Australians love their sport, and nothing rocks the public more than a scandal involving a sports star or even worse, a whole team. Nothing hurts more knowing that an Aussie side attempted to gain an unfair advantage on the playing field. Australians will pull out their pitchforks for any sports star or team caught in the act of breaking the rules on or off the field.
With the amount of time that Aussies spend watching the game at the pub or on the couch, Australians will take it upon themselves to drag their team over the coals when the age-old rule of fair play is violated.
We could remind you of the Sydney riot of 1879 when Aussie batsman Billy Murdoch was the victim of a shoddy umpiring decision or we could tell you about the time the Aussie skipper led a player’s strike in 1884 over player payments.
Sporting controversies are nothing new in Australian history and Monday morning may seem a little bleak right now. Don’t burn your replica cricket shirts just yet, instead turn on some REM and take heart from the fact that it could be worse, as we look at some of the darker times in Aussie sport.
Steve Smith Cheating Scandal in South Africa – 2018
The role Aussie cricket captain is considered to be the second highest position in the land behind the Prime Minister and the entire cricketing world wants to know what Steve Smith was thinking.
One of the darkest days in Aussie cricket since the underarm, the cricketing public were shocked when Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were embroiled in a cheating scandal against the South Africans in the Third Test in Cape Town.
Aussies were shocked by the fact that the Aussie cricket captain plotted with a younger player to break the rules of fair play on the cricketing field. With Steve Smith disgraced, suspended and on the verge of losing the Australian captaincy, we’d all love to know the reasons behind him turning to the dark side.
Manly Salary Cap Breach – 2018
Manly aren’t the most loved side in the NRL but have a long history of success in the game. Things went pear-shaped for the Sea Eagles when they became the latest NRL side to be found guilty of some clever accounting.
The Sea Eagles were found to be in breach of the salary cap, promising thirteen of their players $1.5 million outside their normal salary cap. The club were fined $750,000 and a number of former officials are now without a job.
The architect of the scandal, former Manly coach Bob Fulton is now unlikely to lose a chance of having any further involvement in the game and the Sea Eagles will have to work with a salary cap penalty that will last the next two years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq4XklbC4LM
Nick Kyrgios Sledging Scandal – 2015
Australians generally don’t mind some banter on the sporting field, but there are certain topics that should never be brought up between rivals.
Nick Kyrgios is a brilliant Aussie tennis player who has the talent of Boris Becker but the temperament of John McEnroe.
During the Montreal Masters, Kyrgios was caught making remarks about Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend, suggesting that a rival player had an affair with her. Naturally, Stan and the sporting public weren’t impressed with Nick’s behaviour and he was fined $25,000 and received a 28-day suspension from the ATP tour.
Cronulla Sharks Supplement Saga – 2013
Rugby league in Australia seem to attract some of the more interesting scandals in Australian sport.
The Cronulla Sharks Football Club drew the ire of the Australian sporting world when their club medical staff were accused of using the Lance Armstrong guide to sporting success.
The club were investigated by World Anti-Doping Agency over their use of using performance-enhancing substances in the 2011 NRL season. The fallout from the scandal saw fourteen players serve suspensions for their part in the program. Several members of the club’s staff were sacked and current Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was ordered to take a 12-month break from the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vByEI3-poQ4
Essendon AFL Club Supplements Scandal – 2013
Essendon didn’t want to let Cronulla have all the fun and were able to go a little better with a drugs scandal of their own. Essendon by chance happened to share the same club doctor as the Cronulla rugby league team who was more than happy to pull out some of the same techniques he acquired while working with Cronulla.
The investigation took three years, and the AFL took a dim view of the situation and wanted to make an example of the club. Essendon copped a league record $2 million fine, and the club were stripped of the opportunity to play in the 2013 finals series.
Jobe Watson was forced into handing back his Brownlow medal and thirty-four players were suspended for two years by the Court of Arbitration For Sport. The Bombers are on the road to recovery after a couple of years in the wilderness and have been welcomed back by after serving their time.
Bernard Tomic’s Father’s Assault Charge – 2013
Having a parent as a coach is generally a tough situation for any player, no matter your sporting code. Bernard Tomic is one figure in Australian sport that appears to be a magnet for controversy and scandal. Forget Bernie’s brief flirtation with reality TV or his lack of effort on the court as things got out of hand for his coaching staff in 2013.
Tomic was Australia’s highest ranked men’s tennis player in 2013 when his father decided to attack his hitting partner in 2013 outside of a Madrid hotel. Tomic’s Dad took exception to hitting partner Thomas Drouet as the two came to blows.
Tomic’s hitting partner was left with a broken nose and subsequently Tomic’s Dad was barred from the attending ATP events as he battled an assault charge.
Melbourne Demons Tanking Scandal – 2013
Most loyal footy fans are generally understanding when their side has a bad year or a bad decade. Nothing angers a footy fan more than a team not trying to win games and throwing in the towel.
The Demons are one of the original clubs in the AFL competition and after a lean couple of seasons their coach Dean Bailey and Manager Chris Connolly concocted the devious scheme of not trying to win games in order to win favourable draft picks.
It seemed like a good idea at the time to help the club get back on track after a horror 2009 season, but they were found out in 2013 by a whistle-blower and the club were taken to the cleaners. The club were hit with a fine and loss of valuable draft picks, missing out on some of the best talent in the competition in the preseason draft.
The Stilnox Six – 2012
Aussie Olympic Swimmers are the show ponies of any Australian Olympic campaign; kept in cotton wool and fed like an A-List movie star. The Aussie men’s sprint team had dominated swimming leading into the London Olympic Games in 2012 and were confident of a major gold medal haul in the pool.
Strangely though the Aussie swimmers failed to deliver, and it later emerged that the Aussies stars had indulged in a few late night gatherings with the drug Stilnox. The swimmers claimed to take the drug in a bonding exercise but their poor performance and behaviour at the games led to some tough questions being asked once they arrived back home.
Melbourne Storm Salary Cap Scandal – 2010
At the time of the scandal, the Melbourne Storm dominated the rugby league scene in the same way that Manchester United punished their rivals in the EPL. The Melbourne machine had dominated the competition and controversy erupted in 2010 when they were found to be in breach of the salary cap.
The Melbourne side were able to retain some of the best players in the world with a contract scheme designed to pay their players over the salary cap. They were found to be cheating over a five-year period and were stripped of their titles between 2006 and 2010. The side lost the 2007 and 2009 titles and their name was struck from the book for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 minor premiership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4PXaBn0vNs