Corruption high in the sports rankings

During 2010 there have been a number of high profile sporting scandals. First, there was ‘Bloodgate‘ where players and staff of Harlequins RFC were involved in fabricating an on field blood injury, secondly we’ve seen a whole raft of alleged match fixing and betting scams involving the Pakistani Cricket team, thirdly was the claim that John Higgins took a bribe, and fourthly is the rising influence of the Yakuza in Sumo bouts.

Whilst sport has never been 100% clean, there do seem to be an increasing number of stories in the press. In the four examples above, I think there is a varying degree of severity. The ‘Bloodgate’ incident was very tactical in that Harlequins wanted to get their specialist goal-kicker Nick Evans back onto the pitch as a blood replacement at the end of a European cup game to help clinch victory. A number of individuals were caught up in this scandal and have been dealt suitable punishment. So whilst this is not good for Harlequins, the game of Rugby or the professional reputations of the people involved it is very much an isolated incident and has been dealt with. This is in stark contrast to the Sumo situation in Tokyo, Japan where the local Mafia known as the Yakuza are now being banned from even attending tournaments in an attempt to uphold the integrity of the sport. This would seem to be a far wider and deeper problem.

And as for cricket, it has not been a stranger to match fixing controversies with many incidents taking place in the modern game, including the memorable story of South African captain Hansie Cronje fixing matches. After confessing in 2000 he was subsequently killed in a plane accident in 2002, which introduced a number of conspiracy stories.

It’s hard to say specifically why some of these incidents have taken place, but you can closely associated the greed for money with nearly all corruption. In the case of Harlequins, they were in a desperate position and went over the line of competitiveness to try and win a match that would have secured them more lucrative revenue. Other cases would seem to revolve around financial gain for individuals, whilst the association of the Yakuza at Sumo tournaments smacks of large scale organised crime. There are some rumours that the Pakistan cricketers are being but in the sad position of receiving threats against their families with dire consequences if the bribes are avoided. Aside from that though, there is an ever growing pressure for success. With greater amounts of money being invested from rich owners and global sponsors, losing is just not an option.

Part of this of course is speculation, but what is known, is that this is a sad side of sport. Many people follow sporting teams and individuals for reasons of passion, pride, honesty and integrity, (Think Bobby Moore) but the reality is that sport is now big business and business has to be profitable.