Cynical, suspicious and fearful

I cannot remember a more farcical start to the sporting year than what has occurred less than two months into 2013. Forget who won, forget what sport, the only thing that has dominated global sport so far this year has been controversy. Drugs, match-fixing, speculation, allegations, criminal investigations, conspiracies, it goes on and on.

The Mayans predicted the end of one world and the beginning of another. Are we witnessing the new world order in sport - where controversy completely destroys fans' and spectators' love of a true and just sporting contest?

Recap of the controversy so far (or at least what I have been aware of) ...

The now iconic image of Armstrong confessing to Oprah (OWN)

Cycling - Lance Armstrong confesses to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview that he used performance enhancing drugs throughout his cycling career and, most significantly, in each of his seven Tour de France victories from 1999-2005. Armstrong's adoption of a "win-at-all-costs" mentality led him down a dangerous road of serial doping. However, in that same interview he continued to deny accusations that he was involved in covering up a supposed positive test for EPO during the 2001 Tour de Suisse, and stated that he rode the Tour de France "clean" upon his return in 2009 and 2010.


Football/Soccer - A global investigation by Europol - a European law enforcement agency - produced evidence of widespread match-fixing in football/soccer that was linked to organized crime syndicates in Asia, or more specifically Singapore. Approximately 380 matches in Europe were affected by illegal betting practices in Asia and this was accompanied with over 400 fraudulent officials. The integrity of fixtures in the UEFA Champions League, World Cup and European Championship qualifying, and league matches in South America and counties such as Turkey and Germany, are under serious investigation.

Deer oh deer: Vijay Singh (The Telegraph)

Golf - Successful Fijian golfer Vijay Singh was revealed to have used deer-antler spray on a daily basis since late 2012 and soon after admitted that this was true. What is the problem? The deer-antler spray contains a substance banned by the PGA Tour,  IGF-1, which is a "natural, anabolic hormone that stimulates muscle growth." Singh claims that he was unaware that the spray contained "a substance that is banned under the PGA Tour Anti-Doping Policy." It is still unclear whether Singh will be suspended as he keeps in regular contact with PGA Tour officials.

Boxing - Where to begin and, even more confusing, where to end? Sonny Bill Williams defeated Francois Botha on points to win their bout in Brisbane last week but the validity of the result has yet to be confirmed. The fight only went 10 rounds when WBA (World Boxing Association) rules clearly state that "All sanctioned bouts shall be scheduled for twelve (12) rounds." Sonny Bill's manager Khoder Nasser is adamant that everyone knew the fight was scheduled for 10 rounds and that the marketing of the fight being 12 rounds was a misunderstanding. The T.V. commentators were certain that the fight was scheduled for 12 rounds and expressed their shock at the start of the 10th round when the umpire said it was the last round. T.V. footage shows that the judges had the "11" and "12" cards on their tables. Sky TV New Zealand advertised the fight as 12 rounds, so did Fox Sports Australia. Betting agencies in both Australia and New Zealand had betting options open for knockouts occurring in rounds 11 and 12.

Sonny Bill himself is quoted as saying "He'll [Botha] do 12 rounds pretty easy" just days before the fight yet after the fight claimed he always prepared for a 10 round fight. To make matters worse, Botha failed a drugs test from a urine sample that was taken three days before the bout, even though he was not officially obliged to. Botha has since claimed that the test was administered by someone with close association to Nasser and will undergo another test in his home country South Africa sooner rather than later in order to clear his name.

Can this get any more farcical? WBA official Brad Vocale claims that the championship belt won by SBW after his victory was not genuine and that there was no WBA official at the actual fight. The credibility of both Nasser and Sonny Bill have taken a huge blow and this is certainly not the end of the story.

Fuentes outside court (The Telegraph)

Multiple sports -  Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes is currently undergoing a trial in a court case dubbed "Operation Puerto." Fuentes was previously arrested in May 2006 after an investigation into his Madrid-based clinic revealed 186 code-named blood bags belonging to professional athletes and the illegal possession and use of EPO and Human Growth Hormone. Fuentes has worked with top cyclists, footballers, football teams, tennis players, boxers and swimmers.Fuentes has stated that he is willing to name all the athletes he helped through blood doping by matching up the blood samples and codes with the real athletes' name. Judge Julia Santamaria told him that he is only obliged to name the cyclists due to a previous ruling, but officials from agencies such as WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) have called for all names to be revealed. Fuentes apparently saw doping during the 2006 World Cup. It would shatter me if Fuentes revealed that Italy were involved, but so far he has not named any countries. In what could have serious ramifications, Fuentes allegedly told a prison informant that if he was to talk, Spain could be stripped of their World Cup 2010 and European Championship titles.

Cover page of the report (ACC)

Australian sport - February 7, 2012, could go down as the "blackest day in Australian sport." On this Thursday, the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) shocked Australian sports fans, players and officials with the release of a report entitled "Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport." The year long investigation gives damning evidence of banned substances such as peptides, human growth hormone and, disturbingly, even substances that have yet to be tested on humans, being distributed to athletes, pharmacists and coaches in multiple sports through illegal means.

Aussie Rules and Rugby League are the two sports under the most suspicion even though the public have yet to be made aware of specific athletes and teams who were involved. The Hyundai A-League (football/soccer) has not escaped the controversy. Tens of millions of dollars were placed on a single fixture from an Asian-based betting agency in Melbourne in late 2012. It is unclear as to what two teams were involved.

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I will now point out two specific sporting fixtures that happened last week which I find suspicious. Even though there has been no official investigation, I find some instances in the following hard to believe.

English Premier League - Manchester City vs Southampton. I am sorry, but this match just smelt of match-fixing. Joe Hart, first choice goalkeeper for England, fumbles the ball when it is kicked straight at his paws. Fellow teammate Gareth Barry kicked the ball into his own net while Hart did not make much of an effort to prevent the ball rolling into the goal. For goodness sake, it did not even look like a back-pass from Barry but more like a tap in goal from a striker.

Cricket - The New Zealand cricket team (Black Caps), who usually are a composed side in the field, dropped five catches against England in their first Twenty20 match. This is a bit of a tongue-and-cheek example.

For me, the end of 2012 marked the end of my belief in many things spectacular in sport. From 2013 onwards, almost every achievement of epic proportions will have a cloud hanging over it. I might even abandon my one-eyed view that teams and players I support are free from all this.