Best of 2011: scandals

The St Kilda schoolgirl brings down Ricky Nixon

When the story of a teenage girl falling pregnant to an AFL player was made public last year, no-one could have imagined the fall-out to come. The take was since found to be a fabrication, but the girl at the centre of the scandal – known for most of the year as the St Kilda Schoolgirl before she was named as Kim Duthie – was hell-bent on revenge after she was dumped by St Kilda defender Sam Gilbert. At the end of last year she released nude photos of St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt and midfielder Nick Dal Santo, unleashing a scandal which some claimed undermined the Saints' entire 2011 season.

But even those photos were soon forgotten this year when Duthie pulled off an amazing sting. Still underage, she courted the AFL's highest profile player manager Ricky Nixon (who acted for Riewoldt and a lot of other St Kilda players) and videoed him in his underwear in her hotel room.

To ensure the video's authenticity Duthie contacted a Herald Sun journalist, who filmed Nixon's exit from the hotel in the early hours of the morning. Despite an appearance on the Footy Show there was no escape for Nixon. He lost his accreditation as an AFL player agent and was forced to sell his business in disgrace.

Ryan Giggs plays away

In early May the British tabloids were in a fluster about a sex scandal involving one of football's biggest names. Which name exactly, the papers couldn't say thanks to a super-injunction the player had taken out to protect his identity.

However, the internet is a difficult place to keep a secret and it soon leaked onto Twitter that the woman involved in the affair was Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas. The man, it emerged, was Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs.

Giggs was, somewhat bizarrely, named in Britain's Parliament as the adulterer at the centre of the scandal. That kept the press busy for a month, but for Giggs there was worse to come. In June, the wife of Giggs' brother Rhodri admitted an eight-year affair with the footballer.

While Rhodri subsequently ended his marriage, Giggs' own wife stood by her man, although the first Giggs Christmas since the scandal is sure to be an awkward one.

Meanwhile over on YouTube, Taiwanese animators ensured the saga was recorded for posterity with the dignity it deserved. 

Ryan Tandy is pinned for match-fixing

The biggest in this year's grab-bag of NRL scandals was the continuing Ryan Tandy spot-fixing saga. Despite denying deliberately giving away a penalty against North Queensland during a match last year, Tandy was arrested in February for providing false evidence to a law enforcement agency. A month later, the Bulldogs axed him from their playing roster after he refused to answer questions about his betting activity.

In October, Tandy was found guilty of match fixing, fined $4000 and given a 12-month good behaviour bond. He plans to appeal the findings. The front-rower could still face jail time for his misdeeds after he was also found guilty of knowingly misleading the NSW Crime Commission. The maximum sentence for the offence is two years in jail, but the exact punishment will be handed down early in 2012.

The Giants poach Tom Scully – and his dad

The 2011 AFL season featured endless speculation over whether Melbourne's Scully would sign with the league's newest club, Greater Western Sydney. The 2009 No.1 draft pick kept the media guessing for most of the year. He even checked out the Giants' facilities at season's end, seemingly weighing his options before accepting a six-year deal reportedly worth $1m per year.

A month later, it emerged that Scully's father, Phil, had been handed a six-figure salary for a fairly minor recruiting role – and that this had been offered at the start of the year. The AFL folded Phil's pay into the Giants' salary cap, ruling it part of the inducement offered to secure his son's signature.

Pakistan's spot-fixers head to jail

In November, former Pakistan captain Butt and bowlers Amir and Mohammed Asif stood trial for conspiracy, alongside player agent Mazhar Majeed. The quartet were accused of conspiring to bowl no-balls as part of a betting scam during the 2010 Lord's Test against England. The judge found them guilty and came down hard, jailing Butt for two-and-a-half years and Asif for one year. Amir, considered less culpable, was ordered to serve six months in a youth detention facility, while Majeed, described as the architect of the fix, received two years eight months. Lengthy ICC bans are likely to end the careers of both Butt and the hugely talented Asif. Pakistan cricket may take even longer to recover.

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