List of sporting scandals

This is a list of major sports scandals:

Scandals in baseball

• Black Sox Scandal (1919)
• Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker's game fixing (1926)
• Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays banned from baseball for being doormen in an Atlantic City Casino (1970s)
• Pete Rose gambling on baseball - Dowd Report (1989)

Scandals in college sports

• College basketball point shaving scandals (many times, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, with more recent scandals in 1978-79, 1984, and 1994)
• Southern Methodist University football scandal: In 1986, it was revealed that Southern Methodist University boosters gave football players thousands of dollars from a "slush fund" with the knowledge of university administrators. Along with a string of prior NCAA violations, this led the NCAA to level the "death penalty" on the school's football team.
• George O'Leary resume fabrication (2001), which forced him to resign as head football coach at Notre Dame.
• University of Michigan basketball scandal: Four players, most notably Chris Webber, were paid by a booster to launder money from his gambling operations. In some cases, the payments extended to their high school days.
• Jim Harrick resigned as head basketball coach at the University of Georgia in 2002 after his son, Jim Harrick Jr., provided an easy exam to Georgia basketball players and other students in a basketball coaching class that he taught and paid a $300 phone bill for a player (Tony Cole).
• Baylor University basketball scandal (2003) - player Patrick Dennehy was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson. Later, coach Dave Bliss instructed his players to lie to NCAA investigators that Dennehy dealt drugs. In the wake of these events, numerous violations of NCAA rules were discovered.
• Duke lacrosse case - a stripper hired by members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team for an informal team party in 2006 falsely accused three players of rape.
• 2011 University of Miami athletics scandal – Yahoo! Sports broke a story in which former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, currently imprisoned for running a Ponzi scheme, indicated he had provided massive amounts of improper benefits to Miami players and coaches, mostly in football but also in men's basketball.
• Penn State sex abuse scandal - In November 2011, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, is arrested on 40 counts of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period including incidents in Penn State's football facilities. Subsequently, the university's athletic director, Tim Curley, and a Senior Vice President, Gary Schultz, are arrested on perjury charges and for failing to report the incidents thereby fueling speculation of a university coverup.

American football scandals

• Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal (2005) - a pleasure cruise that reportedly featured sexual shenanigans by several members of the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL
• National Football League player conduct controversy (2007—present) - Various incidents involving American football athletes from the National Football League and their conduct off the field and involvement with law enforcement. Notably, actions of Adam "Pacman" Jones, Terry "Tank" Johnson, Chris Henry, and Ben Roethlisberger that subsequently got them suspended.
• 2007 National Football League videotaping controversy (2007) - the New England Patriots were disciplined for videotaping the opposing team's coach's signals.

Match-fixing scandals

• Ten of the twelve members of the gold medal-winning Spanish basketball team at the 2000 Summer Paralympics were revealed to have no disability.
• Fresno Case scandal (2004) - an attempt to rig a vote to prevent the Catalan rink hockey team from being accepted into international competition.
• Tim Donaghy – NBA referee under investigation in 2007 for betting on league games, including some in which he worked.

Ice hockey scandals

• Operation Slapshot (2006) - investigation into a gambling ring allegedly operated by National Hockey League assistant coach Rick Tocchet.

Football scandals

• 1973 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, AC Milan versus Leeds United - Referee Christos Michas was investigated by the Greece Football Association amid allegations that he had accepted a bribe from the Italian club. He was subsequently banned by UEFA from officiating a European game again.
• Bundesliga scandal (2005) - a match fixing scandal in German football centering on disgraced referee Robert Hoyzer.
• Brazilian football match-fixing scandal (2005) - another match fixing scandal involving referees, this time in Brazil.
• 2006 Italian football scandal – a match fixing scandal in Italian football involving several major teams, including three of the country's four qualifiers to the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League.
• In the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2006 the Armenian champion FC Pyunik refused to play with an Azerbaijani team, PFC Neftchi. The team FC Pyunik defeated the Ukrainian team FC Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the quarter-final, when it already knew that in case of victory they will have to play against PFC Neftchi. After the match, they told the referee they wouldn't play against an Azerbaijani team, and later that evening left Moscow on an airplane. The Russian Football Union gave FC Shakhtar Donetsk a technical victory 3-0 so they could play in the half-final instead of FC Pyunik, but FC Shakhtar Donetsk declined the offer stating that "...we would really want to play in the half-final, but we don't want to get there by any other way then sport". Eventually, because no one could play against PFC Neftchi in the half-final, Neftchi were right away promoted to the final, where they defeated the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas 4-2.
• In July 2011, As part of a major match-fixing investigation by authorities in Turkey, nearly 60 people suspected to be involved with fixing games were detained by İstanbul Police Department Organized Crime Control Bureau and then arrested by the court.

