On Tuesday night the BBC will honour the best. But here’s the pick of the dark, devious and downright dumb sporting stories
We are constantly besieged by stories of sporting ne’er-do-wells, of dopers, match-fixers, law-breakers and attention-seekers. None of that nonsense earns a place on this list, for which there is nothing so formal as qualifying criteria but a bit of either consistency or originality is expected. The end of the year is a time to look back over the past 12 months, to shine an Olympic-sized torch into a few of sport’s darker corners and see what dismal doings come to light. While some of our miscreants have inspired huge controversy, others have slipped under the rage radar; this list of wrongs is the place to put that right.