Insightx: Good Governance In Sport

22 Dec 2022 | Tom Barwick

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As a World Cup marred by controversy concludes, InsightX has taken a look at how sports federations can uphold their integrity through the implementation of robust governance structures.

Governance is a system through which an organisation manages itself and makes decisions in the pursuit of its objectives. In practice, this is achieved through a council or a board of directors generating, implementing and overseeing a strategic direction which should be in line with the interests of and be accountable to its stakeholders.

Sports federations and governing bodies ostensibly govern themselves as such, however, in reality many have historically operated without mechanisms of accountability.

These organisations have sought out jurisdictions with minimal oversight. Switzerland has provided one of the most attractive destinations due to lax business laws and is home to more than 60 sports federations. For example, corporate criminal liability for bribery was only introduced in 2003 and “passive” bribery in the private sector was only outlawed in 2006.

Failures in implementing robust governance policies have, at times, cultivated cultures within organisations where bribery is the norm, cheating is encouraged and, in the most extreme cases, abuse is covered up. The oversight and scrutiny that the organisations are seeking to avoid are invited as a consequence.

Reasons for Governance Failures

The globalisation of sport and the influx of money which has accompanied this has created fertile breeding grounds for corrupt practices – as governing bodies and federations attract more resources, the incentive to behave corruptly grows.

As these organisations often have immature transparency and accountability mechanisms, the risk of corruption is heightened further. Codes of silence can develop due to individual ambition, group loyalty and the fear of speaking out.

Corrupt behaviours then go unreported and individuals who do not speak out are rewarded by being recruited into positions of trust and higher offices. The result can be seen with the litany of scandals which brought down so much of FIFA in its iteration under the stewardship of Sepp Blatter.

At the other end of the spectrum, the absence of funding and the precarity that smaller organisations find themselves in can lead to bad actors or criminals being installed due to a lack of appetite or resources to carry out appropriate due diligence checks.

As a result, governance failures have led to malpractice in areas such as; tournament bidding, media and broadcasting rights, sponsorship, merchandising, infrastructure, cheating, doping and abuse.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by PETER SCHNEIDER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10761700h)

Why Good Governance Matters

International confederations have begun to heavily sanction federations and governing bodies which engage in corrupt practices. Both FIFA and the IOC have recently banned athletes from competing under the Russian banner as a result of the country’s doping scandal. The IOC have also blocked boxing and weightlifting competition from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics due to the scandals that have taken place at the International Boxing Association and the International Weightlifting Federation.

Whilst calls for teams to boycott recent major international events have been unanswered, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was subject to a diplomatic boycott or de facto diplomatic boycotts by a number of major western nations as well as India and Japan.

However, the threat of boycotts or expulsion should not be the sole desirable outcome of good governance; governance should be good for the sake of being ethical.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by JEROME FAVRE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Recommendations for good governance

Performing eligibility checks on into an organisation’s nominees and appointments should be the starting point for ensuring good governance within an organisation. In our governance work we have performed background and eligibility checks on behalf of our clients in which we have investigated: