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
• Swiss cyclist Kevin Winter has been sanctioned with a four year ban for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) involving methenolone, stanozolol and testosterone, Anti-Doping Switzerland announced. Winter’s ban runs from 6 May 2019, the date of his provisional suspension, following a January 2019 out of competition adverse analytical...
Italy’s national anti-doping agency (NADO Italia) has announced sanctions against three people associated with Dr. Michele Ferrari, former physician to US cyclist Lance Armstrong. Stefano Ferrari, who allegedly managed the financial aspects of his father’s doping business, has been sanctioned with a four year ban for complicity. Tommaso Sessa,...
A tennis player has alleged that his legal team, led by a former member of both the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF), convinced him to lie to the CAS about the source of his adverse analytical finding (AAF) in order to obtain...
An Independent Review into safeguarding in UK athletics has recommended that UK Athletics (UKA) should take ownership of safeguarding through a single policy for UK athletics, rather than the current approach involving different policies in each of the four home countries. An Executive Summary of the Review (PDF below)...
The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) will remain suspended from World Athletics until 30 September after Oleg Matytsin, Russia’s Minister of Sport, agreed an ‘unconditional commitment’ to pay a US$5 million fine (and $1.3 million in associated costs) by 15 August. Andersen added that Matytsin had also agreed to support...
World Rugby has reiterated that the April 2020 election of Bill Beaumont as its Chairman was conducted in a ‘fair and appropriate manner’ and has defended its governance structures, after a Report from Pacific Rugby Players Welfare (PRPW) made serious allegations against it. The Veilomani Report (PDF) below alleged...
Former Olympic cyclist Johann Lienhart has been sanctioned with a ten year ban for helping his son, Florian Lienhart, to dope. The Austrian anti-doping rights commission (ÖADR) found (click here to download judgment) that Lienhart senior ‘encouraged, guided, and supported’ his son to commit anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). The...
• Swimmer Sun Yang has filed two appeals with the Swiss Supreme Court, his lawyers confirmed. ‘On 28 April 2020, Mr. Sun Yang filed an application with the Swiss Supreme Court to set aside the award rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 28 February 2020, by...
Organisers of Mega Sports Events (MSEs) should establish workers payment funds, capacity building bodies, and grievance resolution mechanisms to guard against workers being exploited in the rush to build facilities on time and within budget. The recommendations are part of ‘Changing the Game: A critical analysis of labour exploitation...
The Bolzano Court of Appeal has acquitted two doctors who worked for the Italian athletics federation (FIDAL) and its former Technical Director of assisting race walker Alex Schwazer, who was sanctioned with an eight year ban for a second anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) in August 2016. The Court overturned...
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has completed its analysis of the 55 page audit commissioned by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Paralympic Committee (RPC) into its finances, and has sent a 68 page rebuttal of its findings to its Supervisory Board. The RUSADA rebuttal opens by declaring that...
A team owner, bike shop owner and two brothers are the latest to be sanctioned as a result of a doping investigation spurred by the death of a 21 year old cyclist in 2017. Italy’s national anti-doping organisation (NADO Italia) sanctioned Luca Franceschi, owner of the Altopack Team, with...
The United Kingdom and the United States are among the five most expensive places to attend University in the world. For many young people on both sides of the pond, going to University is considered a rite of passage – part of growing up. But the cost of attending...
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that it does not have any records of any procedures involving Russian politician Roman Khudyakov (Ромáн Худякóв). In 2017, Khudyakov told RSport that he had filed appeals against the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) November 2015 Decision to suspend the...
Jess Varnish’s appeal against a January 2019 Employment Tribunal finding that she was not an employee of British Cycling or UK Sport has not been upheld. In its full judgment (PDF below), the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that the January 2019 tribunal ‘was entitled to conclude, based on an...
