When Usain Bolt defeated Justin Gatlin in the 2015 final of the men’s 100 metre World Championships there was a profound sense of relief, that the sporting moral compass had been righted, and in some respects that Bolt had saved Athletics. Gatlin’s return from a drugs ban was not welcomed in all quarters and the lingering suspicion of cheating in the sport was then heightened by the accusation that Russia had adopted a widespread doping policy in the 2012 Olympics.
Drugs in sport is not new and cycling also bears the scars of many years of systematic cheating that was rife in the sport. Guilty parties have generally served a ban and returned to the sport at some point later, with the exception being Lance Armstrong’s life ban.
The general intention of these actions was to gain an advantage – or if you are to believe the cycling peloton, simply stand toe to toe with others in the race who were also doping. That advantage could well then generate a financial benefit from winning, but the act of winning itself would still have to be achieved and in most cases the individual bore the brunt of any litigation.
This is what makes the spot-fixing bans issued to Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif a slightly different story. With jail time and four years suspension from the game behind him, Amir has started his return to the game in fine style within domestic cricket. The youngest of the trio, Amir pleaded guilty of bowling no-balls at selected times in the Test series against England in 2010 and now, aged 23, is back on the scene.
But he is not an individual in an individual sport. He was a member of the Pakistan cricket team that, as Mohammad Hafeez has publicly opined, suffered hugely as a result of the actions of the three. Building integrity, developing respect and restoring confidence in Pakistan international cricket team has been a long journey since 2010. Amir will have a similar job to do to restore others faith in himself.
Should he have the chance at all? All sport is played competitively with rules tested to their limits often and bent considerably at times. In the case of drugs, those limits are swept aside in the pursuit of success. In this case those rules were ignored purely for personal financial gain within a team environment. However, Amir was just eighteen at the time, a young man starting out in the world game.
His five-year ban (reduced to four after co-operation with cricket’s anti-corruption team) was a strong statement of intent, especially contrasted with the bans handed out to the likes of Gatlin and others. In no way can he be considered in the same light as Armstrong whose life ban came on the back of a decade of manipulating and bullying people into silence. Everyone deserves a second chance and everyone makes mistakes. Amir made a big mistake and he deserves a shot at redemption.
However, how he is received in the game will be an interesting story to follow. Hafeez has stated that he does not want to play on the same side as Amir, certainly at domestic level. The Pakistan selectors will have a tricky conundrum to contemplate if and when Amir, or the others, press for international call-up.
