Ben Arthurs Returns to Irish Premiership After Suspension
Ben Arthurs will walk back into the Irish Premiership under a very different spotlight.
The Bangor striker has completed a three-month suspension after an anti-doping test detected a banned substance in the wake of the club’s league defeat to Glentoran on 10 March.
The 28-year-old was stood down by the County Down side in April, with the Seasiders at the time saying only that they were “unable to provide further details” while an investigation unfolded. Those details are now starkly clear.
Cocaine metabolite found after Glentoran defeat
On Thursday, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) confirmed that analysis of Arthurs’ sample produced an adverse analytical finding for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
Under UKAD regulations, athletes face the possibility of a reduced three-month ban if they can prove the substance was taken out of competition and not to enhance performance. Arthurs admitted he had ingested cocaine “for recreational purposes within a social setting”, and an independent expert concluded the drug use “most likely” occurred before the day of the Glentoran game, which Bangor lost 4-0.
That assessment opened the door to the minimum sanction.
Arthurs was provisionally suspended on 7 April. With that date backdated as the start of his punishment, his three-month ban has now been fully served.
Back in training, back in the firing line
The forward has already returned to pre-season training and, on paper at least, the slate is clean. He will be eligible for selection when Lee Feeney’s side kick off their 2026-27 Irish Premiership campaign against Cliftonville at Clandeboye Park on 15 August.
It will mark his ninth season at Bangor, a club where he has long been a talisman and now carries an extra layer of scrutiny. Arthurs is the second-highest goalscorer in Bangor’s history, a status that underlines both his importance to the team and the scale of the personal misstep.
How quickly he can turn the conversation back to football will shape Bangor’s early-season narrative.
New era of testing bites
Arthurs’ case lands in the first year of formal doping controls in the Irish Premiership and Women’s Premiership, introduced in 2024 and jointly funded by the Irish Football Association (IFA) and Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL).
The system has already claimed a high-profile name at a community-rooted club, underlining that the new regime is not merely symbolic. Testing is here, and it has teeth.
BBC NI approached the IFA and NIFL for comment.
