Cost cutting could cause sports integrity issues, experts warn

A group of respected Australian integrity, health and anti-doping experts has been formed to consult to Australian sports.

Iain Roy fears many sports will be swamped by integrity issues

Deep cost-cutting due to COVID-19 at most Australian sports could provide headaches for underfunded administrators and leave players more susceptible to match-fixing, drug-taking and organised crime, leading integrity officials warn.

This week saw the departure of the NRL’s chief operating officer, Nick Weeks, who was in charge of the integrity unit, while there have also been cuts in the AFL’s integrity unit and at Cricket Australia. Other sports such as rugby union have also signalled the need for drastic cuts to administration numbers.

Meanwhile, Olympic sports such as weightlifting and gymnastics are dealing with doping cover-ups and vote-buying at international levels and athlete abuse allegations, respectively, and a world championship softball player was recently caught driving with cannabis in his ­system.

And after an extensive investigation by The Australian and Daily Telegraph into the life of ice-skater Katia Alexandrovskaya, Australian Olympic, Commonwealth Games and Paralympic authorities have created a working party with Sport Integrity Australia and the National Sports Tribunal to develop an “independent framework” to deal with abuse, intimidation and other safeguarding issues in Australian sport.

Iain Roy, who investigated the notorious “sandpapergate” incident while at Cricket Australia, told The Weekend Australian that as financial cutbacks were happening at almost all sports, big or small, it was questionable whether many would have the resources to cope with an increasing integrity and governance workload.

“Given the financial impact of the COVID-19 health crisis and the subsequent cost-cutting across all sports and sporting ­organisations, any divestment in integrity frameworks could be disastrous for sports as they suddenly become more susceptible to integrity risks,” Roy said.

“It can happen when an athlete has their pay cut or they’re not being paid at all. All of a sudden you could find your players are taking phone calls or receiving approaches on social media, and the sports may not have the resources to educate the players or to tap into information to deal with these matters.”

In particular, he said sports could be targeted by cashed-up overseas gambling syndicates or organised crime, noting a report published last month by Euro­pean law enforcement agency Europol that revealed the increasing involvement of organised crime groups in sports corruption.

“Sports that then find themselves in disrepute will see their commercial value go down and it will also have an impact on participation numbers,” Roy said.

As Cricket Australia’s senior counsel, Roy led the investigation into the ball tampering incident in South Africa two years ago. His review resulted in 12-month bans for captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner, while opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was outed for nine months.

Roy has formed a new entity, Sports Integrity & Governance Partners, to consult to sports on integrity issues and to boost governance.

The group includes former Cricket Australia and International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Speed said corporate governance structures in Australian sports had improved markedly in recent years. But he said he wanted good governance to become “great”.