at odds with evidence given by Juventus doctor, Ricardo Agricola, who had eariler told the court that Liposom had been administered to Ravanelli because the player was "stressed out" due to lack of sleep following the birth of a baby.

On more than one occasion, several of the players had memory problems. At a previous session of the trial last July when Juventus players Alessandro Del Piero, Alessio Tacchinardi, Antonio Conte and Gianluca Pessotto were amongst those to give evidence, there was such an outbreak of collective amnesia that judge Casalbore had to remonstrate with the players.

"Conte, I've heard too many "don't knows" today. You're the fourth, that's too many"; "Pessotto, don't try to tell me that you lot are extra-terrestials. You should tell me the truth, tell me everthing you know"; "Tacchinardi, you don't have to have a degree to answer, all you need is a little bit of memory".

Last weekend's hearing was just the latest in a trial that began in January last year and which is the result of a five-year inquiry by Turin-based public prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello.

It all began on August 28th, 1998, when health inspectors arrived at the Juventus training headquarters, then the old Stadio Communale in Turin, to "requisition" the club's medical records.

As a result of the findings thrown up not just by the club's medical records but also by its sizeable store of "medicines" (more than 240 different products), prosecutor Guariniello has charged both Juventus director Antonio Giraudo and (then) club doctor Ricardo Agricola with "having tried to achieve a result different from that procured by the correct and honest playing" of football matches in the period between July 1994 and September 1998.

In simple terms, the two senior Juventus figures are accused of systematic doping practises. In particular, the prosecution charges focus on the use (or misuse) of medical products (including Liposom, Lidocaina, Xylocaina, Bentelan, Deflan, Flantalin. Depo-medrol, Flebocortid, Tricortin 1000, Samyr) which all feature on the IOC's list of "prohibited substances".

The prosecution case has also focused on why certain products normally used for patients with psychological problems or patients recovering from brain surgery were administered to healthy young athletes.

Furthermore, both Agricola and Giraudo are also charged with endangering the health of Juventus employees (players), with illegal trafficking of medical products and with "sporting fraud".

Juventus have consistently denied any wrongdoing, arguing that, rather than being aimed at performance enhancement, their medical practises are and were in the best interests of their players' long-term health.

As Juventus lawyer Luigi Chiappero put it on the opening day of the trial: "It's not that we deny using all the medicinal products that the prosecution charges.

"On the contrary, we admit nearly all of them but we deny vehemently that we used them for doping purposes.

The Processo Juventus is due to reconvene on January 12th.

Football fans may not like it but it seems we will be hearing more about drugs and football in the New Year.