After the close of The Olympics last month, last night saw the closing ceremony for The Paralympics-- the pinnacle of sporting success for so many, yet the build-up was dominated by stories of scandals, corruption and state-sponsored doping.

We are hoping that (clean) sport will make the headlines over the next few weeks, not the unethical decisions of athletes and back room staff, but we appreciate that not everyone loves sport as much as we do at HPI Proactive!

So what does the general public think? We carried out a survey in May this year, amongst 2000 sports fans in the UK, and unfortunately for sports purists out there, no sport is thought of as truly 'clean'. Just 6% didn't associate any sports with corruption, match fixing or doping – usually 25-34 year old females, and those that were more 'inactive' themselves.

But the majority of the public do express high levels of concern about these issues in sport.

Football (81%) has the greatest association with scandals overall, with the majority of that being linked to corruption (71%) or match fixing (55%) rather than doping (25%).

As expected, given recent events, 69% of sports fans associate athletics with doping, but cycling (46%) and tennis (28%) are also tainted, and even the more traditional Olympic sports that haven't been named and shamed recently still suffer with some associations of doping athletes (swimming 13%, gymnastics 12%)

So how do these scandals make sports fans feel or react?

• Luckily the majority claim they don't change their behaviour as a result, but around a third will talk about it with their friends (in person or online)
• Sponsors be aware that 17% feel worse about brands that sponsor the sport/athletes themselves
• And 16% claim they have followed the sport less as a result. Now the Olympics as a global event should naturally also attract a lot of 'big event' followers and more casual sports fans, but this proportion increases to a whopping 29% of 25-34 year old males – surely the life blood of many sports? A BBC survey¹out this week also suggests the recent doping scandals are reducing public interest in the Olympics
• And while very small, 4% claim they participate less in the sport as a result of scandal. While there will be some over claim here, with the problem of increasing inactivity in the country and the pressures that ultimately puts on the NHS, surely all sports should be nervous about the impact of any reduction in participation that on-going negative publicity could have on the grassroots of sport?

As a result, hopefully all Olympic sports and associated brands are prepared (more than normal) to maximise and celebrate the good publicity and incredible sporting achievements that the Olympics coverage will provide – backed up by reassurances of strong stances against doping and anything that goes against the strong values of sport that so many of us are emotionally invested in.

Rachel Harris

This article was originally published on August 3^rd, 2016 at: https://hpiproactive.wordpress.com/