Rugby union scandals

• Grannygate - scandal in March 2000 over the eligibility of Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson representing the Wales national team

• Kamp Staaldraad - controversial training camp for the Springboks (South Africa's national rugby union team) before the 2003 Rugby World Cup

• 2006 Kapa O Pango controversy - Australian coach John Connolly suggests that the All Blacks' Kapo o Pango haka should be banned, stating that the throat slitting gesture at the end is a bad example to young kids. The haka was also reviewed earlier in the year, creating more controversy.

• Western Force players Scott Fava and Richard Brown were fined $11,000 and $5,000 respectively after being found guilty of animal abuse during a team bonding session. Speaking about the incident during a SANZAR conference, Force coach John Mitchell (rugby union) said "They won't be the only boys or only team this year that has a problem with alcohol, it's generally in most clubs"

• England's tour of New Zealand became shrouded in controversy after a woman claimed she had been subjected to a sexual assault by several players of the English rugby union team. An RFU investigation into events surrounding the tour cleared the players of sexual assault but found two players, Mike Brown and Topsy Ojo guilty of misconduct. A third player, David Strettle, was warned as to his future conduct.

• The IRB’s Adelaide Sevens started badly after members of the Fijian Rugby Union, including Sevens legend Waisale Serevi, were accused of fixing results for personal gain. The Fijian Union promised to thoroughly investigate the claims

• "Bloodgate" – A scheme by the English rugby union club Harlequins to fake an injury to wing Tom Williams to allow a blood replacement to be brought on at a critical moment in their 2009 Heineken Cup quarterfinal against Leinster. The scheme, which included deliberately cutting Williams' mouth open after the match in order to cover up the fake injury, ultimately led to Quins head coach Dean Richards being banned from the sport for three years.

• Players from two of English rugby union's most famous clubs, Harlequins and Bath, were involved in a bar fight, which exposed a culture of violence and drugs within the sport. Players from both clubs clashed in a London bar during an end of season drinking session and had to be forcibly removed by door staff, as the altercation continued on the street outside. Media allegations of players taking drugs before the fight were investigated by the RFU disciplinary panel.

• French international centre Mathieu Bastareaud almost caused an international incident after claiming he had been attacked by a group of drunken men outside his Wellington hotel room after France's loss to the All Blacks on 20 June. However, surveillance video showed that he had lied about the circumstances of his injury, and he later admitted that he had accidentally injured himself in an alcohol-related fall in his hotel room. Bastareaud was later admitted to hospital suffering with psychological problems. Ultimately, he received a three-month ban from the French Rugby Federation, commuted to rugby-related community service.

See also

• List of rugby union players banned for eye gouging

Olympic Games scandals

• The Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan incident (1994)
• Johann Mühlegg - Salt Lake City scandal - finished first in the 50 km classical race in Cross-country skiing in the Winter Olympic Games on February 23, 2002, but was disqualified from that race and was expelled from the Games the next day after testing positive for darbepoetin.
• 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal
• IOC bribery - see 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal

Golf scandals

Jane Blalock cheating controversy – One of the LPGA Tour's top players, Jane Blalock was accused of illegally marking her golf ball on the green. She was suspended and fined by the tour, but Blalock in turn filed suit and won an injunction allowing her to continue playing. Blalock eventually won her lawsuit and she and the LPGA reached a out of court settlement.

Cricket scandals

Further information: Betting controversies in cricket

• Hansiegate - scandal in 2000 involving former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje with three other teammates for involving in match fixing.
• John the bookmaker controversy – Another cricket scandal in which Australia's Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were paid in 1994–95 to provide information on pitch and weather conditions to an Indian bookmaker. The scandal came to light in 1998.
• Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal – In 2010, three Pakistan players—team captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir—were accused of involvement in a spot-fixing scheme in which they allegedly accepted large sums of money to influence specific events within a match, as opposed to an actual match result. After an investigation, the ICC banned all three from the sport for periods from 5 to 10 years. Later, Butt and Asif were tried in a London court and found guilty of charges related to the scheme, whilst Amir pleaded guilty to similar charges in the same court. All were sentenced to prison.

