
Issue No 77		10 November 2000

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Sport

Noel Hester on Tarnished Gold

Cyclists on steroids, battlers booted out of the league, cricketers with SP accounts ... if the Olympics put sport on a pedestal, it's not staying there for long.

In sport as in all things money corrupts and with the golden glow of the Olympics now receding ugly realities have resurfaced to remind us of the destructive power of profit in the realm of what should be fun, escapism and trivia.

This week Richard Virenque, the revered French cyclist, finally admitted to a French tribunal that professional cycling is fuelled by EPO and anabolic steroids. For anyone who has witnessed the Tour de France this isn't much of a surprise.

Expecting a human being to climb up and down the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Massif Centrale every day for three weeks with the only break in the routine being the gruelling time trials without the aid of drugs is a big ask.

It's now evident that what was once one of the most fascinating sports event on the calendar - a true war of attrition of the human body - is now just a laboratory for the pharmaceutical companies in the same way Grand Prix racing is the testing ground for the car manufacturers.

Rugby League continues to be a textbook lesson in how to destroy a sport. The South Sydney debacle speaks for itself and the lame joke called the Rugby League World Cup is a big pin poised over the bubble of new media hype. If Russia versus Lebanon in Rugby League is to be the content and the choice that will occupy the dial in the Internet age then bring back the wireless.

And then there is cricket. The cricket world bears a striking resemblance to the evolving Russian state. Into the void created with the fall of the ancien regime flows the mafia. Louis XVI would have been more in touch with the feelings of the Paris mob than cricket's administrators are with the state of their own game.

How is it that the captains of seven out of the nine test playing countries either knowingly or unknowingly were in the tentacles of India's bookies without the establishment knowing or doing anything about it? The full extent of cricket's catastrophe before the rupee is yet to be fully grasped. If it was so easy to ensnare the captains, what about the groundsmen, the umpires and all the others who can easily swing the results of a cricket match?

Call me a dreamer or a rationaliser but one of the things I've always loved about sport - especially team sport - is its democratic nature and sense of collectivism.

In our (flawed) democracy the powerless only get one chance every several years to participate and make a difference with a vote. As a sports fan you get to participate week in and week out among a collective even if its basis is purely trivial.

Sport is just the latest terrain for the plutocracy to engorge themselves and impose their will. As South Sydney fans have demonstrated, in sport as in everything else, you always have to defend yourself against the destructive power of the moneymen.

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Issue 77 contents

US Election: Democracy Version 1.0: Time for an Upgrade America
This week the world's greatest democracy is looking pretty rickety. Michael Gadiel reports from the front line.

Interview: Crikey! A Corporate Commando
He may be a lapsed Lib, but Stephen Mayne is making life hell in the boardrooms of corporate Australia. And he might have some clues for unions too.

Unions: Class of 2000 Hit Redfern
They're just out of acting school and straight into the union. Tomorrow's stars and today's union members.

International: US Cleaners Fast for Justice
Talks between striking janitors and the cleaning contractors who employ them resumed on Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut.

History: Racing Radio
The Cup is over, but the races go on, and so does Labor council's radio station, 2KY, as it celebrates its 75th Anniversary.

Legal: A Pandora's In-Box
Screening of employee's emails could be in breach of telecommunications laws, according to Minter Ellison lawyer Megan Dixon.

Satire: Our Snobs Are Tops
Tony Moore on why the lucky country has always been a tosserďż˝s paradise.

Review: Brassed Off With a Tutu
Billy Elliott, currently a hit at the box office, gives a new twist to the working class rags to riches story.

» Games Workers Still Waiting on Closing Ceremony

» Showdown: Howard Faces Court Over Rail Sell-Off

» World Awaits Landmark Slave Labour Decision

» American Voters Reject Vouchers

» Illawarra Fights The Big Bastard

» Retailers Rethink FairWear Retreat

» Killer Holidays: Activist Fired for Taking Vacation

» ANZ Faces Contracts Challenge

» Cup Workers Score Heady Brew

» Meals on Wheels Turns Mean

» Wild Horses Get Maurie's Goat

» Labor Council backs Souths Rally

» Sisters Celebrate Four Years

» Reith to Face the Music

» The Soapbox

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Nader no Fels

» Sartor's Veladrome

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