A new cross-sports Integrity Forum will be established in Britain to help tackle issues ranging from match-fixing and doping to athlete welfare, the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) has said.
The move comes in the wake of the scandal which has rocked British Gymnastics, and other concerns around bullying and discrimination in British sports.
UKAD said in a statement Thursday that it had commissioned Swansea University to conduct research to identify if issues such as match-fixing, corruption, and misconduct are linked.
The study came up with 24 recommendations for improved governance.
It revealed that while some sports bodies spent over two million pounds (2.64 million dollars) a year on integrity issues, others committed less than 10,000 pounds.
“Anti-doping is just one issue where the integrity of sports is under threat. Safeguarding, discrimination, match-fixing, and organizational corruption are all threats to the values we hold dear in sports,” UKAD Chair Trevor Pearce said.
“UKAD wants to bring together a coalition of organizations to start to address and combat sports’ wider problems, with a single effort.”
The Integrity Forum has received backing from the Department for Digital, Media, Culture, and Sports (DCMS) and will meet for the first time next month.
“Protecting the integrity of sports is paramount… Our new Sports Integrity Forum will bring together organizations from across the sector to discuss some of the most complex challenges facing sports today,” Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said.
