Time to channel my anger: Why I’m joining the Sport Integrity Global Alliance
World Cup euphoria is residing, but memories will remain for many years. Sport has that incredible power to captivate, enthuse and unite, inspire confidence, teach commitment and break down cultural, religious and language barriers. For 90 (short) minutes, everyday concerns are sidelined. But this isn’t just for four weeks every four years. It is a scene played out, by boys, girls, men and women on every basketball court, football pitch and cricket oval every week, in every country across the world.
Sport — and all associated emotions and feelings and benefits — belong to everyone. Sport should never be owned or controlled or manipulated. Not by a President, nor a governing body, nor a corporation, nor by a gender.
The problem is that since sport is so universal, since it is so loved and taps into emotions such as pride and loyalty, it becomes perceived as a commodity; a very valuable commodity worth owning, worth controlling, worth manipulating. Without the checks and balances on those who have power and access, sport becomes a plaything for personal profit. And players (grassroots and elite), fans — even the construction site workers, become exploited, deceived, tricked — or worse, suffer huge rights violations.
I will never forget meeting a young woman from the Middle East who told me that her team had recently won the national championships. Rather than elated, she looked despondent. It had been a big deal for the squad and came with well-earned prize money. As the young women chatted about what they could do with the cash (new balls? New bibs? New kit? They needed it all), an official from the Football Association came, took the prize money and said he would “look after it” for them. Of course, they never saw the cash again.
Corruption has already poisoned the well, tearing apart people’s trust. When Transparency International ran a survey in 2016 after major corruption scandals gripped football, 69% of the 25,000 respondents from 28 countries said they had no confidence in FIFA. More disconcerting, 43% said the corruption scandals had impacted their own enjoyment of the game.
I’m angry. I’ve been getting more and more angry over the last few years as a small number of exceptional journalists and human rights NGOs have shared jaw-dropping stories of greed and abuse. I think you need anger coursing through your veins if you’re going to get something changed (as long as you can pair it up with a good strategy and smart thinking!). No point just being “interested” in changing what you don’t like.
The sports world needs to catch up with the rest of the world and adopt much better good governance and accountability measures and become much more financially transparent. It needs to protect the game from undue influence provoked by match-fixing and gambling. It needs to diversify the make-up of decision-makers so that decisions are made in the interests of all and not just one segment of a population. And it needs to ensure that young athletes — the future of sport are protected from the vultures that circulate.
The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) is setting out a path on how to get this done. With a set of global standards and support to companies and sports bodies trying to be changemakers, and an ethos of collaboration with other actors (there is lots to do!), they are trying to prove that integrity in sport is not an impossible dream.
I have learned a lot over the course of more than five years with the world’s largest anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International. It’s time for me to apply those lessons learned to the world of sport. I’m still angry. But I’m also proud and very excited to be joining the SIGA team later this year as Director of Public Policy and Sport Integrity. There is so much to do — but I’m ready to get stuck in.
