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[email protected]   TR Sports recognises that sports nowadays have taken a competitive edge which has not been seen before in time. The rewards – fame and money – now mean that athletes and officials are willing to go to lengths to ensure victory. We shall now looking at the top 8 sporting cheats in the last decade – naming and shaming the individual / team responsible for bringing shame to sports and letting the fans down.  _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 100% opinion – ranking according to nature of “crime” _____________________________________________________________________________________________    8 ) Kim Christensen (Danish, Football) Christensen was never a household name in football but his antics had landed him at the tail-end of this list. Having spent a large part of his career with lower league Scandinavian teams, perhaps he decided he need to do more to help his career progress in September 2009. He kicked the goalposts several times before a league game in Sweden, making the goal smaller. The referee was alerted to his intentions and corrected the positions of the goalposts 20 minutes into that game. When interviewed, Christensen gladly admitted that he had done this on several previous occasions!   7) Thierry Henry (French, Football) Henry had enjoyed an illustrious and near faultless career with club and country before 18 November 2009. In a key World Cup qualifier that day, he blatantly handled the ball before creating France’s winning goal in that match against the Republic of Ireland. To be fair to Henry, the Frenchman never did try to deny that he had indeed handled. However, that did not stop the media from terming him as a cheat. Henry will not be the Irish or football purists’ favourite player now.   6) Diego Maradona (Argentine, Football) Maradona’s offence is no less severe than that of Henry’s – it was committed on a bigger occasion. It was 1986 World Cup quarter-final and Argentina was taking on archrivals England. In a moment of either pure genius or folly in the second half, Maradona blatantly used his left hand to send the ball into the net and that opening goal eventually won the game for the Argentines. In English eyes, Maradona denied the nation of a World Cup dream, but Maradona himself became the nation’s hero as he went on to lift the World Cup that year.   5) Flavio Briatore (Italian, Formula One) In an incident close to local hearts, Briatore was the mastermind behind “crashgate” in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. As the owner of Renault F1 team, Briatore gave orders to second driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash deliberately so that the safety cars will come out to halt race proceedings. The disruption and eventual mistakes at the Ferrari pit stop gave Renault’s other driver, Fernando Alonso, the advantage and he went on to win the race. Briatore was subsequently banned from any F1-related activities, but he is still appealing for that ban to be lifted.   4) Roberto Rojas (Chilean, Football) Chilean goalkeeper Rojas deserves a place in B-grading acting world of wrestling, not football. In a key qualifying game against Brazil in 1989, Chile was 1-0 down and elimination were minutes away when Rojas fell, holding his bloodied face. His team mates refused to return to the pitch, as they thought that their goalie had been struck by fireworks thrown from the crowd. Video replays suggested otherwise – Rojas had instead used a razor blade from inside his gloves to self-inflict a wound. Rojas never played professional football again and Chile was banned from two World Cups.   3) Harlequins (English, Rugby Union) This incident was somewhat similar to Rojas’ act. In a key quarter-final match in the Heineken Cup, various Harlequin players and officials conspired to make a “blood substitution”. In Rugby Union, the team were allowed to make rolling subs if a player has an open wound. Tom Williams bit into a blood capsule to allow his team-mate re-enter the field to take a crucial kick (which they missed) and the whole scandal resulted in life-bans for several officials, a hefty ban and a tarnish to the sport forever.   2) The Motsoseneng Brothers (South Africans, Ultra-Marathon) In 1999, the Mostsoseneng brothers, Sergio and Fika, conspired to commit one of the oldest trick in the book. Running in the 90km Comrades Marathon, the two brothers exchanged places at various toilet stops and were aided by car lifts at different stages, as Sergio managed to finish ninth. Suspicions were raised when competitors questioned Sergio’s finishing position since they were not being overtaken. Video footage later uncovered the fraud when …. it was noted that the two brothers had worn watches on different hands.   1) Spanish Paralympics Basketball Team Sport cheats do not get more ridiculous than this. After winning gold-medal in the 2000 Sydney Games, a whistle-blower came out to expose that most members of the Paralympics team were in fact not intellectually disabled at all. A wide investigation ensued and it was uncovered that this sort of cheating was neither limited to the Spanish team nor basketball. Not many were punished as a direct result of this investigation, but all Intellectually-Disabled sports were suspended until the 2012 London Games. An ultimate insult to the Olympic spirit.  Read More →

Speaking during a dialogue session organize for forum writers to the Straits Times, ST Editor Han Fook Kwang admitted that the paper suffers from a perception that it is a "government mouthpiece". "Our circulation is 380,000 and we have a readership of 1.4 million. These are people who buy the paper every day. We're aware people say we're a government mouthpiece or that we are biased. But the test is if our readers believe in the paper and continue to buy it," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times today. Mr Han forgot to add that Singaporeans really don't have much of a choice. Besides the Straits Times, the other two English newspapers available in print are The New Paper and TODAY. The Straits Times claimed that the number of contributors to its Forum pages has doubled since 2000 and many of them are young Singaporeans who are thought to prefer sharing their opinions on the New Media. There is perception among some Singaporeans that the Straits Times Forum selects and publishes only letters which are favorable to the government and censors those critical of it. There is only one print media company in Singapore - SPH which is led by a former PAP minister Dr Tony Tan. Reporters without Borders ranked the Singapore media 133th in terms of press freedom among 175 countries last year. The report drew a sharp rebuttal from Law Minister Shanmugam who said it was "quite divorced from reality". Another Minister Lui Tuck Yew proclaimed later that the mainstream media remains a "trustworthy source of news in Singapore."   Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans. This page is maintained independently by a TR reader.  Read More →

United Nations Special Rapporteur Githu Muigai has questioned the relevance of the Sedition Act in Singapore today in his report after an eight-day mission here. He opined that Singapore society was mature and called for a review of laws which constraint public debate on race and religion, adding that "restrictions such as those in the Penal Code and Sedition Act were not as useful today as they were 45 years ago when Singapore experienced violent racial tensions." "I think I would even go further and say that I think they stand in the way of a more robust, more engaging debate that is necessary for Singapore or Singapore society to move forward," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. Besides race and religion, the Sedition Act also covers speech or publication which incites "hatred and disaffection" against the government. It was recently used by the police to investigate a case of distribution of anti-PAP fliers in the estates of Seng Kang and Marine Parade. "'It is absolutely necessary in a free society that restrictions on public debate or discourse and the protection of racial harmony are not implemented at the detriment of fundamental human rights, such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly," he added. Mr Githu also noted that the relentless influx of immigrants lately has caused some unhappiness and disgruntlement among Singaporeans and suggested having a more open and transparent immigration policy to address the problem especially that there was perception that migrants from certain countries were preferred. As expected, Mr Githu's assessment drew a swift rebuke from the PAP government which is not well known for its tolerance of external criticisms of its policies. "We must emphatically disagree with Mr Muigai. Race, language and religion will always be sensitive issues in Singapore. This does not mean that they cannot be discussed, but a balance must always be struck between free expression and preservation of racial and religious harmony," a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.   Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans. This page is maintained independently by a TR reader.  Read More →