Cheating in sport, let's live with it?

Another day another cheating scandal in sport. Diving in football, false blood in rugby, staged crashes in Formula 1, mass indignation all around in the media and in general everyday conversation.

All these instances were about gaining an advantage, to win a game, to progress in a tournament or to win a race.

These examples reflect the pressure to compete, win and succeed whether the success is ensuring your team gets to the group stages of the Champions League(££££), the semi final of the Heineken Cup(£££) or wins a Grand Prix and sells more cars(££££££).

The pressure comes from the overriding need to deliver, on players, coaches/doctors and team management.

The Renault case is the most disturbing because a young man was allegedly asked to carry out the antithesis of his sport, crash the car rather than try to win, in the process putting himself and his competitors in potentially mortal danger.


All sad when looked through the rose tinted glasses of the Corinthian spirit that we try and engender in our kids as we teach them the importance and values of sport as a life improving activity.

Perhaps we need to add a new chapter to that book of sporting instruction. It would read something like this....when money kicks and sport becomes a business,all bets are off on the integrity front, people will do anything to win regardless of the impact on the sport and the hopes of fans and spectators, so expect it.

A simple and increasingly true perspective that perhaps we just need to acknowledge and live with it.

Is the sports world ready for Swine Flu?

(PROBABLY BEST READ IN THAT DEEP BARITONE VOICE USED IN MOVIE TRAILERS)

One really doesn't want to encourage panic, but the depressing thought is there, how many sports or entertainment event organisers have an crisis management plan in place for Swine Flu.?

The global footprint of major sports events for example means that we are all susceptible to disruption, cancellation and financial chaos if this thing kicks in the way the 32,899 news articles I found 5 minutes ago on Google are talking it up.

Think about it for a nano second....all major US sports, Formula 1,European soccer leagues, international cricket tours, motoGP, World Cup football, international tours by European soccer teams...if this things goes human to human in crowded spaces the risks, the potential losses, the busted guarantees....

I wonder how many organisations have in a folder a document called "How we will deal with major health threats post SARS?


I hope it's more than I think.