Johnny Watterson: More than ever the integrity of sport seems vulnerable to the relentless intrusion by a minority

Anyone finding it harder and harder to love sport over the past number of months, the last year?

Sport has always paid regular visits to the sewer, but lately there’s an apprehension that it’s drifting further from its moorings, sliding from its integrity base and moving at a rate of knots away from what it’s supposed to be.

At every turn it appears to be exploited, channelled towards political aims, occupied by gangsters, rogue state politicians, unctuous administrators and ambition-driven creeps.

Two words there. Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Association.

Fanahan McSweeney, the ‘amazing character’ who deserves to be recognised for so much more than his ominous sighting before the Munich massacre

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Apparently being presidential is planting a kiss on the lips of Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso; is grabbing your crotch in celebration; is carrying another player, Athenea del Castillo, over your shoulder like a piece of medieval merch.

More than ever the integrity of sport seems vulnerable to the relentless intrusion by a minority, who arrive and promote themselves or their interests, and destroy and debase others while they are doing it.

Look at Conor McGregor’s divisive dumbing-down presence crashing into the Irish culture wars; Jon Rahm’s deflating capitulation to Saudi oil money; Olympic boxing, with the Russian takeover thanks to Gazprom’s millions and war with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

[ Russian and Belarusian athletes allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics ]

The cost? Goodbye to the Olympic Games as the IOC “put on hold” the decision of whether to include boxing at the 2028 event in Los Angeles.

Kenyan runners, once the gold standard of distance, are now a conga line of dopers. In October marathon runner Titus Ekiru was banned for 10 years for doping and tampering in a case that involved collusion with a high-ranking doctor in a Kenyan hospital.

One of his positive tests, for triamcinolone acetonide, came at the Milan marathon in 2021, which he won in a time of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds, which would rank him the seventh-fastest all-time marathon runner.

The FAI gets caught in a tizzy by untaken holidays and give their CEO a salary increase from €211,000 to €258,000 across three years. Nothing illegal there, but for a cash-strapped organisation? Maybe read the room.

Irish kids find themselves caught in the middle of a political incident – young boxers told mid-tournament they can’t box against Russians in the world championships, so they don’t; then they are told they can and do, but the news comes a day late and a dollar shy for the hopes of some.

Irish racing is rocked by one of the biggest scandals in its history after trainer and billionaire businessman Luke Comer has his license suspended for three years and is ordered to pay €840,754 in fines and costs after a dozen of his horses test positive for anabolic steroids.

A minor football match in Laois in May 2022 ends in a melee after a mentor came on to the pitch and headbutted the referee, the mentor and a minor player recently convicted of assault.

Formula One, where the result of events are practically known before the race begins, splashing a fading glamour on cities as the enormous, self-sustaining machine moves around the globe. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen this year set the record for most wins in a season, 19 from 22 Grands Prix; for consecutive number of victories, 10; and the highest percentage of wins in a season, 86.36 per cent. Sport?

Rugby is in the dock with allegations it did not adequately protect its players from head injury. Last glance in November and claimants were submitting over 5,000 pages of medical records in an application for a Group Litigation Order (GLO) in the UK high court. There are over 300 players involved in the case.

An English rugby captain scratched the Six Nations off his dance card, as Owen Farrell decided the social media abuse wasn’t worth it and decided to protect his mental health.

Soccer clubs have become state-owned toys for billionaire boys.

Swimming, and at the beginning of November, it emerges a new file has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following a Garda investigation into fresh allegations of historical child sex abuse by former Olympic swimming coach George Gibney. Gardaí have been investigating allegations, dating back several decades, about the former Irish Olympic coach abusing children in his care.

Last month another swimming coach, Matthew Coward, was jailed for three years for filming young swimmers changing.

Looking forward, 2024 is an Olympic year full of promise leading to a summer of hope in Paris. But along with the clamour of athletes jockeying to qualify, there’s the wait for the next thing to strike from the long grass, especially in professional sport, with its high-volume exposure, its culture of fame and admiration, where profit and wealth always take a front seat.

It used to be about ideas, about credentials that served people in life, about equality and fairness and faith in simplicities. Now it’s more complex, more corrupt, more shamelessly a free for all for podiums, money, political currency, power and manipulation.

Perhaps dirty linen is the price sport pays for asking athletes to chase down a two-hour marathon, or to play 40 games of rugby a season, or for putting criminals in positions of influence, or using social media to beat down athletes.

And all of it is challenging the fundamental underpinnings, the virtues. It’s maybe why some people are finding it harder to love.