Einleitung

In the 2001 Report on Corruption in International Cricket, known as The Condon Report, the International Cricket Council (ICC) recognised that poor governance and corruption not only damage the image of the game, its federations and representatives, but compromises the positive influence that sport has in spreading the values of good sportsmanship and integrity, especially on young people. Since then there have been significant developments in the global understanding and awareness of the impacts of corruption, as well as the national and international legal frameworks for tackling the problem in both the public and private sectors.
In particular, the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which virtually all ICC member countries have ratified, provides a legally binding global instrument for preventing and reducing corruption. There have been new anti-bribery laws in several countries, bringing them into compliance with the 1997 OECD Anti-Bribery Convention that requires members to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials. In politics and business, money and power have the potential to corrupt even people with the purest values and the best intentions. The same is true in sport, which is why international bodies and governments are focusing their attention on how to improve governance in all areas related to sport.
The history of cricket, much like the history of any sport that started local and ended up global, shows clearly how management structures have not kept pace with the growth in popularity and/or the professionalism that is now part of sport. We see that in football, where FIFA is struggling to reform its own operations and those of its regional confederations. We see this in smaller sports, such as wrestling and cycling.
In the past three decades, cricket has expanded its popularity and influence, attracting both power and money. This has given new opportunities for the sport but has also heightened existing corruption risks and presented new challenges that threaten cricket’s integrity and reputation. From Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket to the Indian Premier League, there has been a delicate balance of power between test-playing nations, national identities and commercial interests. The ICC currently has three classes of membership: 10 full members, 34 associate member countries, and 60 affiliate members. It is currently only accountable to its 10 full members, as they provide its funding. This particular governance structure means that even without the additional challenges of corruption in a fast-developing game, the ICC faces significant governance challenges to maintain equity and integrity.
Transparency International welcomes and acknowledges the attention that cricket’s governing body has paid to corruption and to ethical standards in cricket over the past decade. Criminal investigations in several countries during the late 1990s, for example in India and South Africa, have helped to shine a spotlight on corruption associated with gambling. Transparency International particularly welcomes the ICC’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy to corruption.
The decision to commission the reports by Lord Woolf and Bertrand de Speville shows that the ICC acknowledges that reforms are necessary. The Woolf Report in particular produced a large number of recommendations to improve the way cricket is run. The temptation when faced with so much advice is to delay consideration and analysis. Transparency International, in this report, is focusing on the corruption risks posed by poor governance and suggests a plan of action in relation to priority recommendations on governance that should be implemented immediately.