I know its long, so if you cant be bothered reading please just move along. No need to comment further. But i would be interested in others thoughts.
The events of late, both at the Eels and re the Olympics has had me thinking.
Australia has its latest gold medalist. Our 50km walker who came second in London has been awarded the Gold after the Russian Gold medalist was disqualified for testing positive to drugs.
What does this mean for the Aussie? He trained and competed within the rules and has now received his Gold medal. However he has missed two of what I believe are the most important parts of being an Olympic gold medalist; singing your national anthem while on the dais and missing 4 years of financial reward through endorsements and public recognition.
So, does he feel like a winner? He said he was dirty because he knew the Russian was doping as his coach had 30 of his athletes already done for drugs and the gold medal athlete wasn’t even sweating by the 40k mark and it appears he’s served his ban retrospectively and can complete at this years Olympics.
If the governing body needs 4yrs to be able to test and catch these cheaters, why bother. Like Lance Armstrong people knew he was cheating, but he still got all the glory and financial benefit up until the day he was finally caught.
Now to the Eels; the Storm who won premierships during their years of cheating received the glory, accolades and financial benefits of winning. Yes, the record books show them being disqualified but does that help those other teams who lost feel better? Probably not, there are probably players who feel they should have a premiership ring to their name. The window to be successful in the NRL is very small and teams will do anything to win. Will they risk cheating, knowing that if they get caught a few years later they may have their records wiped clean? Of course some will, it’s a business and people’s jobs rely on the success of the team. What happens in 3 or 4yrs time is of no concern because the advantage has already been taken.
How many years did the cap cheating set the Storm back? Well some would say it didn’t, it actually advanced the brand in a market where only successful teams survive.
Now for those runners up, the choice is do we take the high moral ground and try to compete within the rules knowing its almost an impossible task or do you ‘bend’ the rules, keep quiet, hopefully get our success and deal with the fallout if and when we get caught. The NRL have already admitted they cant do anything without a whistle blower.
How will people feel if someone comes out and gives information about dodgy property deals in Townsville? Will we look back and say we knew something was going on and we’re not surprised? But will the Cowboys have already taken their advantage? Resigning players who might not if they couldn’t win.
Did the Eels do what they did to compete in a competition where only the best in deception can be successful? Even though they were caught has it still advances us past where we would have been if we stuck within the ‘rules’? Will the NRL put in place a fair system where players from any team tallied together are paid the same as the next team, regardless of where they get their money from?
All questions still to be answered.
What would you do? Play by the rules if it meant not winning or bend the rules and be feked with the future you want to be a winner now with everything that goes with it.
Replies
But there are legal ways of getting an unfair advantage and illegal ways
I realise I left it without really a question. Ive just added the question to the bottom.
So what would you do?
Remember the Storm have a good record of stretching the rules to win, even if they might not fit within the realm of sportsmanship eg wrestling etc.
TBUR,
Every walk of life, people are looking for an advantage. When the stakes are high the pressure to find that advantage intensifies.
Here are some examples:
People cheat on their tax
People wind back the odometer on their car to get a better price
People lie to doctors to get medical certificates to claim benefits
I love you too...
Politicians lie
The dog ate my homework
Achievements listed on resume's
How big is the lie? It depends on the likelihood and the consequence of getting caught.
For Parramatta, I think we need to revert to a mantra of "no cheating, no lies" and let the best team win. What better example can we set for the young men who play for our club.
Thats right, but the cheating you mention can lead to jail time in most cases, what does lying to the NRL really cost a team. one year?
What do they gain. Potential winner, celebration, additional members, financial remuneration, sponsorship, spotlight.
I think thats why we arent hearing a lot from other clubs because they know that it only takes one person to blow the whistle.
I don't condone cheating and never will. But we do need to get much smarter about using all the NRL systems and grey areas in our favour. We need to accept the hand we have and play it well. That's what great teams do, they adapt to the system they're in and find a way to win. Whether it's elaborate TPAs or high altitude training or geographic advantage of being a one club city or pushing the in-game rules to suit your players - look at the premiers each year and you'll see they've all got a story that speaks to a technique they used to get an edge.
If yontdon't pursue that edge you won't win the competition.
Of course when you're playing with fire you've got to be careful, so the risk management also plays a massive part. The risk can't outweigh the return. This is where exceptional management and strategy come into play.
As a club we need to find our edge that will deliver us success. And when we lose that edge, like the Storm lost Inglis, and then lost the wrestling tactics, you've got to get up and adapt to find your new edge.
