The man tasked with fighting corruption in Australian sport says there’s no quick fix to a culture malaise as more than 60 sports raise integrity concerns.

Some 600 integrity matters from 61 sports have landed with Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) since the new entity launched in July last year.

The sheer scale, and being inundated with historic complaints of abuse, doesn’t shock SIA’s chief executive officer, David Sharpe.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Sharpe told AAP.

“When you look at the variety of matters that have come to us in that 600 – anything from minor policy issues right through to serious criminality – it tells me that this is what has been needed for sport.”

‘This’ is SIA, which replaced the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority – which Sharpe led from 2017 – while also bringing under its umbrella all other sporting integrity matters.

“Yes, there are some cultural issues in sport,” Sharpe said.

“But that is why it’s important to have us, an independent body, that can look at the issues.

“Sport is a part of our culture but what we have got to embed is integrity as part of that culture as well.”

Since inception, SIA has disemminated 236 intelligence products, an official term which Sharpe said was “quite broad” but, essentially, sharing intelligence of threats to sports.

And Sharpe said the proverbial penny had dropped for sports: they can’t investigate claims themselves. But true transparency was some way off.

Swimming, hockey, soccer, triathlon and equestrian are among sports to have reached out to SIA amid claims of abusive culture. 

“You have seen the dramatic response in the course of a very short timeframe … so, yes, it”s very much on the improve,” he said.

“But are we there? No way … we have all got a long way to go.

“But it’s the willingness to be transparent and accept that sometimes we need to say sorry; sometimes we need to change a system, change a culture, adapt our processes – there is a real desire across all of sport to do that.”

But gaps remain in the system.

“We have seen suicides in sport because people just didn’t have anywhere to go or any trust in the system,” Sharpe said.

“We are now inundated with people coming forward with historic complaints and we’re able to either listen to them or work with law enforcement to address them.

“And if that saves one life or allows that person to tell their story, that is what has been the most critical part of what we have done … they needed to tell that story because otherwise they live with a lifetime of burden.

“Not everything has to go through a formal investigation type process. Just the ability to tell their story and influence the future, it has been quite incredible the amount of people that have taken that path with us.”

But Sharpe cautioned against expecting rapid resolutions.

“There’s pressure on sports when they refer these matters … they’re looking at quick resolutions because of the pressure on them publicly,” he said.

“But for us there is no quick resolution.

“There’s no quick resolution to an historic matter that happened 30 years ago – you have got to listen to the story, look at evidence, look for documentation from the past.

“In one matter we are dealing with, there are 80 people (involved) … when you’re a victim, that is not something that during COVID you do over a computer.

“There’s a lot of pressure on sports to act quickly. But to do it properly, particularly historic matters, takes time.

“And we are going to take time with matters … we have got to get it right.

“If they are going to come to us after 30 years of something sitting inside them, we can’t race those matters.”

AAP

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