Two recent cases show that an enemy of the sport remains alive and active. In tennis, Slovakian Dagmara Baskova was punished for manipulating the results of her games and, in football, Englishman Kieren Trippier was also given severe punishment for breaking betting rules. All of this affects one of the pillars of the sport: integrity.
Result manipulation is one of the sport's biggest enemies. And it is easy to understand why.
Sport lives on uncertainty
The grace of sport lies in the uncertainty of the outcome. If everyone knew yesterday the score of a game, the sport would lose strength and the passion would shrink. For this reason, several of the principles of sports law aim to guarantee this unpredictability, such as sports integrity, fair play, and parity of weapons, which is to give equal conditions to competitors.
That is why it is essential, among other things, to combat result manipulation.
Usually, this fraud occurs for financial reasons, but it also attacks the nature of the sport. And it is not a recent problem in the sport, it is historical.
“CBJD” of 1942 already brought punishments against manipulation of results
Professor Wladimyr Camargos remembered in a column in ‘Lei em Campo’ website that the resolution of the National Sports Council (CND), of 4/11/1942, which brings the first General Sports Law, dealt with a very expensive topic nowadays: the manipulation of results of matches and competitions.
The original text thus governed the subject:
33.
1. d) participation or complicity in attempting a bribe, designed to cause, promote or facilitate the defeat of a team, as well as the fact of being aware of the attempt and not reporting it will be a reason for eliminating the athlete
35.
Will be subject to severe punishment anyone who directly or indirectly induces or tries to induce the athlete to proceed, on the field, in a disadvantageous manner for the team to which he belongs, or to a referee or linesman, with the purpose of persuading him to perform function, so as to ensure or facilitate the victory of a particular association. Once the infraction has been determined, the person responsible will be ineligible [sic] to occupy a position or function in a sports organization and to be a partner, athlete, manager, trainer, massage therapist or employee in the service of sports. If the fact or facts included in this item results in the liability of any sporting entity, it will be suspended and, in the event of a repeat offense, the right to operate will be forfeited by C. N. D.
In other words, the transcribed devices aimed to protect high-performance sports against attitudes that acted against the equality of sport. Even there in 1942, when Sports Law began to be understood and applied in Brazil, there was already a need to protect the integrity of the sport.
And even today, sport in Brazil and in the world is threatened.
Tennis, football
After "selling" and manipulating the results of her games, tennis player Dagmara Baskova received a punishment according to the seriousness of the facts: she will not be able to act professionally for the next 12 years.
The punishment was announced in late December 2020 by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), the entity in charge of the investigation. The athlete will still have to pay a fine, initially stipulated at US$40,000.
According to the International Betting Integrity Association, match-fixing involves an industry of criminals in various sports. In 2019 alone there were 37 cases. Tennis led the charge, with 17 suspected cases.
To combat manipulation, tennis invested in Integrity.
Responsible for investigating manipulation of results, TIU is an anti-corruption body that supervises professional tennis. The organization, which was created in 2008 on the initiative of ITF, ATP, WTA and the four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open), has a zero-tolerance policy for betting-related corruption.
With independent operation, and based in London, TIU is financed by the organizations responsible for its creation. In addition to fighting corruption, it investigates and rebukes offenders.
Another case of football was also in the news in late 2020.
FIFA decided to release to play the right-back of Atlético de Madrid and England's Kieran Trippier, after the player was punished two weeks ago by the Football Association (FA) with a 10-week suspension and a £70,000 fine for breaking bet-related rules.
The maximum entity of football announced last Sunday (3) that it will analyze the appeal presented by the Spanish club.
In the appeal, Atlético de Madrid claims that the suspension period would not influence any game of the England team and would leave only the club itself, without fault on the case, hampered by the player's absence. With the decision, the defender is available to act for the 'colchoneros' until the entity analyzes the appeal for the reduction of the sentence.
It all happened in 2018, when Trippier indirectly bet on his transfer from Tottenham to Atletico Madrid, an act that violated the betting rules made by the FA.
"An independent regulatory commission has been appointed to hear the case, with four of the alleged violations proven and three rejected during a subsequent personal hearing," said the FA in announcing the player's punishment.
If the appeal is denied, Atlético de Madrid may appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest court in sports.
Football, tennis, and other sports are protecting themselves internally. And self-regulation is an indispensable path.
Importance of sport self-regulation
In 2020, the self-regulation of Brazilian sport took timid steps, largely due to the pandemic. But the trend is that this process will be accelerated in 2021.
CBF's Financial Fair Play must - finally - get off the ground. Club Licensing should also be improved.
Even so, initiatives such as “Rating Integra”, from the ‘Pacto pelo Esporte’ (Pact for Sport), have already shown how commitments to Integrity attract brands willing to support sport.
Sports organizations need to understand that their regulations can no longer be omitted on issues that are important to sport. In the case of manipulation, this self-regulation must prohibit players, coaches, and referees from betting. In addition, monitoring work, with the help of science and technology, is vital to combat these increasingly sophisticated gangs.
Of course, the State must also act to combat corruption and manipulate results. A law that classifies private corruption in sport as a crime would already be a huge advance (Bill 68/17 in the Senate). The draft General Sports Law is in the hands of Senator Roberto Rocha (PSDB / MA), rapporteur of the Bill, and has been stalled since 2018. Senator Romário (Pode / RJ) said in an interview with ‘Lei em Campo’ that he will resume this discussion necessary for sport in 2021.
Due to the necessary autonomy it has, sport also needs to invest in this self-regulation.
Like tennis, football, volleyball, basketball ... they need to protect themselves from the manipulation of results, guaranteeing something that is the essence of each and every sport: a clean and equal dispute.
Andrei Kampff
Journalist graduated from PUC-RS and lawyer from UFRGS-RS. He has been working with sport for 25 years, having participated in the main sporting events in the world. Partner at Gelson Ferrareze Advogados Associados, he has a post-graduate degree in Sports Law, a Master's degree in Law and an advisor at the Ibero-American Institute of Sports Law. He is the author of the book "# Prass38".
