Sporting Bans Must Be Strongly Enforced
Newcastle Herald
21 April 2003
Stewart Roach On Monday
IT seems the more high profile you are in sporting circles, the better you are looked after.
That is nothing new in the business world.
Those in high places seem to get lesser sentences, if they do end up in court, than the Aussie battler.
And I'm not talking about the good old Australian tall poppy syndrome, where those who put people in high places set about cutting the same heroes back to size.
I'm talking about disgraced Australian representative spin bowler Shane Warne and infamous bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse.
Both have been proven well and truly guilty of bringing their respective sports into disrepute.
They did the job on themselves with no one else to blame.
Yet officialdom is tiptoeing about, trying to find loopholes to allow them back to enjoy the fruits of their previous employment.
There should be no doubt in the Warne case that he is out of professional sport until February. That means no playing charity matches, training with local, state or national teams or being involved in any promotion involving cricket.
Warne was found guilty of taking a prohibited substance. Full stop.
His ban should include using any facility registered to a sporting organisation.
Australian officials are great whingers about overseas stars taking banned drugs and calling for blanket disqualifications while absolving the likes of Samantha Riley and Dean Capobianco.
In racing when a jockey, trainer or even stablehand is disqualified for an indiscretion, they cannot set foot on a racecourse, ride trackwork or engage in anything involving their chosen sport.
But that is not the case at the big end of the scale.
Waterhouse has been a blight on the Sport of Kings for many years.
He showed his appreciation of being allowed back bookmaking after the Fine Cotton scandal by manipulating the odds for a friend to clear debts, which earned him a suspension and then disqualification.
The NSW Court of Appeal ruled last week the Racing Appeals Tribunal did not have the power to increase the Thoroughbred Racing Board's one-year disqualification, reduced on appeal to suspension, back to a disqualification.
Waterhouse's suspension finishes on May 15.
A disqualification would have meant Waterhouse had to apply for a licence to work again.
The suspension means he will only need to apply for the reinstatement of his licence from the TRB.
While Waterhouse may be flamboyant, he is certainly no example of the type racing needs for publicity.