Scandals in motorsport

• Incidents involving loose manhole/drain covers:
  • 1990 480km of Montreal
  • 2004 DTM Shanghai
  • 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Beijing, China
• IMSA Camel GT drug smuggling scandal (1980s) - A group of drivers was arrested for drug smuggling to finance their racing activities: the Whittington brothers (Bill and Don), Randy Lanier and father and son, John Paul Sr. and Jr. would all by 1987 be imprisoned under various charges.
• Tyrrell Racing technical infringement scandal (1984) - The Tyrrell team were disqualified from the 1984 Formula One season after it were discovered that the team are using illegal fuel mixtures, as well as several other technical infringements.
• Darrell Alderman's drug possession scandal (1991)
• Jeremy Mayfield's meth scandal.
• 1994 Formula One cheating controversy - A number of allegations of cheating were thrown during the 1994 Formula One season, particularly to Benetton team.
• Toyota Team Europe turbocharger scandal (1995) - The Toyota factory backed WRC team was disqualified from the 1995 championship, fined, and banned for 12 months it was discovered that they had been competing with a tampered air restrictor, allowing for more power than the permitted amount.
• The sudden cancellation of Firestone Firehawk 600 and its handling by CART
• Angela's Motorsports scandal (2003)
• 2005 United States Grand Prix - mass "walkout" controversy after seven teams using Michelin tyres boycotted at the start of the race due to concerns following two tyre-related accidents by Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta during the Friday practice sessions.
• Max Mosley's S&M dungeon allegation (2008) - later resulted in a successful lawsuit brought by the FIA president against the News of the World newspaper, who covered the scandal.
• 2007 NASCAR Gatorade Duel Scandal
• 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, commonly known as Stepneygate; an incident in which Scuderia Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney passed on secret document to Mike Coughlan of McLaren.
• 2008 race fixing controversy, surrounding allegations in Formula One that driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his Renault F1 teammate Fernando Alonso win

Scandals in horse racing

• Horse murders -- From 1975 - 1995 wealthy owners and trainers of show jumping horses conspire to electrocute and otherwise kill over-valued as well as under-performing animals in a 20-year-long scheme to defraud insurance companies; crimes also committed during this equestrian sports scandal include extortion, mail fraud, animal cruelty, and the murder of at least one human being.
• Fine Cotton/Bold Personality (1984) – A "ring-in" (substitution scam) in Australia involving several elite figures in the sport, in which the schemers attempted to pass off Bold Personality as the much less talented Fine Cotton in a low-level race.
• Shanghai Syndicate case (1986)
• Death of Alydar (1990) – The death of the star stallion was initially reported as an accident, but was later speculated to have been a murder motivated by an attempt of his financially troubled owner, Calumet Farm, to collect on a large insurance policy.
• 1993 Grand National fiasco
• Stanley Chin race fixing scandal (1996)
• Operation Green Grass (2002)
• Kieren Fallon race fixing scandal
• Operation Twin Towns (2006)

Scandals in boxing

• Jake LaMotta vs Billy Fox fight fixing scandal (1947)
• Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran's rematch's "No Mas" controversy and scandal (1980)
• Billy Collins V Luis Resto scandal
• Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield ear biting scandal (1997)
• Juan_Manuel_Márquez_vs._Manny_Pacquiao_III Controversial trilogy.

Scandals in sumo wrestling

• Tokitsukaze stable hazing scandal (2007)
• Rohō Yukio, his brother Hakurozan Yūta, Wakanohō Toshinori and two Russian sumo wrestlers banned for life one month after the other after being caught in possession of cannabis (2008)

Scandals in tennis

• Gussie Moran's revealing minidress (1949)
• Stabbing of Monica Seles during a rest break at Citizen Cup (1993)

Doping scandals

• Drug abuse in sports
• Ben Johnson (1988)
• Festina affair, a major doping scandal at the 1998 Tour de France
• Juiced, a 2005 tell-all book by Jose Canseco in which he revealed the extent of doping in baseball
• BALCO (2004–05), which eventually led to:
  • Game of Shadows, a 2006 book that alleges extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs by Barry Bonds
  • Marion Jones, American athlete, admitting in 2007 that she had used a steroid popularly known as "the clear" prior to her winning five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics
  • The Mitchell Report, in which 88 current and former Major League Baseball players were alleged to have used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs
  • The conviction of Bonds in 2011 on obstruction of justice charges related to the BALCO investigation
• Operación Puerto (2006) - a Spanish investigation into a doping scheme allegedly involving many top cyclists, including several potential contenders in the 2006 Tour de France
• Floyd Landis doping case (2006) – Floyd Landis, initially the winner of the 2006 Tour, tested positive for synthetic testosterone and was stripped of his title.
• Doping at the 2007 Tour de France – The 2007 Tour de France was rocked by a series of doping scandals. Two riders, including pre-race favorite Alexander Vinokourov, were disqualified for doping offenses. Both teams involved pulled out of the Tour. A third rider, who had abandoned the Tour after a crash, was revealed to have tested positive for testosterone before the Tour. The race leader, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the Tour by his team with four stages left amid questions surrounding his possible involvement in doping.

External links

• ArmchairGM's Top 25 Sports Scandals