Corruption in Sport
By Clare Bagnall
The world of sport is a multi-billion pound industry of alarming power. While providing glorious sporting events and memorable figures, it is also an industry which is inherent with corruption despite the seeming interference of governing bodies.
This corruption includes the use of drugs to enhance sporting ability, an issue repeatedly raised on the world athletics stage and which damages both past and present reputations of renowned and talented athletes. Another example is the recent exposure (though use has been repeatedly reported) of fake-blood capsules used by rugby players to get round blood-bin rules, which in the case of Harlequins, resulted in fines, bans and resignations. On top of this is the latest match fixing in both the
Champions and Europa league. When talent isn’t enough, and so much is seemingly at stake, such cheating methods seem unjust and are understandably governing bodies are trying to stop them.
With each person caught, the viewing public can’t help but fear just how many of their favourite athletes are not all that they seem. How much of their talent is actually natural, and how many athletes in the past must have lost medals and competitions because drug screening was either not done, or done to a very poor standard. One can only imagine how disheartening it would be to find out that Usain Bolt has actually broken all the world records illegally and not through natural talent and honed ability. There is also the current scandal about Thierry Henry’s admission of intent with his Maradona-esque handball, allowing France to qualify for the World Cup, and knocking out the Republic of Ireland. Here we see the desire and need for victory, corruption on an individual level in sporting practises – cheating – be it diving for penalties or claiming fouls that never actually occurred.
There is also the fixing of matches and races to consider; something which, like much of the corruption I the sporting world, is often done for financial reasons. This can include “throwing” games, or deliberately losing them, (charges which have been levelled at NFL, NHL and NBA teams in the past). Frustrated fans often shout abuse at the referee during matches, especially when incorrect decisions seem to be made. While the acknowledgement of human fallibility must permit such errors, there have been cases of referee corruption, whereby matches are fixed for gamblers through the referee. In sports like football, where players are paid such a huge amount of money, much more than the referee, finance has been seen as a key factor by many sports journalists for referee corruption.
It is acknowledged that gambling is a huge part of some sports; horse racing is a prime example of this, and one which has repeatedly been accused of fundamental corruption. This goes beyond race fixing; racehorses, like athletes, undergo drug tests and are often “doped”, indeed earlier this year the Queen’s racehorse failed a drugs test though not for tactical reasons. However, it has been disclosed by BBC’s Panorama that the corruption goes much further into criminality than betting and doping. In British horse-racing, jockeys have been offered cocaine, prostitutes and money in order to fix races. It has been linked with cocaine smuggling gangs as well.
Lots of this goes on behind or beyond the track or the pitch where the sports are being practised. The huge quantities of money involved will continue to incite political, criminal and corporate interest, because as of yet there is still no definitive rule to prevent corruption in sport.
By Clare Bagnall
The world of sport is a multi-billion pound industry of alarming power. While providing glorious sporting events and memorable figures, it is also an industry which is inherent with corruption despite the seeming interference of governing bodies.
This corruption includes the use of drugs to enhance sporting ability, an issue repeatedly raised on the world athletics stage and which damages both past and present reputations of renowned and talented athletes. Another example is the recent exposure (though use has been repeatedly reported) of fake-blood capsules used by rugby players to get round blood-bin rules, which in the case of Harlequins, resulted in fines, bans and resignations. On top of this is the latest match fixing in both the
Champions and Europa league. When talent isn’t enough, and so much is seemingly at stake, such cheating methods seem unjust and are understandably governing bodies are trying to stop them.
With each person caught, the viewing public can’t help but fear just how many of their favourite athletes are not all that they seem. How much of their talent is actually natural, and how many athletes in the past must have lost medals and competitions because drug screening was either not done, or done to a very poor standard. One can only imagine how disheartening it would be to find out that Usain Bolt has actually broken all the world records illegally and not through natural talent and honed ability. There is also the current scandal about Thierry Henry’s admission of intent with his Maradona-esque handball, allowing France to qualify for the World Cup, and knocking out the Republic of Ireland. Here we see the desire and need for victory, corruption on an individual level in sporting practises – cheating – be it diving for penalties or claiming fouls that never actually occurred.
There is also the fixing of matches and races to consider; something which, like much of the corruption I the sporting world, is often done for financial reasons. This can include “throwing” games, or deliberately losing them, (charges which have been levelled at NFL, NHL and NBA teams in the past). Frustrated fans often shout abuse at the referee during matches, especially when incorrect decisions seem to be made. While the acknowledgement of human fallibility must permit such errors, there have been cases of referee corruption, whereby matches are fixed for gamblers through the referee. In sports like football, where players are paid such a huge amount of money, much more than the referee, finance has been seen as a key factor by many sports journalists for referee corruption.
It is acknowledged that gambling is a huge part of some sports; horse racing is a prime example of this, and one which has repeatedly been accused of fundamental corruption. This goes beyond race fixing; racehorses, like athletes, undergo drug tests and are often “doped”, indeed earlier this year the Queen’s racehorse failed a drugs test though not for tactical reasons. However, it has been disclosed by BBC’s Panorama that the corruption goes much further into criminality than betting and doping. In British horse-racing, jockeys have been offered cocaine, prostitutes and money in order to fix races. It has been linked with cocaine smuggling gangs as well.
Lots of this goes on behind or beyond the track or the pitch where the sports are being practised. The huge quantities of money involved will continue to incite political, criminal and corporate interest, because as of yet there is still no definitive rule to prevent corruption in sport.