A structured method for mapping sportswashing and sportshandling risk.
DASH is a structured method for identifying and scoring governance and operational fragility linked to sportswashing and sportshandling in sport and related institutions.
Why DASH exists.
Sportswashing and sportshandling allow governments, corporations, and powerful actors to manipulate public perception and extract influence through sport. Traditional integrity or compliance approaches often focus on isolated incidents rather than structural patterns.
DASH uses a structured, systems-level method to detect, map, and score governance, narrative manipulation, resource asymmetry, ownership opacity, and power projection strategies. It reveals how organisations and actors distort competitions, institutions, and supporter communities, enabling stakeholders to understand the real risks and intervene before long-term damage occurs.
Core components of DASH.
Detection.
Systematically identifies early signals of sportswashing or sportshandling across ownership, funding, media narratives, political influence, and institutional behaviour.Assessment.
Evaluates severity, mechanisms, and structural patterns — including power concentration, opacity, coercion, narrative distortion, regulatory arbitrage, and reputational laundering.Scoring.
Quantifies governance fragility and manipulation risk using structured criteria across transparency, legitimacy, incentives, resource asymmetry, and institutional exposure.Heatmapping.
Visualises where risks cluster: ownership, finance, narratives, politics, federations, and communities.Narrative analysis.
Analyses how actors manipulate storylines, public perception, signalling, and “soft power” messaging to distort decision-making or manufacture legitimacy.Stakeholder impact.
Evaluates how supporters, communities, players, federations, and competition integrity are harmed, used, or strategically influenced.Who DASH is for.
DASH is designed for any institution operating where sport, governance, power, and public influence intersect. It serves:
- Football clubs
- Leagues and federations
- Governance bodies and NGOs
- Governments and policy agencies
- Supporter groups and trusts
- Investigative journalists and analysts
- Investors and ownership consortiums
- Human rights organisations
- Integrity, risk, and compliance firms
Outputs from a DASH assessment.
Running the DASH Protocol generates a structural risk profile, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis across governance, influence, narrative manipulation, and institutional exposure. Outputs include:
Quantifies structural weak points across decision-making, incentives, and oversight.
Measures exposure to manipulation, laundering, coercion, and political influence.
Shows where risks cluster: ownership, finance, narratives, politics, federations, community.
Identifies how stories, symbols, and media signals are being shaped or weaponised.
Visualises relationships, intermediaries, front entities, financial routes, and power brokers.
A simple classification for boards, policymakers, and journalists.
Detailed breakdown with a concise decision-maker version for fast understanding.
Recommended actions and categorisation of manipulation patterns based on documented mechanisms.
Using DASH in practice.
DASH can be applied as a pre-investment screen, a governance review, a supporter or journalist investigation tool, or as part of a broader integrity and human rights assessment. It is designed to sit alongside legal, financial, and political analysis — not replace them.
For clubs and football operations, principles from DASH can be layered into risk-mapping exercises inside the Sportsworks Division.
To discuss running DASH in your context, email services@cinderpoint.com.