A week is a long time in sport, just as it is in politics. The spot-fixing controversy in the Indian Premier League rumbles on, a leading cyclist has tested positive for EPO and we’ve also seen headlines about potential match-fixing syndicates targeting football as well.
Then, on the morning of the Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes are facing the possibility of an appeal against a private test following the Spanish GP and in English rugby’s showpiece final, Dylan Hartley is sent off for swearing at the referee.
For all the glorious moments sport gives us – such as Bayern Munich’s Champions League win and Joe Root’s maiden Test century – it does seem to have a habit of shooting itself in the foot. Something about the rough with the smooth, everything evening out eventually, perhaps. Or not.
Perhaps the most shocking thing about the spot-fixing in India is not the fact that franchise officials and elite umpires are being investigated, but that it all blew up one year and one day after five players were suspended (two would later be banned) for doing exactly the same thing. Maybe it goes to show that sometimes, for whatever reason, the temptation to take a bribe, to do the wrong thing for personal gain, will be impossible for certain individuals to resist.
And that applies to drug-taking too. And faking injuries – bloodgate rugby’s own addition to sport’s sordid scandals of the early part of the 21st century.
Where will it end? It will end with every performance being ‘provisional’, players and teams constantly under suspicion. This is how many athletes, cyclists and sadly, now cricketers, are viewed. Every time we hear or see a runner producing a fast time, a cyclist winning a race, a bowler leaking runs, it is impossible not to at least wonder for a second whether the performance was legitimate.
And that is very sad indeed.