How to address malpractice in sports: The issue of compliance

EU

Sports enable individuals to exercise their physical talents. It galvanises communities, energises individuals, forms an outlet for community expression, shapes national and local identities, produces shared stories, and gathers people from all walks of life into a common cause. Sports is also highly conducive to marketing and business, and as such is a huge source of financial wealth.

This financial factor, however, both enriches and threatens sports. While young people all over the world run, wrestle, jump, skate, and compete out of a sense of enjoyment, there are more and more examples of financial malpractice, influence of abuse and exploitation, examples of doping, corruption, sexual abuse, and other practices that spoil the game.

This reality raises the questions: what is the best response to such malpractice? And who should respond? Should it be governmental institutions like courts, or should sports organisations be the ones to take responsibility? And what kind of rules should these responsible agencies issue? There is also the issue of compliance: how athletes and sports clubs can be held to the rules.

Social Sphere

Sports are firmly rooted in the social sphere. All kids play. They play games, and many join or form clubs to develop skills and enter into competition with members of other teams or clubs.

When someone breaks the rules, others will admonish him or even banish him from the game. In informal games, players officiate themselves. When the games become more serious or take place in the context of an organised competition, certain individuals become disciplinary agents: referees. When more serious faults are committed, such serious misconduct on the pitch or corrupt behaviour, clubs do the disciplining, usually through committees that apply the rules and regulations of its national or international federation.

But is the social sphere sufficiently equipped to address the malpractice we have seen in sports in recent years? Sports federations clearly do not welcome external influence when it comes to compliance. Court cases before the European Court of Justice and discussions within other EU agencies have made it clear that sporting federations embrace what they call " sporting autonomy". They argue that sports belong to the sportsmen and there should be minimal interference from the outside world.

Compliance

There are numerous examples of malpractice in professional sports, however, which have not been addressed adequately by the federations themselves. When FIFA and UEFA implemented regulations regarding Financial Fair Play, Third Party Ownership and protection of minors, it became clear that enforcing these rules and ensuring compliance by members are not easy tasks. The ongoing problems of doping in cycling and athletics and the exploitation of athletes underscore this.

"We are treated like sporting slaves" declared a headline in "The Guardian" on August 3, 2017. The article beneath it explained how athletes are being purchased by rich middle eastern nations, and are having their nationalities changed in return for good salaries and housing. However, the examples of athletes being "routinely mistreated, denied prize money and sometimes housed in filthy conditions" are just as numerous.

This raises other crucial questions: how long will it take before people lose interest in sports when they are dominated by financial interests, bribes, abuse and unfair competition? What can be done to prevent abuses and safeguard a positive outlook for the future of international competition? Lastly, who should take responsibility?

Some critics call for governments to intervene with rules and laws. Many politicians agree, and are prepared to pass legislation regulating sports. The challenge is how to design these laws and enforce compliance given that governments – as the latest financial crisis made clear – have difficulty regulating sectors where powerful financial interests are at work. Like the financial sector, sports clearly needs better laws and instruments for compliance.

The crucial point may be that the most important rules of sports are socially based, and that compliance must be regulated in the social arena. However, financial interests – overpriced players, lucrative television rights, and a winner take all mentality – are undoing the competitive principle of sports making it critical that better laws be designed to oversee these competitions.

In an article to be published in the September 2018 edition of the "Global Sports Law and Taxation Report", author Arjo Klamer, who is a Professor of Cultural Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and I will argue that sports federations should maintain the principle of sporting autonomy. Like many EU lawmakers, we recognise the danger of imposing laws on the world of sports since such regulations may undo the social fabric that gives sports their special characteristics. Yet current practices make it clear that some intervention is necessary.

One option is the creation of organisations in which governments and sporting bodies collaborate internationally to address practices that adversely impact games, and come up with best practices on how to enforce compliance with rules intended to safeguard the integrity of sports and fair play. The creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, is a good example of how such a collaboration can be successful. And it is this type of collaboration that deserves copying.