Though the world of sports has seen brilliant performances by many persons and teams over the years, controversies played their part to mar sportspersons and officials.
Here are some of them:
FIFA conflict
The FIFA corruption scandal, which emerged in the year 2015, continued to hurt the football governing body. Sepp Blatter was suspended from FIFA for 90 days in 2015. Swiss investigators announced that they were investigating Blatter in relation to payments made to UEFA president Michel Platini. In December 2015, FIFA ethics committee banned both Platini and Blatter from football for eight years. After an appeal from both, the FIFA appeals committee upheld the suspension but reduced it to 6 years.
In August 2016, Blatter appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking to overturn the suspension. ( Read more )
On December 5, 2016, Blatter lost the appeal at CAS ( Read more )
Lodha-BCCI imbroglio
In January 2016, the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee made a strong recommendation to lawmakers to legalise betting in cricket for all, except cricket players, officials and administrators. It stated that government servants and ministers should be banned from holding posts in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). ( Read more )
In June, the Supreme Court accepted the structural reforms recommended by the Lodha panel ( Read more )
A timeline of Lodha panel formation and its recommendations ( Read more )
After the Lodha panel made the recommendations, there was a war of words between the committee and BCCI officials. In October, the Supreme Court refused to give an inch to the BCCI "defiance" and ordered that none of the Board's member-State associations will get a single rupee from the apex cricket body till they comply in "letter and spirit" with the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee reforms. ( Read more )
In a December hearing, the Supreme Court warned that it found BCCI president Anurag Thakur prima facie guilty of contempt of court and liable to face criminal prosecution for perjury. ( Read more )
In a telling blow to the BCCI, Mumbai Cricket Association president Sharad Pawar announced his resignation on December 17. ( Read more )
Mr. Thakur conceded that the current crisis facing the Board is not in the best interest of cricketers but the body will have to keep everything on hold till Supreme Court gives it’s verdict on January 3, 2017. ( Read more )
Russian doping scandals
The 2016 Rio Olympics saw the non-participation of Russia as their athletes were banned for doping scandals.
In July, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Russia's appeal against a doping ban on its athletics team from the Olympics. ( Read more )
The court upholds the ban on Russia's track and field athletes competing in the Olympics. ( Read more )
Read the editorial on Russia’ss tainted athletics
A timeline on Russia Olympic ban: A sordid saga
In a latest development, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that disciplinary action has been started against 28 Russians suspected of doping at the Sochi Winter Games and a wider testing of Russian samples has been ordered. ( Read more )
Rio Olympics and Zika
Rio Olympics started and ended on a colourful note despite some of the leading stars withdrawing from the competition due to Zika virus. The virus had put a threat to the organisers.
Rio Olympics also faced another peculiar situation. During the third day of the water polo event, the water suddenly turned green. The water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not pools. Olympic organisers couldn’t explain the colour change although Rio organizers’ spokesman Mario Andrada blamed a proliferation of algae while insisting that the athletes weren’t at risk. ( Read more )
Here we look what went right and what went wrong at the Rio Games, the first Olympics to be held in South America. ( Read more )
On a brighter side, Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps hogged the limelight with their gold winning feat.
India won only two medals, a silver by P.V. Sindhu and bronze from Sakshi Malik.
Marathon runner O.P. Jaisha created a controversy saying that I could have died there, as she recalled the women’s marathon event at the Olympics during which she claimed she was not provided any water and energy drinks by the officials despite India being allotted designated stations. ( Read more )
The controversy stoked by Jaisha took an interesting turn with her personal coach Nikolai Snesarev asserting that she herself had said ‘no’ when asked by him if she would need personalised refreshment during the race. ( Read more )
After the end of the mega event, the Sports Ministry constituted a two-member committee to probe into the allegation of Jaisha. ( Read more )
Read more about the Rio Olympics
Sushil versus Narsingh controversy
Narsingh Yadav won the Olympics qualifying tournament and was eligible to represent India at Rio in the 74 kg wrestling event. Sushil Kumar, two-time Olympic medallist, was also in the same category. The IOA was in a fix whether to send Sushil Kumar or Yadav. Kumar had approached the court to have a trial between him and Yadav. But the court declined and allowed Yadav to participate at the mega event.
