Betting industry leader calls for sport world anti-corruption agency

He envisions that the anti-corruption agency would operate along the same lines as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), perhaps encompassing the role as both global watchdog for financial as well as pharmaceutical corruption of sport.

“There isn't a body that sits at the top of sport that's something we'd love to see, a world integrity agency that encompasses both drugs and betting and any other form of corruption,” Davies told New Zealand newspaper the Sunday Star Times at the Leaders in Sport conference in Auckland on 4 April 2008.

“For me it should be the same body. If a sportsman is trying to corrupt by enhancing his performance by drugs or trying to corrupt by minimising his performance and make money off the back of it, I don't see a distinction.”

His comments reflect a similar viewpoint to that of Richard Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency who spoke at the Play the Game conference in Reykjavik in October 2007.

“I think sport in general ought to consider a coalition against corruption in sport more consciously and overtly than it has to date,” Pound told conference delegates in response to a question from the audience.

Pound also took a broad view to corruption, seeing it not only as a problem of financial malfeasance, but also of the judging of sports events.

“There are financial and other aspects of corruption including judging. We have all seen examples of that. But I think a lot of the corruption has just been kept quiet - almost by consent or a similar kind of Omerta that we have seen in doping,” Pound said at Play the Game 2007.

Coalition against corruption in sport
Play the Game proposed the idea of a world coalition against corruption in sport at the Play Fair with Sport conference organised by UEFA and the Council of Europe in October 2006, a position that Play the Game director Jens Sejer Andersen reiterated at Play the Game 2007.

“A coalition against corruption in sport may not be possible in the world of sport of today, but it could be possible in the world of sport of tomorrow. And Richard Pound almost gave us a mandate when he said that a starting point for such a coalition could be here at Play the Game,” Andersen said in his closing speech to Play the Game delegates.

Andersen outlined seven aspects a global coalition for good governance in sport should encompass.

1. define minimum standards for transparency, accountability and democratic procedures, standards which are to be followed by all national and international sports federations, governments, sponsors
2. have administrative capacity to monitor that the minimum standards are respected
3. actively encourage sports leaders and administrators, media professionals, sports researchers and other stakeholders to report irregularities
4. have a legal mandate and professional expertise to investigate cases of mismanagement and corruption, including the right to search sports offices, archives etc. without prior notice
5. be equipped with right to issue bans against individuals or groups who violate the global standards and suspend those who are under investigation
6. be provided with a legal status that enables it to report supposed violations to national or international legal authorities for further trial
7. regularly communicate its findings to the public through annual reports, conferences etc.

Related links

• Match-fixing won't go away: bet on it, says troubleshooter – Sunday Star Herald, New Zealand, 6 April 2008
• Towards a global coalition for good governance in sport – Play the Game
• Play the Game - WADA president believes that the sports world should consider coalition against corruption – Play the Game