READ ALL ABOUT ITJUNE 2016

NO LONGER A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?2016 is a big year for sport. This Summer Rio de Janeiro will host the next Olympic Games and European football fans will be treated to the UEFA European Champion-ship. With a spate of recent sporting corruption scandals, what can be done to ensure that sporting events are free from corrupt practices? There are two types of sporting corruption according to Wolfgang Maennig, former Olympic rowing gold medallist and economics professor at Hamburg University:

MANAGEMENT CORRUPTION: sporting institutions and governing bodies taking bribes, fixing matches or rigging bidsCOMPETITION CORRUPTION: performers using illegal performance enhancing drugs, rigging of gambling or equipment tampering

STAMPING OUT CORRUPTION IN SPORT

“Any illegal, immoral or unethical activity that attempts to deliberately distort the result of a sporting contest for the material gain of one or more parties involved in that activity” Definition of corruption in sport according to academics Samantha Gorse & Simon Chadwick at Coventry University.

DON’T DROP THE BALL:

KEY ORGANISATIONS AND POLICIES

FIVE ESSENTIAL ANTI-CORRUPTION TECHNIQUES SPORTING BODIES CAN APPLY

1Enforcement of codes and guidelines to ensure ethical behaviour: Transparency International’s Business Principles for Countering Bribery acts as a template for sporting bodies.

2Appointment of independent non-executives or a lead director on governance issues. Limited terms of office for executives

3 Due diligence programme for ongoing monitoring of suppliers, sponsors and other third parties for potential corruption risk

5Commitment not to deal with partners or suppliers based in countries which do not have open and transparent beneficial ownership laws and regulations

4 Open and transparent bidding for sporting events, overseen by independent bodies

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) identifies and addresses crime in sport.

INTERPOL providing additional support to the Brazilian authorities ensuring the safety and security of the Olympic Games (Rio 2016) as well as specific training on identifying competition manipulation.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE created the Convention on the Manipulation of sports competitions.

WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) promotes co-ordinates and monitors the fight against drugs in sport. WADA is responsible for the World Anti-Doping Code, adopted by more than 600 sporting organisations.

COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) international body set up to settle disputes in sport. CAS is recognised by all International Olympic Federations and has arbitrated in several key doping scandals.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL created the ‘Corruption in Sport Initiative’: a partnership with experts, supporters and sponsors to present new research, analysis, dialogue and key recommendations on improving the governance of sport organisations.

CAN SPORT COMPETE WITH CORRUPTION AND FINANCIAL CRIME?The ties between sport and corruption can be broken, but everyone must work together to eradicate it. Governments and sporting bodies must work harder to ensure transparency, creating policies to ensure that fraud, bribery and corruption have no place in sport. With game-changing guidelines and improved governance, sport can regain its reputation for fair play.

COMPETITOR MATCH FIXING

● Financial gain through agreements with gamblers ● Referee corruption● Fixing a draw or score● Abuse of tie-breaking rules● Protesting action made in earlier matches● Use of illegal performance enhancing drugs● Equipment tampering

MANAGEMENT CORRUPTION

● Bid rigging● Bribing officials to gain contracts● Bribing officials to rig votes● Aggressive lobbying by big companies or

governments● Not following a tender process in the awarding of a

contract● Use of forced labour in the production of branded

merchandise● Offshore accounting

EXAMPLES OF SPORTINGCORRUPTION

OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES SPORT HAS BEEN DAMAGED BY ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY.

In addition to dozens of individual doping and match fixing prosecutions, many of the most high profile sports governing bodies have been accused of malpractice:

IOC WINTER OLYMPIC BID SCANDALA number of I.O.C. members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they had accepted inappropriately valuable "gifts" in return for voting for Salt Lake City to hold the Games.1998

IOC WINTER OLYMPICS FIGURE SKATING SCANDALDual gold medals were awarded in pairs figure skating to Canada and Russia,

after allegations of collusion among judges. 2002UCI CYCLINGIn 2010 it was revealed that cyclist Lance Armstrong had made two donations to the UCI worth in total $125,000.

In 2015, the Cycling Independent Reform Commission reported that the UCI and Lance Armstrong had colluded to circumvent accusations that the rider was doping. Armstrong eventually admitted to doping in 2013.

2002/2005 FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY

The German FA is investigating a €6.7 million payment to FIFA from the German World Cup organising committee 2006

FIFA WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA South Africa recently denied paying a $10m bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup, in the wake of the 2015 US inquiry into corruption at world football body FIFA.2010

FIFA CORRUPTION CASE Officials were accused of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of

media and marketing rights for FIFA games in the Americas, estimated at $150 million. 2015

RUSSIAN ATHLETICS DOPING SCANDAL Russian athletics federation was banned from international competition in response to state-sponsored doping allegations. 2015

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATHLETICS FEDERATIONS (IAAF) A WADA Independent Commission into doping in Athletics is incredibly damning of the level of corruption at the world

governing body. The report explicitly states that “corruption was embedded in the organisation… it cannot be ignored or dismissed as attributable to the odd renegade acting on his own.”

2016