For the love of the game, we must mitigate risks of sporting corruption – Editorial

The 1919 Chicago White Sox baseball team, consigned to history as the "Black Sox" after their role in a World Series match-fixing scandal. Photo / Wikimedia Commons

Editorial

THREE KEY FACTS

• Organised crime syndicates are targeting sporting codes to launder money, sports integrity body chief Rebecca Rolls warns.
• The sports integrity commission is in talks with international experts, including Interpol, to address the issue.
• Players may be approached for minor actions in games, making New Zealand an attractive target due to time zones.

As reported on the Herald’s front page today, organised crime syndicates have New Zealand sports codes in their sights.

They want to wash their dirty money and our athletes could be used as the pawns in their game of greed, according to the country’s sports integrity body.

Rebecca Rolls, the chief executive of the Sport Integrity Commission (SIC), said any sport that is streamed or broadcast potentially a target.

She added the SIC has discussions under way with overseas counterparts and policing experts – including Interpol.

These comments show how serious the issue is and how big the criminal business is in sport.

Sport has always been vulnerable to corruption – the 1919 Chicago White Sox are infamous for intentionally throwing baseball’s World Series to benefit gamblers.

The NBA in the United States has had a referee betting scandal and we’ve had numerous cheats in the Olympics influenced by outsiders.

Cricket has throughout the years been plagued by match-fixing scandals, including South African captain Hansie Cronje and, closer to home, Lou Vincent’s case and the trial of Chris Cairns, who was acquitted of his charges.

Several spectators were also evicted from the opening match of the 2015 Cricket World Cup at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval for “courtsiding”, the practice of sending information from the event for gambling while taking advantage of broadcasting delays.

And in 2018, police here were called in to investigate allegations of illegal betting in the National Basketball League.

As Rolls highlights, players may be approached not to fix entire matches or results, but individual plays.

“It could just be a foul throw in the first 10 minutes, or is the umpire going to wear a floppy hat or a cap,” Rolls said.

“People will bet on anything.”

The issue has also reached the Government, with a briefing to incoming Sports Minister Mark Mitchell earlier this year.

In it, the SIC outlined its plans and the challenges that it expected to face – including attempted corruption in New Zealand sport.

Rolls also said our time zone makes us an attractive target, with games streamed when little other live sport is played.

Our love of sport is one of the things which makes this country great and it is synonymous with our instinct for fairness.

The global nature and big money to be made by these criminal syndicates corrupting sports should concern us.

We want to see everyone afforded a fair crack on the field and we don’t want our games tarnished.

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