Jail for Sports Cheats

[Alphabet Man]

Plan to put cheats in jail

21apr05

WORLD cricket's most senior official has called on governments to introduce "cheating in sport" legislation and jail terms for those athletes found guilty of corruption.

International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed yesterday used one of the world's most influential sports conferences in Berlin to unleash an extraordinary attack on cheats in sport.

He has called on governments to follow the United Kingdom's lead and introduce laws to further combat corruption in sport.

"Cricket's message to other sports is to be extremely careful in dealing with this potential attack on your sport's integrity," Speed said in his address.

It was a blunt message to governments and sports federations around the world, including the Australian Federal Government, to introduce legislation to criminalise cheating in sport.

"The new UK legislation includes a prison term as a penalty for sporting corruption, but the ICC is disappointed that the maximum sentence is only two years," Speed said.

"We think 10 years is a more appropriate penalty."

Federal Sports Minister Rod Kemp said last night the Australian Government believed the strongest action should be taken on those who fix sporting games for financial gain. He said he would seek further talks with his state and territory colleagues.

"Before we respond to any calls to introduce national legislation to criminalise cheating in sport, the Australian Government would need to consider all of the complex legal issues involved," Senator Kemp said.

The minister added that Australia had shown true leadership in dealing with cheats who use drugs and doping in sport. But Speed remains convinced more needs to be done, especially regarding major sporting events in the next few years.

"It would be great to see legislation of this sort in Germany for next year's football World Cup, in China for the 2008 Olympics and in all the eight countries in the Caribbean in which the next ICC cricket World Cup will be played," Speed said.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland will seek talks with Speed over his proposal and while he supported the tough stance against sports cheats, said jail terms for offences had not been considered.

Other Australian sporting organisations welcomed Speed's get-tough stance.

"We'd certainly like to look at the detail of the new UK legislation as sports betting and integrity issues is something that is an area of common concern to all the major sports in Australia," a Tennis Australia spokesman said.

Athletics Australia chief executive Danny Corcoran said the toughest sanctions should be imposed on those found guilty of match fixing and drug cheats.

"I would welcome discussion on legislation as the message must continue to be stressed that drug cheats won't be tolerated. I fear some countries who compete in major competition have cultures where drug cheats are considered acceptable and that is simply unfair on countries like Australia who have stringent anti-doping laws," Corcoran said.

But Commonwealth Games boss Perry Crosswhite believes the public humiliation of being found guilty is sufficient punishment.

"Anyone who has fixed a result or been found guilty of drug use have reputations that are damaged forever by their reckless actions and I think that suffices," Crosswhite said.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/st...5E11088,00.html

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Good idea but 10yrs is a bit to much i think

[OB33]

I guess this throws out that whole "it's just a game" business all my Little League coaches told me