HARSHER PENALTIES FOR SPORTS CHEATS
It’s all cheating and, as a sportsman that I am, I’m angry. Not only at those who cheat, but also those around them who allow it to happen.
Where has the sense of fair play gone? And how come so many fans, athletes, coaches and officials accept the lying, match-fixing, doping, and corner-cutting and rule bending?
An example of this is the Storm’s salary cap. The Melbourne Storm salary cap was breached and also a breach of the National Rugby League's strictly enforced salary cap by the Melbourne Storm club over a period of five years. Players included in the scam where Greg Ingles, Billy Slater, and Cameron Smith one off the greatest NRL players to be playing the modern game off Rugby to this day. The discovery of these breaches in 2010 by the NRL resulted in: stripping the Storm of all honors achieved as a team since 2006 (including the 2007 and 2009 premierships the 2006, 2007 and 2009 minor premierships), and sentencing them to finish the 2010 NRL season of which 75% was still to be played, in last place. In addition to being fined $1.689 million, Melbourne also had its 2010 World Club Challenge title removed, more than one year since the initial penalties were first announced. Deception was clearly against the rules. Evidence has proven that players and coaches where involved in the deals. If this is true, then the cheating goes way beyond club boss at the time Brian Waldron.
Yet since then the club has signed a huge number of new members. Even though personally I do accept that they were supporting their club in its time of need but what sort of message does this send? They are indirectly condoning the illegal actions of the Storm.
Shandong Luneng, who played Adelaide United in the final pool match of the Asian Champions League, used diving and time wasting tactics to hang on for their 1-0 win.
Chatting to a member of the Reds after the game, I quizzed him how this sort of rule-bending can happen. He replied “It’s just part of our culture,” he told me. And why don’t we do it?” But reality is that Our Aussie fans would never let us get away with it,” he replied. This is clearly Strong evidence that supports the power of peer-pressure.
After faking her real birth date on a form at the Beijing Olympics, China’s Dong Fangxiao was caught out as a 14 year-old when she won her bronze medal in Sydney 10 years ago. She was well below the strict minimum age of 16 for an Olympic gymnast. This is clear and blatant cheating that must have been supported by Chinese coaches and officials.
In cycling, with every doping investigation and positive test, I cringe. So I do that a lot. But what disturbs me most is how a drug cheat can come back, be forgiven, race and win, so soon after a drug ban.
Cyclist have been caught-out drug cheats in the Giro Donne in Italy last year and viewers watched with amazement when they were welcomed back into the fold and literally embraced by our fellow