That's what we need to do. And it's very possible to findtthat edge via grey areas without cheating. But you've got to be smart and play the hand you're dealt very well.
I do a fair bit of road cycling, and I'm sure everyone is aware of that sport's history (you made mention of Lance Armstrong). I'm in two minds as to which direction that sport should take. Should they keep striving to make all things fair and right and equal in circumstances where really I don't think this is ever going to be achieved and unrealistic?
Or should the governing body allow competitors to take whatever measures (in respect of performance enhancing substances, blood doping etc.) and then the playing field is level and fair because everyone was permitted to take every available avenue to maximise their own performance. I guess in this day and age there are way too many ethical issues with this approach but at least no one is cheating and the best man/woman on the day won.
Under the current NRL salary cap system, the playing field isn't level - everyone knows this. Along the lines of cycling, is it possible to have a system where it is fair for all 16 clubs? Not with the third party payments being unlimited. The NRL needs to look at this issue ASAP because everyone knows it stinks big time.
With the whole Eels salary cap saga, the way I see it we are only guilty of stupidity. We aren't doing anything different to the majority of clubs in the competition. We just don't have experienced competent people in control of the club. We told people we shouldn't have of what we were doing that was against the rules. We told these people in ways that have an electronic fingerprint. Basically we were very stupid in the way we managed our affairs.
On a personal note, I'm getting tired of being called a cheat for being an Eels fan. I don't have a drama with the integrity of anyone from the club (including those who have been deregistered by the NRL). They were just trying to assemble the best possible squad they could. I do however have issue with they way in which they did it which allowed us to be caught.
Plus with the rate of science nowadays we've basically now owned the fact that 99% of cheating these governing bodies catch will be retrospective. In that way it doesn't really keep sport clean at all.
I'd really like to see a version of the Olympics where we just said "have at it". Here are the sports, and competitors can do whatever to win as long as it doesn't break the law. Want peptides? Go for it. Steroids? Sure. Horse blood? Yep. Replace your legs with mechanical legs? Go nuts.
Now those are some games I'd watch!
Sorry for totally derailing the discussion!
I can't help but look at the successful sports stars and suspect that doping may be behind the level of their success. I doesn't matter the sport, the fact that some may cheat opens up suspicions around every competitor.
Lance Armstrong is a good case in point - everyone suspected he was cheating and the suspicions were confirmed. Cyclists are infamous for doping almost at the level of body builders(at least we know that body building is an even playing field as everyone competing in the Olympia takes them) and they aren't friendless in sport. I also have my suspicions around tennis and one player in particular - you don't need a PH.D. to work out who it may be.
But it's not just sport, what about business deals. I'm sure everyone on here has been duped or swindled in some degree by someone you trusted etc. I have and it's was by a so called developer friend. Why would he do this? $$$$$.
He wasn't a cheater by nature but the chance to make a quick buck turned him into one.
So the question is do you need to cheat to succeed? In this society we live in I think the saying cheats never prosper is a furrfie. They do and not just in Sport but in all walks of life - you just have to be smart how you go about it and cover your tracks.
Would I do it? Yes as PHIL mentions I am guilty of a few of those on his list so I guess I'm a cheater as well - not that it has gotten me too far.
But was Lance Armstrong actually cheating Frank? I know he broke the rules, no question. But did he have an unfair advantage over his competitors? I don't think he cheated because virtually every top level rider of that era had either been caught or there were strong suspicions whether or not they were clean. Nowdays they have theoretical limits which are considered the boundary of human performance. Anything exceeding this parameter comes into question simply because blood/urine testing is limited.
In Armstrongs era the use of performance enhancing substances or methods was absolutely rampant, uncontrolled across professional cycling. At that time there was no test for EPO. Still to this day there is no test for blood doping, only a range for blood cells (sorry it's white isn't it that carries oxygen) which is considered normal.
I don't condone Armstrong's behaviour (drug taking or deception) but to my way of thinking he didn't have an unfair advantage over anyone else, he was just a better rider at the time. Therefore he didn't cheat. Just my opinion.
I been thinking the same thing for a while...had Melbourne kept within the rules would they have kept their big three together......I highly doubt it ! and by keeping those three together they cheated their way to winning culture which then landed them the 2012 premiership and continued success since!
'has it still advances us past where we would have been if we stuck within the ‘rules’?' Yes I think it has, and do I care that we cheated if it brings us the outcomes the storm got....NO def not!
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next