With the "quota place" playing a crucial role, India had no other alternative but to send Yadav to Rio. ( Read about the quota place rule )
Before going to Rio, Yadav was ousted from the Olympics as the CAS slapped him with a four-year ban, while hearing into the World Anti-Doping Agency's appeal against the clean chit given to him in a dope scandal by NADA. ( Read more)
In August 2016, Yadav was exonerated of all charges, getting a clean chit from the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP), which accepted the conspiracy and sabotage theory advanced by his legal team and permitted him to participate in the Olympics. Even Kumar congratulated and prompted him to win a medal for India. ( Read more )
But Narsingh failed to live up to the expectations.
IPL in time of drought
This year's Indian Premier League (IPL) faced several controversies. Before the start of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned for two years. The IPL committee allowed Pune and Gujarat to select players from the auction to complete their eight team format.
The new Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions were permitted to play for two years.
At a time when Maharashtra was reeling under ’worst drought of the century’, a PIL was filed by NGO Loksatta Movement seeking a stay on IPL matches to be held in Maharashtra. The Bombay High Court directed the BCCI to reschedule Maharashtra IPL matches to other venues after April 30. ( Read more ) After a long trial, the BCCI had no other alternative but to shift the venues of some IPL matches. ( Read more )
AIBA recognition
In the wake of failure of not conducting elections properly, the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) had derecognised the Boxing Federation of India membership. With this, the boxers were under extreme pressure of not having any proper international practice. Due to this, they failed miserably at the Rio Olympics. The Boxing Federation of India took shape in September and the AIBA gave full membership to the federation in December. ( Read more )
Pistorius hearing
Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian, had a miserable year. He was initially convicted of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, at his 2014 trial for shooting Steenkamp through a closed toilet door in his home. He testified he mistook the model and reality TV celebrity for a night-time intruder hiding in a bathroom, and shot her with his 9mm pistol in self-defence fearing an attack. The trial judge accepted part of Pistorius’ story, and he was given a five-year jail sentence based on the judge’s ruling that he acted recklessly, but didn’t mean to kill. After serving a year in jail, Pistorius was released on parole in line with South African procedure and has been living under house arrest at his uncle’s mansion.
Pistorius was found guilty of murdering Steenkamp by an appeals court last December. In June, the re-sentencing trial took place ( Read more ). After three weeks of hearing, Judge Thokozile Masipa, who heard the original trial, gave Oscar Pistorius a jail term of six years. ( Read more )
Chris Gayle’s controversial remarks
In January, West Indian batting star Chris Gayle courted fresh controversy when he made ’inappropriate’ remarks to a female television presenter live on air after a Big Bash League cricket match. ( Read more )
Melbourne Renegades, which Gayle was representing, had imposed a fine of $10,000. The storm surrounding the star Jamaican cricketer intensified as new allegations about his behaviour towards women emerged. More female journalists aired complaints against Gayle. The cricketer has sought the services of a leading Australian lawyer to start defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media ( Read more )
Former cricketers like Ian Chappell and ICC chief executive Dave Richardson have criticised Gayle’s controversial remarks. Chappell went further and called for a worldwide ban on Gayle ( Read more ) Richardson said that while the situation was avoidable he saw no reason for the game to be worried over it ( Read more )
Lionel Messi fraud tax case
In June, FIFA world player Lionel Messi and his father Jorge Horacio are to be charged with tax fraud, the Spanish public prosecutor’s office said. Prosecutor Raquel Amado's charges state that Messi and his father defrauded the tax office out of around four million Euros (5.3 million dollars) between 2007 and 2009, in relation to the Barca idol’s image rights. ( Read more )
In July, Barcelona's Argentine soccer star was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined 2 million Euros ($2.2 million) after being found guilty of three counts of tax fraud; although it is unlikely he will serve time. ( Read more )
