Sport and Criminal Justice

For as long as I can remember there’s been an ongoing debate about whether or not the act of using performance enhancing drugs in sport should be deemed to be a crime and those caught made subject to punishment under the law. This discussion could easily be extended into other areas of illegal activity such as result fixing which has, as online betting enthusiasts well know, previously raised its ugly head in both football and horse racing.

These thoughts came to mind while I was reading about the latest match fixing rumours circulating in the snooker world. Unusual betting patterns have been found and some matches have had their books closed early when suspicions have been aroused. Worried players are calling for life-time bans from the sport for those found to be involved and, quite clearly, steps must be taken to deter any temptation to cheat and thus cause disillusion in the vast television audience that snooker has built over the years. Lose that and there goes the income and the funding for prizes.

Insider trading is a criminal offence in the financial world because it is unfair and because it threatens the very confidence upon which such speculative activity is based. This could equally be applied to sport because, harsh as it may seem, such offenders undermine the job security of the huge numbers now working in the sports industry as well as diminishing the confidence the general public has in the fair running of a particular sport. Show me the snooker betting fan that will place his hard earned cash on a match where the outcome might have been determined in advance. A lifetime ban and a prison sentence or even a large fine might make potential miscreants think twice before succumbing to a selfish temptation for a short term gain which threatens the long term viability of their sport.