IT'S unwise for sportsmen to have a go at officialdom, mainly because officialdom holds all the aces.
If athletes shout off their mouths about ineptitude and incompetence in the corridors of power, it's more than likely that they will find themselves in the wilderness. Will Carling's 'old farts' jibe aimed at the Rugby Football Union in England lost him the captaincy of the national side before a show of solidarity resulted in him being reinstated. Ian Botham's constant criticism of cricket's hierarchy labelled him as an enfant terrible and dictated that he would never be 'management material'.
Richard Loe's opinion that the New Zealand Rugby Football Union are a 'pack of dickheads' will not do the prop any good the next time a disciplinary charge is laid against him. While it's crazy to indulge in such mud-slinging while still actively involved in sport it's also courageous, heroic even.
American swimmer Janet Evans is the latest in a not-so-long line of sports people who deserve a specially-minted medal for exposing feebleminded fogeys. Evans is a triple world record-holder and four-time Olympic gold medallist so her remarks have a bit of clout. Her comments about the Jessica Foschi case certainly hit the target. 'I am ashamed and embarrassed to be part of an organisation that cannot stand up for what it believes in,' raged Evans.
'Last year, their whole thing was as soon as someone tests positive for steroids, regardless if they know it or not, they are out. 'Look at the Chinese, they were banned, no questions asked whether they were sabotaged or got the steroids from their coaches. 'US Swimming pushed for the Chinese to be banned and then when it happens to one of our own, they cannot stand up for what they believe in and I'm ashamed.
It irritates me.' Right on, Janet. She articulated what many people involved in swimming have been thinking since US Swimming overturned a two-year ban on Foschi after Australian swimmer Samantha Riley was let off with a warning for using a banned substance. But as Evans and others have pointed out, Riley took a headache pill while Foschi was found to have traces of steroids in her body.
