15. Essendon supplements scandal
Essendon are kicked out of the 2013 AFL finals as punishment for the club's involvement in a supplements program that pushed the boundaries too far. Club legend and Coach James Hird was also banned from coaching at Essendon for 12 months while the club was fined $2m. Assistant coach Mark Thompson was fined $30,000. They were the largest sanctions ever handed down by the AFL Commission
14. John Hopoate
Wests Tigers winger John Hopoate was suspended for 12 weeks in 2001 after being found guilty of sticking his fingers up the anuses of three North Queensland opponents. Hopoate told the NRL judiciary that he was trying to give his three ‘victims’ a wedgie, but Cowboys forward Peter Jones disagreed. "It wasn't a wedgie. That's when your pants are pulled up your arse. I think I know the difference between a wedgie and someone sticking their finger up my bum.”
13. The underarm ball / Greg Chappell
It was over 30 years ago, but New Zealand still hasn’t forgiven Australia for what Richie Benaud labelled “one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field”. With the Kiwis needing a six off the final ball to tie a one-day match at the MCG, Australia captain Greg Chappell told the bowler, his brother Trevor, to roll the ball along the ground so batsman Brian McKechnie couldn’t possibly hit it for six. Bowling underarm was not illegal at the time, but was considered against the spirit of the game. In the aftermath, the Prime Minters of both countries condemned the actions of Greg Chappell, who later expressed his embarrassment over the incident.
12. The whack heard around the world / Tonya Harding
One the eve of the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, leading skater Nancy Kerrigan was struck on the knee with a metal baton in a vicious and unprovoked attack. With an injured Kerrigan unable to compete, her rival Tonya Harding skated to victory. Days later, police sensationally arrested Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly in relation to the attack, creating a world media storm. Gillooly and three associates all served time in prison for the assault on Kerrigan, while Harding was convicted of conspiracy to hinder prosecution. She was heavily fined by police and banned from U.S. figure skating for life. Skating authorities concluded Harding knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior”.
11. Fine Cotton
Horse racing and corruption have always gone hand-in-hand, but the Fine Cotton affair of 1984 remains one of the most infamous cases in the sport’s history. The scam involved entering Fine Cotton, an average horse with limited success, in a race at Eagle Farm, but secretly substituting him with Bold Personality, a far superior racehorse. With Fine Cotton at long odds to win the race, the scammers plunged thousands of dollars on him to win, confident that the more talented ring-in Bold Personality would be victorious. In reality, the scam was a disaster. With the horses looking nothing alike, the scammers coloured and even painted Bold Personality's coat to make him look like Fine Cotton. The paint began to run after the race, typifying the embarrassing amateurism of the scheme. With those at the track suspicious and the unusual betting patterns causing alarm, stewards began an inquiry. The scam was exposed and six people, including leading bookmakers Bill and Robbie Waterhouse (pictured), received long suspensions.
Spanish Paralympic scandal
As far as sporting scandals go, this is probably the most morally disturbing. Spain's Paralympic basketball team was stripped of their gold medal from the 2000 Games after it was revealed only two of the 12 team members were intellectually disabled. The scam was uncovered when one of the players revealed most of his teammates had not undergone the required medical tests to ensure they had a disability. The head of the Spanish federation, Fernando Martin Vicente, initially denied the allegations, but later apologised and took full responsibility.
9. Hansie Cronje
Cricket is no stranger to corruption, but the case of South Africa captain Hansie Cronje in 2000 is the most infamous case. The respected Cronje was exposed by an Indian police investigation that revealed he had accepted money from bookmakers to underperform during South Africa’s tour of India. After initially denying the allegations, Cronje admitted his guilt and was banned from playing and coaching for life. He was killed in a plane crash in 2002, aged 32, and former South African player Clive Rice has since floated the theory that Cronje’s death was no accident and was organised by a criminal betting syndicate.
8. Wayne Carey
The Wayne Carey sex scandal not only soured a golden era for the North Melbourne Football Club, it ruined two marriages and countless friendships. Carey, known as The King, was one of the best players in the history of the game and had led the Kangaroos to premierships in 1996 and 1999. In 2002, he began an affair with Kelli Stevens, the wife of the club’s vice-captain and his best friend Anthony Stevens. The affair was exposed at a barbeque at the house of teammate Glenn Archer and the club, along with Carey’s life, went into crisis mode. With his teammates unsurprisingly rallying around Stevens, Carey resigned in disgrace and never played for the Kangaroos again.
7. Chicago Black Sox
The 1919 World Series of baseball still lives in infamy in the United States as the original sporting scandal. After the Chicago White Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds, it was revealed that eight White Sox players intentionally played to lose in exchange for money. The players were labelled the Black Sox and while they escaped any criminal convictions, they were banned from the game for life. It would be another 85 years before Chicago won the World Series again, which lead to the rise of the superstition ‘The Curse of the Black Sox’.
6. Hand of God / Diego Maradonna
The already fierce rivalry between Argentina and England reached a peak during the 1986 World Cup semi-final in Mexico. With scores locked at 0-0 in the second half, Argentina forward Diego Maradona clearly parried the ball into the goal with his hand. But the referee missed the incident and Argentina celebrated the goal and eventually won the game. Maradona admitted after the match that the goal was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”. While initially unremorseful, Maradona apologised in 2008 and admitted be would change history if he could
5. Mike Tyson bite
Known as The Baddest Man on the Planet, Mike Tyson lived up to his reputation in his world heavyweight title fight against Evander Holyfield in 1997. Late in the third round, Holyfield suddenly lurched away from a clinch with Tyson, jumping up and down wildly and pointing to his right ear. Replays clearly showed Tyson bite Holyfield, ripping a one-inch piece of cartilage from the top of his opponent's ear and spitting it out on the ring floor. Incredibly, the referee allowed the fight to continue and Tyson inexplicably repeated the act later in the bout. He was eventually disqualified, fined $3 million by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and banned for a year
4. Ben Johnson
Sport is littered with doping scandals, but Ben Johnson remains one of the infamous drug cheats in history. The Canadian won the 100m final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a world record time, but he was disqualified just three days later after returning a positive drug test. To this day, Johnson claims he had to take drugs to keep up with his rivals, who were also doping
3. Melbourne Storm salary cap breach
The Melbourne Storm’s rugby league dynasty came crashing down in 2010 when the NRL stripped them of two premierships and three minor premierships for systematic and intentional salary cap breaches over a five-year period. The Storm had run a sophisticated dual contract bookkeeping system that saw them exceed the salary cap by a total of over $3.7 million between 2006 and 2010. In addition to having their premierships taken away, the Storm were forced to play the remaining rounds of the 2010 season for no points.
2. Tiger Woods
For over a decade, golfing superstar Tiger Woods was arguably the best and most famous sportsperson in the world. But his private life and golfing career came crashing down in 2009 when he admitted to a string of extra-marital affairs with over a dozen women. With his wholesome family image tarnished forever and his marriage over, Woods announced an indefinite break from golf. He eventually returned to the game in April 2010, but he is yet to recapture the dominant form that led him to 14 Major titles. In terms of sudden falls from grace, they don’t come any bigger than this.
1. Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong's fairy-tale journey from cancer survivor to seven-time Tour de France champion eventually proved to be just that - a fairy-tale. After years of strenuous denials and legal action against anyone who questioned his success, Armstrong finally admitted to doping in a tell-all interview in 2013. Given his status as a great athlete and an inspiration for cancer survivors, Armstrong’s downfall will be remembered forever
