---
title: My Take on CLRG's Cheating Scandal
date: 2022-10-05
tags:
  - clrg
---

This was originally part of my 
[technical analysis / explainer](2022-10-04-CLRG-cheating.html)
post,
but I've moved it here because it's just opinion.

---

Trees grow up *and* down. The part of the tree you can see is only half of the
organism: for every meter of Siberian Elm tree I can cut down, there's a meter
of Siberian Elm tree I need to dig out, and digging is way more work than
cutting.

I suspect that this racket is deep-rooted and widespread. I imagine the most
likely outcome will be a lot of social media posts, some funny T shirts, a few
resignations, maybe some people getting banned from events, and that's about it.
The only adjudicator this document proves is corrupt is the whisleblower who
sent in the screen shots. Even people named in these messages stand a decent
chance of escaping consequences, if they play their cards right.

Don't forget that you need a lot of certified adjudicators for things to run at
their current scale. They can't just fire everybody and start over: they need
their current instructors to train up new ones. And if this document is
representative, half of their current instructor pool is already compromised.
There's no way to ensure this scheme won't be a part of the new adjudicator
training.

Somebody is going to have to deliver a candid presentation to the board, or
whatever they have, about the reality here. The corruption is probably so deep
that they won't be able to take any significant action without destroying the
whole organization. And this is just going to embolden the bad actors.

After time passes, the presure from some of these intense and monied parents
I've met will resume, and everything will be back to the way it was before.
Sure, there will be some casting changes, but the system that's been built up
for years--possibly decades--is going to persist long after the furore dies
down.

We may, however, see a renewed interest in some of the smaller Irish Dance
organizations like CRN, who already seems to be making some moves.
