Protecting sport from itself: a critical analysis of the 2013 Australian Crime Commission’s Report into Crime and Drugs in Sport

Abstract

The following paper provides a critical analysis of the 2013 Australian Crime Commission’s Report into Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport. The paper argues that the Commission’s Report follows a familiar policy narrative in presenting sport as in crisis and in need of fixing. The Report seeks to reinforce the value of sport for Australian society and nationhood and severely critiques sports administrators for not upholding these values. The Report is particularly scathing of the work of sports scientists and some medical practitioners with respect to maximizing performance enhancement through apparently unethical methods. While the content of the Report may be familiar in its underlying anti-doping message, the Report also enters into the complex and sometimes contradictory issue of legitimate versus illegitimate methods of performance enhancement. It is argued that while the Report can be seen as another step in the longer-term trend towards greater governmental control over sport, it is also demonstrative of how power is devolved rather than taken by central government. The Report leaves sports authorities, coaches and teams with a challenge whereby they must use the best sports science and technology available to them but at the same time cannot be seen to be too reliant upon sports scientists and associated medical specialists.