Ian Lynam standing up to protect sport’s integrity

London-based Limerick lawyer Ian Lynam has been working hard to protect sport’s integrity from a range of threats, from match-fixing to Brexit. But he’s also occupied with where sport is going, and the widening role of analytics...

The heads of the FAI, IRFU and GAA were before an Oireachtas committee this week, and behind the knockabout fun about playing and games and funding, larger issues loomed.

For instance: governance in sports organisations flashed across the public consciousness a few weeks ago when Minister of State at the Department of Transport and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, jumped the gun on gender balance for sporting boards. Even if his proposal to punish governing bodies for lack of gender balance didn’t survive that week, it started the conversation. When it comes time to create legislation from that conversation, one of O’Donovan’s county colleagues would be worth consulting.

Ian Lynam is a partner in the London law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, and the Limerick native has helped with a code of governance for British sport which will surely act as a model in this country, but we’ll come to that.

He’s had more than that issue in his box for the last 12 months, describing 2016 as “a challenging year in relation to integrity in sport - our team has been very busy in that regard.”

He’s not kidding. Go back 12 months to the tennis match-fixing story you may have noticed. It was a story with repercussions.

“We’ve been appointed as solicitors to the Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis which was established by the governing bodies of tennis (the ITF, WTA, ATP and those of the four grand slams) to review integrity in the sport, in the light of media allegations in January 2016 of match-fixing - and in light of the developments in internet gambling on tennis.

“The other major integrity issue we’ve been working on this year is advising the IAAF (International Association of Tennis Federations) on issues arising from the alleged actions of former IAAF officials in extorting monies in return for the suppression of doping sanctions against the Russian marathon runner, Liliya Shobukova.”

It’s no surprise that Charles Russell Speechlys are the market leaders in this particular field, given its experience with the first sport where gambling and integrity were really put under the microscope.

“This largely stems from the work the firm has done in horse racing over the last 100-plus years. Up until relatively recently, the only sport in which sporting integrity was a serious issue was horse racing - it was always imperative to be able to trust the results because people were betting on it, and it was pretty much the only sport people bet on decades ago. The work that has been done over the years in policing integrity in horse racing is very useful, then, to other sports, and horse racing as an industry is very good in helping other sports to learn - it’ll have other sports in and explain how they do things, and it’s even done some consulting with other sports in this regard.

“The BHA (British Horseracing Authority) has a large team which deals with that, and half of those would come from a traditional investigative background, using the same kind of software the Metropolitan Police would use. Then they have data analysts, from a very different background, quants who are crunching data (much of which comes from bookmakers - who work closely with the BHA themselves). That’s been a very interesting area.

“My experience with the BHA is they’re quite open to discussing this with other sports, but every sport has a different challenge, and it’s not a case that one size fits all when it comes to dealing with issues of corruption.”

If prevention is better than cure when it comes to sporting malfeasance, then governance may be one of the key elements in protecting a sport. Lynam and his team have carried out governance reviews at various bodies and he welcomes a new initiative in Britain linking funding and compliance.

“UK Sport and Sport England are the bodies which govern sport in the UK, both at grassroots and elite level.

“They’ve brought out the first formal code for sports governance - there have been principles and recommendations in the past about how organisations should run themselves, but this code has teeth because it applies to any sports body which accepts government funding. And most such bodies are heavily dependent on government funding and subsidies, so they’re going to have to abide by this new code.

“When it come into effect it will require some sports to make changes pretty quickly. It relates to matters like board composition and operation, the powers which should remain with the board and which should remain with the council, independent representation and diversity at board level and so on.”

The obvious observation is that a one size fits all scenario would mean organisations such as the FA or the RFU, with their hundreds of employees across a range of professional discipline, are in a better position to comply with a code than the administrators of a niche sport organised by a handful of amateurs in their spare time.

The governance code is “tailored”, says Lynam: “A very small body running a niche sport isn’t held to the same standards as the FA - it’s a three-tiered approach based on the level of funding, so if your organisation’s getting a lot of government funding then your governance must be pretty solid.

“I think it’s a positive step: the biggest thing I found is that the issues and challenges faced by governing bodies are different but more alike than different, put it that way.

“We’ve done governance reviews and restructures at various bodies, and the issues tend to be similar: a lot of the time they stem from the fact that these organisations may have been set up in Victorian times so their structures can be quite antiquated.

“There may be a very powerful council representative of the wider membership, while there may be limitations on the power divested to the board of the organisation. Then there can be issues with representation on the board and so on.

