British Cycling shame deepens
Fears that doping scandal could deter backers
THE crisis within British Cycling deepened last night amid allegations that the current board — including new chairman Jonathan Browning — watered down the findings of a bullying inquiry and new accusations around doping.
The governing body have been warned that they face cuts to their £26million public funding without a major governance overhaul. There are concerns within the organisation that their backers, including main sponsor HSBC, will reconsider involvement if cycling continues being tarnished.
Browning has been urged to resign by former Olympian Jess Varnish, who has been the victim of discriminatory behaviour.
THE crisis within British Cycling deepened last night amid allegations that the current board — including new chairman Jonathan Browning — watered down the findings of a bullying inquiry and new accusations around doping.
The governing body have been warned that they face cuts to their £26m public funding without a major governance overhaul. There are concerns within the organisation that their backers, including main sponsor HSBC, will reconsider involvement if cycling continues being tarnished.
Browning has been called upon to resign, just a month after his appointment, by former Olympian Jess Varnish, the subject of discriminatory behaviour at the hands of former technical director Shane Sutton.
Browning was a board member when, according to a leaked independent report into the culture of British Cycling, there was an ‘apparently deliberate reversal’ of a much harsher verdict on Sutton in an internal report than was made public.
The doping allegations are described by insiders as ‘legacy issues’ where certain staff members may have had secret doping pasts; these have always been denied but raise questions about individuals’ fitness for roles within British Cycling.
Former Olympic champion Nicole Cooke, a campaigner for clean sport, recently submitted testimony to Parliament on issues including doping. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Browning ‘was especially keen’ to meet her, and heard her concerns last weekend in a private meeting.
Browning (below) will stand accused of turning a blind eye if he does nothing about those drug-related matters but risks triggering fresh scandal if he digs deep and makes any controversial findings public. He thinks he can weather the storm to oversee major governance reforms, but is understood to believe things could get worse before they get better.
Any more scandal may damage the ability of British Cycling to retain sponsors or attract investment. A new eight-year contract with HSBC, thought to be worth upwards of £20m, is due to run until 2024. The internal report upheld Varnish’s claim that Sutton had used ‘inappropriate and discriminatory language’ towards her, but concluded that only one of nine charges Varnish made against Sutton were true. Yet a leaked draft copy of an unpublished independent external review, led by Annamarie Phelps, into the ‘climate and culture’ inside the worldclass performance programme says the governing body was ‘inept’ in handling Varnish’s allegations. It also alleges the board, including Browning, made an ‘apparently deliberate reversal’ of a much more damning verdict on Sutton by the person who investigated the claims — independent board member Alex Russell. Phelps’s draft report says: ‘The actions of the British Cycling board in that regard are shocking and inexcusable. They also call into serious question whether the composition of the board is fit to govern a national sporting body.’
In an interview with the Daily Mail’s Martha Kelner, who first revealed the allegations last year, Varnish called on Browning to resign, saying he was part of a board who effectively watered down findings against Sutton. Browning has no intention of resigning. He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I would be more than happy to meet with Jess and discuss any concerns she has.’
A British Cycling spokesman added: ‘The board is wholly committed to embracing the draft recommendations [for reform] and findings of the independent review and has already drawn up a detailed action plan in response.’ The spokesman added, however, that ‘the board may disagree with the factual accuracy of certain points or commentary in the draft independent review.’
A source claims the Phelps report and its damning conclusion about the board ‘reversing’ Russell’s findings is misinformed and that Russell was never tasked with coming to conclusions, rather with gathering information for the board to make their own conclusions, and recommendations.
So British Cycling appear to be standing by their handling of the Varnish case as an independent report damns them, a situation that will not be quickly resolved. Nor is it likely that the full truth about doping will be told soon. But the Mail on Sunday can reveal Cooke had a meeting with Browning last Sunday, urging him to explore a range of concerns.
Cooke said last night: ‘We had a productive meeting. I hope Jonathan can act to deal with these matters in a productive manner.’
A source says Browning is considering a range of information provided to him, including allegations around doping and a culture of doping omerta at the governing body, before deciding what steps to take next.