The current controversy over match-fixing in tennis has some ironic elements. Anyone watching the Australian Open on free-to-air TV will notice the proliferation of sports betting ads.
Having learned some hard lessons with the Essendon case, Australia should lead the way in developing a better approach to drug control and anti-doping in sport.
The tennis world is the latest sport to be rocked by allegations of corruption, this time by reports of match fixing. So who are the winners and losers when such allegations are made?
Some might think the anti-doping principle of strict liability is too harsh. But the banned Essendon players unfortunately may be barking up the wrong tree if they think they are innocent victims.
As Chris Gayle has so amply demonstrated, there is still considerable resistance to the full integration of women into sport culture – and not least in the sports media.
It has become a truism that professional athletes, whether they like it or not, “are” role models for others. Talented sportspeople hardly win every time, and sometimes they do not exemplify fair play…
A centralised video ref for next year’s NRL season aims to reduce the dramas surrounding refereeing decisions in the game. But how often do the on-field refs get it wrong?
Mega sports event promoters use the term ‘legacy’ extensively to justify the amount of – mostly public – money involved in the bid and execution of such events.
No-one seriously believes that football – followed by so many, and accepted as legitimate by most of the community – could be killed off in Australia by a handful of media mouthpieces.
Australia has struggled to win Olympic medals after the success in Sydney in 2000. But there’s hope that may change as we head towards the Rio games in 2016.