Trump’s red card scandal incensed the world. The corruption of Australian sport is even graver

July 10, 2026 — 5:00am

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Sport is a business. This I reluctantly know. It’s there in every stadium changing its name every few years when a new sponsor comes along. It’s there in the endless talk of certain sporting events or formats as “entertainment products” vying for attention in a competitive marketplace. Or when sporting codes land multibillion-dollar TV rights deals off the back of huge amounts of revenue from gambling advertising – this week, the NRL.

It’s there when sporting codes plant new franchises – sorry, teams – in places few locals particularly want them, otherwise known as new markets. It’s there when you discover that your favourite team has an “Official home appliance partner” or an “Official snacking/chocolate partner”. I did not make those up.

But before all this, sport is culture. It works best when it emerges from the soil. It’s overwhelmingly inherited. It has meaning because it is anchored in history and place. Sporting love can be acquired and cultivated, but even then it becomes rich when it is connected to a tradition.

Sporting achievement has meaning only because of a sense of continuity, that the victor has a history and a future. To win a premiership or a World Cup is to stake a claim to become history, to be recognised in the future. It’s a cultural monument.

All this is crucial to understanding the public anger surrounding two biting frustrations of the moment. One is the political impasse........

© The Sydney Morning Herald