A British football scandal resulted in one Manchester United star being banned for 30 years, but he's far from alone among those athletes who have been handed huge suspensions
Lou Vincent arrives at Southwark Crown Court
Lou Vincent joins Enoch West as being hit with a massive suspension in his sport
(Image: PA)
Former Manchester United star Enoch West was once handed a lifetime ban from football after he was found guilty of match-fixing. West joined the Red Devils in 1910 after playing for Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, playing for five seasons in Manchester before disaster struck.
As a prolific centre-forward, he scored 72 goals in 166 appearances for United. However, his impressive stint was marred by one of the biggest controversies to rock football at the time, bringing the curtain down on his career in the process.
West and four of his team-mates, along with three Liverpool players, were banned for life after being convicted of match-fixing in 1915. Although many of those who received suspensions were absolved after serving in World War I, West refused to comply with the condition, and his ban remained in place for 30 years until it was finally lifted in 1945.
This remains the longest suspension in Football Association history, and West never played professionally again, as he was 59 when his ban expired. But he's one of numerous athletes who have been banned for various reasons throughout their careers.
Lou Vincent
Lou Vincent, for example, was handed a lifetime ban from playing cricket at any level, entering any cricket ground, or working in a professional coaching capacity, after admitting to match-fixing offences in July 2014. The New Zealand batsman released an open letter admitting to his "dark secret" that "shamed" not only himself but also his country and the sport.
Following his suspension, Vincent turned to construction work in Raglan. However, after a successful appeal in December 2023, his lifetime ban from domestic cricket was lifted, allowing him to return to the sport as a player and coach at a non-international level.
Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong pauses during an interview
Cycling icon Lance Armstrong is arguably the most famous case of a sporting suspension
In one of the most notorious doping scandals in sports history, Lance Armstrong received a lifetime ban from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2012. Consequently, the American cyclist, who had won the Tour de France seven years running between 1999 and 2005 after overcoming testicular cancer, saw all his major achievements erased from the record books.
Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson's meteoric rise to fame was nothing short of extraordinary, setting world records in the 100-metre and 60-metre sprints and clinching a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. However, his fall from grace was equally as dramatic.
Ben Johnson of Canada is set in his block prior to the start of the 100-metre Final at the 1988 Olympic Games
Ben Johnson was Canada's golden child prior to his drug cheat scandal
The Canadian sprinter tested positive for Stanozolol following those Olympic Games and confessed to previous steroid use. And it meant some of the most stunning results in athletics history were scrapped from the history books as a result.
Subsequently, Johnson was handed a two-year ban and stripped of his Olympic medal due to doping violations. Despite a brief return to the track in 1991, he was once again found guilty of doping just two years later, leading to a lifetime ban imposed by World Athletics.
Hansie Cronje
Hansie Cronje is presented with the BNZ One Day trophy Cup by Sir Richard Hadlee
Hansie Cronje was one of four South African cricketers banned for life in 2000
Hansie Cronje, the revered South African Test Cricket captain, was issued a lifetime ban from cricket in 2000. Cronje, along with Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom, was embroiled in match-fixing allegations, leading to the King Commission banning him for life from any cricket-related activities.
Despite appealing against his ban the following year, his plea was rejected and he remained barred from participating in the sport. Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002 at just 32 years old, with conspiracists alleging he had been killed to cover up truths behind match-fixing, as reported by The Guardian.
Chinese snooker stars
Li Hang plays a shot at the snooker table
Li Hang was handed one of the more severe suspensions in the recent match-fixing scandal
Snooker stars Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were implicated in a widespread match-fixing scandal that shook the sport in 2023. While eight other Chinese players, including 2025 World Snooker Champion Zhao Xintong, were suspended during the investigation, Liang and Li were found guilty of fixing matches, encouraging others to do the same and betting on their own games.
Consequently, they both received lifetime bans. Zhao, on the other hand, was handed a ban of one year and eight months, reduced from two-and-a-half years due to his early admission of guilt and plea.