Andy has been writing about the governance of sport for over 15 years. Prior to working on the Sports Integrity Initiative, he was the editor of World Sports Law Report for eight years. He has also worked for the Press Association and has written for numerous trade magazines. He has also created, chaired and spoken at numerous conferences on the business of sport, and produced the Sports Law Show for iSportConnect TV.
All posts by Andy Brown
The United Nations has questioned why the trial of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was conducted behind closed doors and why his execution was carried out before his family had the chance to ask the family of his alleged victim for a pardon, as is customary in Iran. ‘If Afkari...
For the last three days, I have been struggling with what to write regarding the Swiss Federal Tribunal’s (SFT) Decision to dismiss a challenge from Caster Semenya and Athletics South Africa (ASA) against the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) Decision to dismiss a challenge to the Eligibility Regulations for...
• Four Olympians are discussing joining a lawsuit against British Gymnastics for failing to act on allegations of abuse, reports ITV. It is understood that over 20 gymnasts are involved in the legal action, which seeks compensation. British Gymnastics argues that it acted on allegations of abuse by commissioning...
• Washington Nationals catcher Tres Barrera has dropped a class action lawsuit disputing the science underlying Major League Baseball’s (MLB) test for metabolites of dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT or Turinabol), reports Law360. The lawsuit was launched after a number of baseball players returned positive tests for the long term metabolites of...
Did British Cycling and Team Sky use therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) and medications in order to improve performance? The Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee of the UK Parliament ‘believes’ so. This ‘belief’, protected by Parliamentary Privilege from legal recourse, has led many into assuming that Sir Bradley Wiggins...
An Iranian wrestler sentenced to death has alleged that he was tortured into confessing to crimes including murder, via a letter published by the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran, a political opponent of the Iranian State. The allegation that he was tortured is disputed by the official news agency...
The National Rugby League (NRL) has today issued Cronulla Sharks player Bronson Xerri with a Notice of Alleged Anti-Doping Rule Violations under the NRL’s Anti-Doping Policy. This follows the return of a positive sample and completion of the anti-doping process administered by Sport Integrity Australia. The Notice alleges that Mr...
The Founders of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Paralympic Committee (RPC), have dismissed Yuriy Ganus (Ю́рий Га́нус) as Director General. The decision was taken at a RUSADA Founders meeting today, hosted by the ROC, following a a recommendation from RUSADA’s Supervisory Board. The...
The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has established a Probe Committee to investigate, after the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOA) confirmed that three medal winners had returned adverse analytical findings (AAFs) at the 2019 South Asian Games, hosted by Nepal. Mehboob Ali, who won Gold in the 400m hurdles, reported an...
Anti-doping Switzerland has defended its procedures from allegations made by Martin Grab, a retired wrestler in the traditional discipline of Schwingen. Grab has just completed a two year sanction issued after returning an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for tamoxifen in April 2018. He told the Tages Anzeiger that a...
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has annulled a one year ban imposed on Igor Labuts by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for alleged involvement in match-fixing. The FAI imposed a one year ban after finding Labuts, Athlone Town’s Latvian goalkeeper, as complicit in fixing his club’s...
Mauricio Fiol Villanueva has been sanctioned with an eight year ban for a second anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) involving stanozolol, after six tests taken before, during and after the Lima 2019 Pan American Games returned adverse analytical findings (AAFs) for the anabolic steroid. Fiol’s first four year sanction was...
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to implement a Decision Limit for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) of 100 picograms per millilitre of urine, after a number of players tested positive for tiny amounts of the steroid’s long term metabolite. A lawsuit challenging the test...
Russia’s Ministry of Sports has suspended the Russian field hockey federation (FHTR) for up to six months under section 5.1 of Article 14 of Russia’s 2007 law ‘On physical culture and sports in the Russian Federation’ (available, in Russian, here). The 14 August order was published on the FHTR’s...
The Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) has charged two players with breaching betting rules, after an investigation based on suspicious betting patterns. Wessel Nijman has admitted agreeing to lose, after being charged in relation to his 4-0 loss to David Evans on 14 May. Kyle McKinstry plans to appeal charges...
