When Winning Is Everything, Sport's A Loser

The Age

Monday January 14, 2008

Larry Scott

We must do our utmost to protect the integrity of the sports we love.

LEGENDARY sportscaster Howard Cosell once said: "Sports is human life in microcosm". One could argue human life has lost much of its innocence since Cosell uttered those words. Undoubtedly, so has sport.

A perfunctory review of the top stories and events of last year across sports' global landscape revealed the integrity of our games under nearly constant attack - with virtually no one left unscathed.

From allegations of match-fixing in professional tennis to the sagas surrounding world-class cyclists, from US basketball referees to track and field to formula one car racing, time and again the culprits were familiar. Doping, gambling and criminal behaviour consistently sat at the centre of broader stories that placed the "purity" of our athletes, and our sports, under the most intense of scrutiny.

These were reminders that athletes and those tied to the game are no less susceptible to the negative influences of our broader society than the rest of us.

Of course, none of this is entirely new. We can cite countless examples throughout the history of sport where players, teams or managers sought to gain an edge at the expense of their games. The more frightening element of today's environment is the prevalence of these incidents, and the degree to which gambling and doping seem to have permeated the culture surrounding our sports.

Leaders of sport must face this new reality head-on. It's not just about revenue growth, global expansion and attracting new fans. We have an inherent responsibility to protect and preserve the sanctity of our games on behalf of fans and the wellbeing of our athletes.

Interestingly, to date none of the scandals seem to have had a negative impact on the big business of sport. But we can't take the continued support of fans, sponsors and broadcasters for granted.

More importantly, we have a collective moral responsibility to do right by our sports and our fans - particularly our kids and future generations of sports lovers and professional athletes.

Growing up, I emulated Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe before going on to play tennis in college and on the professional circuit. I worshipped their backhands and impersonated their serves. My own path to getting better was a one-way street called practice. We can't have our children today thinking any differently in their approach to sports or life. We need to ask ourselves whether we are cultivating a next generation of athlete who believes steroids or human growth hormone are necessary to succeed.

If 2007 has shown anything, it is that there is an urgent need to take action to combat this worrying trend. And the good news is that there are plenty of examples of our sports across the spectrum beginning to do just that - maybe late in the day, but, all the same, action is being taken. As an example, in the world of tennis, the WTA Tour has worked fervently to ensure we have one of the most rigorous and comprehensive anti-doping programs in sports.

We have also taken measures with the other bodies in tennis to prevent match-fixing, including information-sharing agreements with betting regulators, periodic and regular performance reviews of umpires and other officials and anti-corruption education.

These actions were initiated before doping has become a problem on the tour and before match-fixing has ever touched our sport, but we recognise that significant threats exist.

Breeding a culture of responsibility, vigilance and, above all, integrity, counterbalanced by zero-tolerance policies and tough penalties for offenders, is the only long-term solution.

Professional sports today have to seriously consider the important role they play as custodians of what is special about sport. Sport provides some of the most wonderful examples for humankind of meritocracy, teamwork, self-reliance and reward for hard work.

While many want to declare the Corinthian values of sports such as sportsmanship, fair play and the pure joy of participation as long dead at the professional level, there are still many more positive examples out there than headline-grabbing negative ones.

However, we have to balance this with reality of the modern-day win-at-all-costs ethos espoused by legendary coach Vince Lombardi, who is famous for saying: "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." That attitude, effectively a condoning of any behaviour or conduct on the path to winning, cannot be allowed to prevail.

We must embrace our responsibility with the same vigour we approach the promotion of our leagues, tournaments, matches and games. It's an initiative we need to commit to with the same passion and energy we devote to garnering new fans and cultivating existing ones, because, in the end, we have our sports and the players who play. And, in their purest form, they can be a glowing reflection of the best of human life. And that's something worth protecting - at all costs.

Larry Scott is chief executive of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

© 2008 The Age

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