Australian Sport’s Day of Shame

AFL CEO Andrew DemetriouJust a few short weeks ago yours truly wrote a blog about Lance Armstrong and how his scandal was just another in a long list of scandals that is ruining sport.

To that list you can now add Australian sport, well Australian professional sport at the very least. A year long secret investigation by the Australian Crime Commission has found evidence of systematic, doping, corruption and infiltration by organized crime.

Specifically the report found:

• The PIEDs market in Australia is large and diverse, with a wide range of substances being used by a broad cross-section of the community.
• Organised criminal identities and groups are active in the trafficking of PIEDs that are being used by elite athletes in Australia.
• Widespread use of peptides and hormones by professional athletes in Australia. Given that many of these substances are prohibited for use by athletes by WADA, athletes who use these substances have potentially committed anti-doping rule violations.
• Some coaches, sports scientists and support staff of elite athletes have orchestrated and/or condoned the use of prohibited substances and/or methods of administration.
• Professional sport in Australia is highly vulnerable to organised criminal infiltration through legitimate business relationships with sports franchises and other associations.

For many sport and sporting prowess defines what it is to be Australian so the Crime Commission's report will have signficant repercussions aross the country.

Unfortunately it was not difficult to see this coming. With the explosion of sports betting in recent times, a practice that appeals to the weaker side of people’s nature, exorbitant salaries and multi-million contracts for athletes, microscopic media scrutiny on athletes performance and general greed.

Sports betting in particular and its rampant promotion by the various codes where punters can bet on who will kick the first goal, gain most possessions, winning margins and so on has seemingly played a major role in undermining Australia's sporting culture.

Now is a unique opportunity for sports codes in particular the AFL and NRL to reign in the prevalence of sports betting which will go some way to address what has become a part of sports culture in this country that adds nothing to the spectacle and contest of sport.

It is also time for sport's adminstrators at all levels to take account or be held accountable for a scandal that thereatens to ruin sport as we know it. While the specific detalis surrounding the doping, corruption and criminality are still yet to be made public it is beleived that entire teams have been involved in doping and there is at least one example of match fixing. These matters have now been referred to the Australian Federal Police and local juridsdictional police.

Early signs are that all major codes will fully cooperate with the ongoing investigations - they have little choice.