“The code’s an attempt to deal with those issues, and funding is the lever. Previously there was a voluntary code of good governance, but as I say, it was voluntary and didn’t have the teeth.”

Other challenges have popped up along the way. Take Brexit and its implications for professional soccer. There was palpable gloom the morning the votes were counted about the potential damage that might be done to the beautiful game, but Lynam is measured.

“I don’t think its impact on sport in the UK will be too severe,” he says, “I’m coming down on that side of the argument.

“The freedom of movement of sportspeople is an obvious area, but even if the UK is entirely outside the European Union and EEA, it’s under the control of the (British) government to set the tests and parameters under which athletes can enter the UK.

“If the British government controls work visa standards for European footballers, then, it’s hard to see them punching a hole in the success of the Premier League.

“Although I gave a talk on this at another conference recently and made this point, and a representative of one of the big clubs suggested what’s good or bad for English football depends on the perspective of the person to whom you’re putting the question, which is a fair point.

“If you feel what’s good for the English national team is what’s good for English football, then someone who thinks what’s good for clubs based in England is good for English football may disagree. It won’t necessarily be the same thing.”

Our conversation took place at the Web Summit, where there was much discussion of the use of analytics in sport by players, coaches, management, agents, fans, pundits . . . everybody.

However, Lynam described the progress and acceptance of data as slow and steady: “More clubs have a data scientist or someone similar on board, but the number of clubs where that’s making a significant difference in decision-making is still probably fairly small. It’s still a developing area.

“We’ve spoken in the past about the growing role of analytics in negotiations, and last summer I heard of deals (in addition to ones I worked on) where analytics was used on behalf of a player, so it’s getting a little bit of traction.

“I think it’s seeping through to the public consciousness more, though. Arsene Wenger gave an interview last year in which he spoke about expected goals - it may have been mentioned on Match of the Day - so I think it’s seeping through bit by bit.”

Given how quickly the technology changes, it’s hardly surprising the nature of the analytics being used is changing even as the concept is accepted.

“The other area of data is tracking and performance data - information from training, or optical tracking during games - that data is starting to be used in the media now, and clubs are using it in relation to opponents.

“A new optical tracking deal was done in the Premier League last year, it’s in its second year now. There are two levels to it. One level of data is shared automatically, and the higher level is shared if you opt in – a club which opts in gets to see the data from all of the other clubs which opt-in.

“It was a bit slow to take off but I believe most of the clubs have opted in now and are getting to see the tracking data from games and are starting to use that.

“Up to now the data you could get on a player was of the Sky Sports variety - how many metres he’d run - but that really doesn’t mean very much. A guy who runs a lot may never break into a sprint, for instance, so you can’t judge much from it, because it’s the high-intensity accelerations and decelerations which really burns players out.”

The impact of all that wear and tear has particular resonance for players signing or considering contracts, and Lynam nods to the significance of such data in answering one crucial question when those contracts are negotiated: is the player at his peak or slightly past it?

“If you can look back over a player’s data over a couple of seasons, particularly if he’s 27 or 28, say, and you want to determine if he’s coming to his peak or slightly past that point - then that’s an additional data set. Now they’re also aligning the tracking data - to see where the player was on the pitch - with the event data: passes, shots, and so on.

“And when those two data sets are working together then you will end up with a super-rich data set which will add a level of detail to the analysis that can be done, particularly in relation to defensive players.”

That level of detail is impressive: “We mentioned Arsene Wenger and his reference to expected goals, but the expected goals models at the moment look at where a player was on the pitch and the type of chance he had - a header or a shot, whether it came from a cross or a pass etc - and compares the chance to all similar chances historically.

“But if you know where the ‘keeper was positioned, or whether the player had two defenders within a foot of him, then you have a far better idea of how good a chance it actually was.

“That may also be a better way to evaluate goalkeepers and defenders, because it can be very hard - just from event data - to pick out a good defender. A good defender may be someone who isn’t making lots of tackles, after all.

“Tracking data provided a breakthrough moment in being able to more accurately evaluate defenders in the NBA, and my hope and expectation is that it will play a similar role in football.”

And other sports. Lynam branched into boxing recently, working on behalf of Barry McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions in negotiating the rematch between world champion Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz in Las Vegas at the end of this month.

“That was a very interesting process. I’m interested in the underlying concept of negotiation and deal-making.

“It’s always fascinating to work in different sports and adapt your approach to the different styles and challenges.”

Styles and challenges. Common to every sport.