Projo Sports Blog

There must be something in the water. While the Patriots are rocked by a videotaping scandal, there are very similar scandals going on in the Women's Soccer World Cup (involving illicit videotaping of team meetings the night before a match between Denmark and China) and in Formula One racing. Meanwhile, the McLaren Formula One racing team has been fined $100 million for wrongfully possessing technical documents belonging to the Ferrari team. Here are excerpts from the most recent wire stories about the two cases.

Denmark demands answers in spy case

WUHAN, China (AP) — Denmark demanded more answers Friday following a FIFA investigation into why two men with video cameras were hiding behind a two-way mirror in the team’s meeting room.

The alleged spying happened Tuesday, the eve of Denmark’s opening match against host China at the Women’s World Cup . The men, who the team spokeswoman said were Chinese, were discovered a half-hour before Denmark was to hold a strategy meeting.

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, said late Wednesday that it had investigated and closed the matter. The Danish team was told that the men were not connected to any other teams, spokeswoman Pia Schou Nielsen said.

“It’s still a lot of questions which haven’t been answered,” Nielsen told reporters. “We want to know who these men were, what were they doing there and what were they were needing the information for.”

The team wanted Chinese authorities to follow up on their questions about the two men, who had been taken away by police.

Officials in several departments of Wuhan police said Friday they were unclear on the case.

McLaren Formula One team may appeal fine

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The McLaren Formula One team said it will decide as soon as today whether to appeal its $100 million fine and expulsion from this year's constructors' championship for possessing technical documents belonging to rival Ferrari.

The sport's ruling body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, delivered the penalty after a 10-hour hearing in Paris yesterday. Team drivers Lewis Hamilton, a rookie who is in first place, and two-time champion Fernando Alonso, in second, will retain their points in the drivers' championship.

The details of the FIA's investigation to be published today will provide the basis for any appeal by McLaren, which is bidding for its first drivers' title since 1999. McLaren officials said the team did not use the Ferrari documents to gain a competitive advantage.

"We believe we've got the grounds for an appeal but of course we're going to wait for the findings of the FIA," Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's chief operating officer, said at a news conference. "We'll consider those carefully before we make that decision."

With four of 17 races left and McLaren stripped of its constructors' points for this season, a category it led with 166, Ferrari, which has 143, will likely be crowned champion. McLaren's 2008 car will be scrutinized before possible sanctions for next season, the FIA added.

"I do not accept that we deserved to be penalized in this way," McLaren chief Ron Dennis said in an e-mailed statement. The "evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage."

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