Football: Sunderland prospect fired after failing drugs test
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photosLONDON (AP) - A Sunderland player tested positive for cocaine and cannabis and has been fired by the English Premier League club.
Academy defender Lewis Gibbons, 17, failed the drugs test after a youth team match in September, although the two-year ban from football has only now been announced by the English Football Association.
A week after that match against Aston Villa, Gibbons captained Sunderland Under-18s against Manchester United.
Sunderland says "a club investigation also took place at the time and his scholarship with Sunderland was cancelled with immediate effect".
