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 prosecutors are investigating Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter over a US$1 million loan paid from a FIFA account on 13 April 2010 to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), according to documents seen by the Associated Press. In December of that year, Russia and Qatar were appointed as...
• Two rulings published by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have underlined that athletes can test positive for prohibited substances through sexual intercourse with a partner. Boxer Virginia Fuchs was found not to be at fault for a 13 February adverse analytical finding (AAF) involving multiple substances, after USADA...
Five athletes from Russia have recently been implicated in doping cases. A high jumper and a skier have been sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs), and three weightlifters have been provisionally suspended after returning adverse analytical findings (AAFs – or ‘positive tests’) for metabolites of Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. This anabolic, androgenic...
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is arguing that Andrea Iannone should be sanctioned with a four year ban for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV), which the international motorcycling federation (FIM) accepted was due to consumption of contaminated food. ‘Andrea Iannone seeks to have the Challenged Decision annulled, whereas WADA...
Salwa Eid Naser was not provisionally suspended before the Doha 2019 World Championships, where she won Gold in the 400m, as she hadn’t been charged with an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) and provisional suspensions for ‘whereabouts’ failures are not mandatory under the World Anti-Doping Code. For any athlete who reports...
On 4 June, the McLaren Independent Investigation Team (MIIT) delivered its Report (PDF below) detailing astounding levels of corruption under Tamás Aján’s 20 year tenure as President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). Aján was a founding member of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a member of its...
• The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has described as ‘untrue and unsubstantiated’ allegations that Kenya is guilty of the sale of prohibited substances, the forgery of documents, the bribery of doping control officers and concealment of the true incidence of doping. The allegations were contained in a Sport...
• US pole vault athlete Cole Walsh has revealed that a chocolate bar was the source of his adverse analytical finding (AAF) for cannabis, which resulted in a three month sanction issued by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on Monday. ‘I ate a chocolate bar containing Carboxy-THC to help...
• The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics has published sanctions involving anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) committed by three athletes. Indian distance runner Karanjit Kaur has been sanctioned with a four year ban from 15 December 2019 for an ADRV involving Enobosarm. In the Full Decision, Kaur initially...
The Covid-19 pandemic threatens the business model that places television and sponsorship at the centre of sport, heard delegates tuning in to an ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Sports Governance’ webinar organised by Ronnie Collins Global yesterday. As companies that have received government bailouts will be unable to invest taxpayer...
• Three Belgian clubs have filed complaints with Belgium’s competition authorities alleging ‘structural conflicts of interest’ that are damaging Belgian football, according to a statement issued by RE Virton. ‘RE Virton denounces the fact that the same person, Mehdi Bayat, can be CEO of Sporting Charleroi, President of the...
Analysis of the Annual Reports of three national anti-doping organisations (NADOs) show that anti-doping tests make up a large proportion of NADO budgets, and catch few intentional dopers. Discounting recreational drugs and sample evasion, in 2019 just four anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) resulted from prohibited substances that could be...
Athletes who lie to doping control personnel about having symptoms of Covid-19 could face a charge of tampering with the doping control process, which carries a four year ban. Guidance issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to anti-doping organisations (ADOs) on 6 May (PDF below) outlines that when...
• Journalists in Brazil appear to have uncovered evidence of a ‘ghost game‘, where a score is recorded for a football game for betting purposes, despite no players having taken the field. Over R$10 million (€1.7 million) was wagered through 200 overseas betting sites on a 25 March friendly...
• Shayna Jack has announced that she has ‘received notice’ regarding her decision to challenge a four year ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and Swimming Australia didn’t announce the imposition of the ban, which was reported by SwimSwam. She...
