A meeting was held in Brussels last week with the European Union and many representatives from several of the major sports around the world including: football, rugby and cricket. The representatives met with the EU to discuss a plan to protect the future of the sports.

The main idea of the plan was to form a global anti-corruption agency that would deal with corruption and match-fixing in the sporting world. The new agency would have the power to investigate, serve as a licensing agency for bookmakers and exclude those who do not adhere to the rules of the sports.

An advisor to the British National Governing Bodies of Sport commented: "The meeting in Brussels saw the international sports community unite to urge politicians to apply the same focus to tackling betting corruption as they have to doping. Just as the fight against doping turned the corner when every country's government signed up to take action, a similar approach is needed with sports betting. This means that an approach similar to that taken by the World Anti-Doping Agency is needed. Match-fixing is worse than doping because it is cheating to lose, rather than cheating to win."

Officials in the sporting world are nervous that the internet is allowing foreign bookmakers to operate as they do not fall under national jurisdiction. This can lead to corruption in the different sporting events. But if the EU and sporting agencies work together they should be able to come up with something to help maintain the integrity of the sports.



- 2008-12-08