Writing in the Sunday Times, Stuart Barnes rubbishes those who claim that cheating is a product of the professional era.
"The blood capsule episode is no surprise, the botched nature of it was. “Cheat” is an emotive word in sport but yes, as a player, he knew how to escape the attention of a referee. So did the majority of us, even then in the amateur days. One of the shrillest of cries all week has been the link between the growth of professionalism and this “epidemic” of cheating. In the sense that there are more good teams who are capable of winning, the siren call has legitimacy but other than that it strikes a false note.
"Money is obviously important but why did teams such as Leicester and Bath do whatever they had to do to win in the days when medals and trophies were the only recompense? Winning, end of story; it was there before money and for the elite it still dominates."
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