The Cricketing world finds itself in a very peculiar position tonight. Three Pakistani international cricketers have been found guilty of spot fixing in an English court of law and have been sentenced to imprisonment for varying periods of time.
There is of course the positive note that three cricketers who have cheated, corrupted and shamed the game of cricket are now behind bars, and no longer a threat to the spirit and conduct of those playing the sport. Then of course "hopefully" a deterrent is now in place to prevent other cricketers following the same doomed path as Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
On the other hand, there is now plenty to worry the cricketing community. No doubt many an honest cricketer and cricketing fan alike are now questioning whether the results of matches they have played in or witnessed, were legitimate battles between two nations, based on cricketing skill, or someone cheating and deliberately bowling a no-ball, in order to finance a property.
What would be slightly more worrying for the ICC is the fact it basically took a now defunct newspaper in the shape of the News of the World and the Metropolitan Police to bring these three Pakistani cricketers to justice. The Anti-Corruption Panel set up by the ICC with a mission to investigate and irradicate corruption from cricket, do not appear to have had any initial involvement in uncovering this scandal. It makes you wonder what else they have missed taking place under their noses.
Like most Sports Governing Bodies however, the ICC suffer one major underlying problem in that they do not really have the powers to truly ensure inappropriate behaviour is entirely irradicated from their sport. Cheaters in sport do not fear Sports Governing Bodies. There will always be an existing culture of inappropriate behaviour in whatever context you can think of. For the most part, you, me, them, whoever, will never know what and where it is taking place. The Sports Governing Bodies are and will continue to play catch up for some time yet.
Oddly enough though, when the police or criminal enforcement organisation become involved in discovering the real truth, a sportsman or woman often crumbles. Mohammad Amir is a classic case. The threat of a long prison sentence clearly scared the living daylights out of the young man. He is now serving 6 months in comparison to Butt and Asif's longer sentences.
Today's events in some ways have brought back memories of Marion Jones, the US athlete who literally run from WADA for a very, very, long time. Ironically it took the FBI, to pin the drug fuelled athletic career charge on her, and they were investigating her involvement in a cheque scam concerning her ex. Jones got a six months prison sentence for lying to a federal investigation. The way WADA were speaking however, you would have thought they had drummed the drug confession out of her, when in truth they have always been ten steps behind the drugs cheats.
Is it a way forward for Sports Governing Bodies in the future then? Could there be a statute written into the laws of countries, where sportsmen and women can automatically be prosecuted in a court of law, if it is believed they have taken drugs, they are believed to have used racist behaviour, or attempted to fix the result of a sporting contest? Would the firm deterrent of having their freedom taken away, make them think twice before no-balling by six feet?
Sports Governing Bodies are undoubtedly going to have to box clever in the future if they wish to keep their houses in order, and that means using every resource at their disposal, be it the media or legal avenues. Cases like the three Pakistani cricketers and Marion Jones prove beyond all doubt Sports Governing Bodies simply cannot irradicate problems on their own. They often need external support. The cheaters of this world in a perverse kind of way are imaginative. Sports Governing Bodies have to become even more imaginative.
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