Sports, Scandals and Law

Millions of people are glued to the TV channels to watch a sports event. Thousands of people, who can afford, pay hefty amount, queue up from early morning to buy Ticket to watch match live from the stadium itself. Many people travel across the world with their favourite team, or favorite player to watch them play and cheer up. And they want their team and players to always win. This feeling becomes genuine if something is proved. Many of them are disappointed when their favorite stars are found to be involved in doping, match fixing, performing below their potential, performing above potential or passing the information to any third party.

Today doping, match fixing, underperforming, taking enhancement drugs is a reality in all sports. No sportsperson is above board and if a pretty good player underperforms, people ‘know’ this. When repeated catches of some player is dropped and the person goes on to score good run and helps his team in winning the match, it is taken not as a surprise but as a ‘fixing’. The nexus between the Cricket Board officials, cricketers is no more of any surprise. Cricket, Soccer, Baseball, Athletics, Cycling, Tennis, Chess, Hockey, Boxing, Clubs and most sports are affected by rampant corruption, nepotism and malpractices which have demoralized the honest sportspersons and shocked the fans and spectators across the world.

Indians are glued to their mobile, radio, TV or other gadgets to update themselves about the latest score of their team and players. people were taken aback when it became clear that match fixing was a reality. It is not that only players from different countries, or clubs, who were accused or, convicted were involved in the match-fixing. In 1998, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were penalized by the Cricket Australia for providing weather report to bookies. No one believed that Hansie Cronje, who was a gentleman on the ground, would be involved in this practice. He felt bad and it is not known whether his death in a plane crash was a game plan or just an accident.

The scam and racket is bigger than what has been discovered so far. The IPL scandal of 2010 made it obvious that despite the presence of camera and new rules and regulations, there was no end to the match-fixing. Further, it was found that there was a big nexus between the cricket officials and the players, as Chennai Super kings and Rajasthan Royals team revealed. There were also instances of huge money laundering as is suspected in the case of IPL team Kochi Kerala Tuskers—which was promoted by Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar. Kochi team was banned, and Lalit Modi was removed from the post of IPL chairman at the intervention of the Supreme Court. But that was not all, as it was found that the nexus among cricket officials-cricketers-politicians and corporate was ensuring the monopoly of some players. M S Dhoni, the most decorated player was playing for India, as well as Chennai Super Kings—the team promoted by India Cements owner and BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan. The issue was not only of corruption but also clash of interest where Lalit Modi and N Srinivasan were not only officials of the Cricket governing body, but they were also indirect owners of the IPL Franchise teams, which also won the IPL crown. Chennai and Rajasthan Royals returned to the IPL competition in 2017, after serving a ban of two years. There are reasons to believe that the victory of Chennai team in two editions of the IPL was pre-planned and fixed. With every new edition, IPL got richer and more controversial. Shashi Tharoor was forced to resign from the cabinet of Dr. Manmohan Singh, when he failed to satisfy his critics about the financial deal of IPL team Kochi, where his girlfriend Sunanda Pushkar was directly involved. Later on, Sunanda died under mysterious circumstances and still the cause of her death is not clear. In 2013, three players of Rajasthan Royals were arrested by Delhi Police for being involved in spot-fixing. The Supreme Court appointed a three-member Committee headed by Justice R M Lodha to enquire into the functioning of the BCCI. After enquiry, the Lodha Committee called for the resignation of the office bearers of the BCCI and a Committee of Administrators (COA) under Vinod Rai was appointed to work and cleanse the system. Corruption and nepotism is so deep in cricket that the SC has no faith in its governing body. But due to the PIL filed and the court intervention, at least some beginning is made to cleanse the system.

The world cricket is not new to fixing, as mentioned above. The death of Bob Woolmer on the sidelines of the World Cup was another instance of involvement of money in the game. From time to time, players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand, Australia and England have been found guilty of misconduct or accused of match-fixing and providing information to the bookies. Other sports also face the challenge of instilling discipline and integrity among players and office bearers.

The fans of Football were stunned when FIFA was rocked with corruption allegations at highest place, and its longest serving president Sepp Blatter resigned in June 2015. The football world was in denial that its longest serving chief has left, just days after winning a re-election. His resignation came on the close heels of investigations into the affairs of the FIFA, where its top executives were alleged to be involved in taking bribes and kickbacks for giving broadcasting rights, and also influencing the decision for the bidding of 2018 Russia World Cup and 2022 Qatar World Cup. After the investigations started in the US and Switzerland, former FIFA official Chuck Blazer admitted to taking bribes in exchange for awarding the 1998 World Cup to France and the 2010 World Cup to South Africa. Ben Jhonson, Jennifer Capriati, Lance Armstrong are other sportspersons who have cheated the people. Maria Sharapova has made a comeback to the sports after serving two years ban.

The filing of the PIL, the intervention of the Supreme Court and the hard work of the Lodha Committee is an attempt to cleanse the game of cricket in India. It appears that lawmakers, bureaucrats, cops  should not be allowed to control the sports bodies, as it hampers the growth of the game and creates nexus. Law and its enforcement can rid the sports of the corrupt practices, cheating and restore the confidence of the people in the game. Lalit Modi is still absconding and a lot needs to be done, though a beginning has been made.