A decade earlier, the warning bells had been rung at the IOC over the perils of doping - but in making this announcement in Lausanne, Rogge was pointing up what he perceived as an even greater threat, namely illegal gambling, and all the distortions it can visit upon the spectacles, and the protagonists, who entertain and divert us in the sporting domain.

Anyone who writes about sport will acknowledge the increasing levels of coverage required to deal with doping and betting abuses.

In the wake of his Team Sky colleague Jonathan Tiernan-Locke's recent doping charge, Britain's Tour de France winner Chris Froome has this week lamented that his squad's, and his own reputation will inevitably suffer as a result, whatever the outcome for Tiernan-Locke.

Meanwhile, Stephen Lee, banned from snooker for 12 years in September after being found guilty of match-fixing in what the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) described as "the worst case of snooker corruption that we've seen", is preparing an appeal for January.

England's Stephen Lee is preparing an appeal in the New Year against his 12-year ban from snooker for match-fixing ©Getty Images

And Oldham Athletic have sacked their Colombian winger Cristian Montaño, one of six players arrested this month in connection with charges of spot-fixing - that is, fixing outcomes in matches including the receiving of yellow or red cards in order to make money for illegal gamblers. His solicitor maintains he denies any wrongdoing.

It may be that Tiernan-Locke's sample turns out to be clean, and that Lee turns out to have the proof he has spoken of to get himself out of the frame, and that Montaño may yet also demonstrate his innocence. And it may not.

Froome was open in discussing the matter with the press, but added, plaintively: "There is going to be a point where enough is enough, and we need to get on and start talking about the good things in the sport..."

Tour De France winner Chris Froome fears the doping case involving his Team Sky colleague Jonathan Tiernan-Locke will damage his image whatever the result ©Getty Images

And the man has a point. But then Thomas Hardy had a point when he wrote: "If a way to the Better there be, it exacts a full look at the Worst..."

The worst needs to be uncovered, monitored, understood before the good things in sport can flourish freely. And we owe that to sport. And we owe that to ourselves.

Meanwhile, the back of my coat is covered in mud. Only my dog knows why and she's not talking. Yet.

But I will share the truth with you. Across the road from where I now live there is a neat and kempt football ground, complete with a Stade Municipal stand in which, every other weekend, local supporters gather to watch a B-team match followed by an A-team match.

It's small scale sport - the kind most people get involved with if that is their interest. And I love it. The sound of a referee's whistle is as beautiful as the call of a wood pigeon. The reverberating racket of players is joy.

Yes of course it reminds me of matches I have played. And yes of course it prompts me to tell myself, and anyone else who might listen (hello dog) that I have still not, officially, hung up my boots - even though I can't remember where my last pair are.

The thing is, sport at this level has a purity about it. As opposed to, say, Premier League football - Super Sundays (another 0-0), action replays, talking points, mandatory beers and the constant nudging to indulge in a few spot bets which will yield you the status of a Young Lord of Cool, surfing the wave of life. Wearisome.

John Terry slips onto his back and misses the crucial penalty for Chelsea against Manchester United in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow without the excuse of having a dog on a lead ©Getty Images

In recent years, several of my friends have stopped watching - or certainly stopped enjoying watching - big time football on a regular basis, and have chosen to visit lower league teams. The urge is strong and, I would hazard, widespread.

Why watch Bristol City when you used to watch Spurs? Or Orient when you used to watch West Ham? Or, lower down the footballing scale, Stansted when you could watch Arsenal? Well, partly it's a hell of a lot cheaper. But that's not all of it.

Regular non-league followers I have spoken to value the old-style freedom they have to roam around the ground, even to switch ends at half-time if they so please. The experience corresponds more closely to the experience of football-watching before - for the very best of reasons - terracing and thus pricing began to change.

This is not to champion a return to skinheads, scummy tea and potentially lethal arenas. But there is a strong and growing urge, I would contend, for spectator sport - and indeed recreational sport - which yields deeper and older values than the ones so frantically promoted on billboards and television.

The rise to prominence of parkrun, for instance - a free network of 5km Saturday morning runs in scenic localities all over Britain which now regularly involves more than 35,000 runners - is another manifestation of this urge for simplicity and purity. And free is pretty cheap as well.

Personally, having discovered a stray football in a ditch alongside my very local pitch while walking the hound, I relished the lost joy of a kick-about this week. There was no goalie - or should I say gardien de but - on hand to parry my efforts, but that did not distract from the pleasure of thrashing the ball into the rigging.

It was only when I took a penalty, with the dog dancing about on the lead, that I found myself doing a John Terry, winding myself in the process. Staring up at clouds, and then at an inquisitive furry face, I laughed at my folly. But it was not just sad. It was also glad.

This Sunday I will be back with the dog, lingering, to watch some more B or A team action. Ultimately, this is the simple instinct without which sport makes no sense.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £12.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.