|
 There is so much money in sports industry that the scandals and corruption cannot be totally eliminated. The huge amounts of money that could be won in sports are very tempting and attract a lot of corruption creating once in a while scandals that shake the world of sports.
Throughout the recent history there were big scandals in many sports including boxing, tennis, motorsport, rugby, soccer and horse racing.
In sports any small advantage that can be won in front of the adversary can influence the final result and therefore could bring a lot of money. In sports the scandals range from the insignificant regulation violation to the match fixing in important championships or tournaments. In horse racing the scandals are rare but did happened especially in the recent thirty years. One of the most commented scandals took place between 1975 and 1995 and involved rich horse owners and trainers that killed horses in order to cash in the insurance. The killings were committed during show jumping competitions mainly by electrocution or some other ways, killing some of the over-valued or under-performing horses. Other scandals involved horse substitution during low levels competitions. This is the case for the Fine Cotton/Bold Personality scandal from 1984 when the mediocre horse Fine Cotton was substituted by a better performer horse named Bold Personality. Other horse racing scandals were based on race fixing like the ones in 1996 - the Stanley Chin race fixing scandal, 2002 - Operation Green Grass and in 2004 - the Kieren Fallon scandal. All these scandals have toughened the rules and controls making the industry less vulnerable. The irregularities are now easier to see and the consequences are far worse than before. Now the risk is as high as the potential winnings so the people involved in horse racing will think twice before doing anything illegal. |
