From afar: Drama in sport not necessarily on the field

Do you need a distraction from the tension building around the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals and whether the All Blacks of 2011 or 2007 will show up?

For light relief, look no further than the drama that is unfolding in cricket or football to ease your angst.

Many of us thought the Chris Cairns in Court episode was done and dusted in 2012.

Think again. An accusation of perjury against Cairns has meant the dark side of cricket is once more in the spotlight.

If cricket or rugby dramas are not your thing, then change channels and watch as Sepp Blatter and his buddies get tangled in the corruption scandal that has seen Fifa internally combust.

It is amazing how a person's character reveals itself when under pressure.

These privileged and powerful individuals in sport are fighting desperately to preserve their livelihood, reputation and status.

If that means turning on their team-mate or colleague, then so be it.

Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter were once sweet on each other as they enjoyed the perks that came with working in one of the most powerful sporting organisations in the world.

Now, with accusations and counter-accusations being traded, their relationship has soured.

Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum and Cairns used to play cricket together.

Now they face each other in court as a legal form of sledging takes place between the witnesses and the lawyers.

It is like members of an underground gang dobbing each other in. Who should we believe - the one who seeks redemption or the one who denies, denies, denies?

Vincent is great fodder for the lawyers as his credibility as a witness is already questionable because of his match-fixing past.

However, why would someone already at the bottom of the pit attempt to pull others in with him?

McCullum, on the other hand, will be more difficult for the lawyers to break. So far he

has managed to avoid being tainted by the match-fixing allegations so it will be intriguing to see how the lawyers try to unpick his testimony and character.

Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure: Vincent, Cairns and McCullum will not be sending each other friend requests on Facebook.

In football, Fifa executives Blatter and Platini may be defriending each other online during their 90-day

suspension, as they are under investigation for questionable payments from Blatter to Platini in 2011.

Until now, their united strategy has been to strenuously deny any wrongdoing but as the Fifa ethics committee leaves no stone unturned or ego untouched, these two powerful men and their relationship are being heavily scrutinised and so it is not surprising that they create distance between each other.

And so we turn our dramatic focus back to the Rugby World Cup and the All Blacks.

Ma'a Nonu's 100th test cap acceptance speech was such an enthusiastic shout out to the ''brotherhood'' of the black jersey that it would be difficult to see how this brotherly ''love'' could ever turn sour.

When in love, no-one expects a relationship to turn ugly but as corruption scandals and match-fixing fiascoes continue to unfold it is clear that they do.

Will the All Blacks turn on each other if the outcome this weekend is not how they or the New Zealand rugby fanatics envisioned it?

Rugby in New Zealand still seems free of corruption, doping or cheating.

Or is that a naive assumption?

Is it only a matter of time before the dark side of sport hits our most internationally recognised sporting brand or has it already smacked us in the face and we just can't see it?

For now, we are blissfully unaware of any systemic flaws

so let's hope the ''brotherhood hard'' ethos can withstand the pressure.

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