Firstly, a massive welcome to all reading this, I hope you enjoy my blog!
I am going to be commenting on three key issues on a regular basis, namely sport, current affairs and music. I am doing this purely for fun and to keep my mind occupied!
Now, my title of this - "Addressing the obvious"- refers to the biggest sporting story at the moment, possibly even in the last decade, namely the Pakistani betting scandal as first reported last Sunday in the News of the World newspaper. This has shocked the whole world, not just the cricketing world. The three alleged to have been involved include one of the biggest talents to hit cricket within the last 15 years, Mohammad Aamer. A honest fast bowler who could be deadly in swinging conditions, he was the youngest bowler to get 50 test wickets, no mean feat. There has been an argument defending the youngster that due to his age he was more likely to be "led astray" by other forces away from the cricket pitch. I cannot buy this. As an 18-year old myself, I know what is right and wrong, and bowling no-balls to order, as has been alleged, is pure and simply wrong.
Of course, cricket, and sport in general has seen these sordid affairs in the past, most noticably, the Hansie Cronje affair, in which he was convicted of match fixing. This and countless other examples reveal a far bigger picture within the world of sport - that there is a spectre of corruption lurking around each and every corner. Yes, Aamer, Salman Butt and Asif are under investigation, but this is only part of a vicious circle that will keep repeating itself until truly drastic action is taken. It is only a matter of time, especially with the increasing popularity of betting, that this will happen again, be it in cricket or another sport. The most ideal solution to stamp out corruption would be to take a proactive approach. The authorities should not sit around waiting for a scandal to erupt, they should be seeking out the murky areas in which these activities are taking place and putting a stop to it. Take the current example for instance, the "middle man" involved had been pictured with Butt and Kamran Akmal, the Pakistani wicketkeeper, on a number of occasions in flash sports cars. Surely questions should be raised by the PCB before anything untoward could occur. Why were they with him? What were they doing? Would it not be too extreme to suggest having players under 24/7 supervision, especially when on tour in a foreign country? Of course, some may disagree with such drastic measures, but it must be a step in the right direction in reducing the risk of any cricketing scandal happening.
This is not to say all sport is inherently corrupt, simply that occurrences of such illegal activity keep happening. 99% of the time, sport is played in the best spirit with nothing controversial to speak of, however, if anyone mentions the name "Bruce Grobbelaar" or "Hansie Cronje" then corruption is the first thing people think of, even if found innocent as was the case with the ex-Liverpool keeper. Followers of any sport want to see a clean, fair, keenly contested match, not one riddled with doubt as to whether somebody has cheated, so for the benefit of all involved, it is essential corruption is stamped out once and for all, whether the authorities have the bottle and willpower to impose a strict regime to stop another "Bloodgate" debacle in Rugby Union, to stamp out spot-fixing, to destroy steroid abuse is a very different matter.
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