It is fair to say that 2015 has been an horrendous year for sport. Between the International Association of Athletics Federations and Fifa scandals, confidence in the governing bodies that run global sport cannot be much lower.One scandal after the next has rocked both sports, and while the leadership of both have at least fallen, the likelihood of sudden change is slim indeed.The cancer runs too deep, which is why every aspirant successor, once exposed to the spotlight, has also been implicated.Like an aggressive version of the "six degrees of separation" game, it seems that everyone in those sports is only ever one degree away from some form of scandal or criminal activity, and they are the saintly ones!While it is currently the turn of athletics and football, don't forget that the IOC has already been through vote-rigging scandals, and cycling has had its share of doping corruption.There is no end in sight.Depressingly, like the rand, sports governance appears to be headed one way.On the home front mismanagement of the Kings rugby franchise has dominated the last part of the year, while the SA Olympic Committee has hinted at what is to come next year concerning their stance on our hockey teams.Meanwhile, both our football teams will, in all likelihood, go to Rio 2016, despite having the same, or even worse, opportunities to win medals.The selection and management of that Olympic team may be a dominant story in 2016.On the field, for South Africa fans, it has been a disappointing year as well, with defeats in the cricket and rugby World Cups, disappointment in cricket and rugby (both at the hands of New Zealand), and a generally mediocre year with a few shining exceptions, such as Wayde van Niekerk and Chad le Clos. Their exploits in Rio look set to be our highlights of 2016 on the global stage.Perhaps a new Springbok coach can insert some optimism, although he will inherit enormous transformation pressure, with SA Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins talking about it being top of the new coach's agenda.Fair enough, I've said that we have to get transformation right, not only for moral and social reasons, but for the sake of the performance of our national team. Why take on the world with only 40% of our potential arsenal?The problem is we have shown no ability at all to get it right, and the Saru president's words do not suggest any change, other than renewed attention to a failing strategy or understanding.And therein lies the most frustrating aspect of this look back on the year. It feels it might have been written last year, too. And the year before that. I feel stuck in orbit, like a planet revolving eternally around a sun comprising bad sporting governance.That governance takes different forms. Never has it seemed as spectacular as when Fifa and the IAAF fell, but it dominates sport, particularly here in South Africa.Just a few weeks ago, at our annual sports awards, also known as the single greatest anti-high performance spending exercise in South Africa, SA Basketball was awarded the prize for federation of the year.Barely two weeks later its president, deputy and treasurer all resigned.And remember Athletics SA?Plunged into a crisis by the Caster Semenya controversy in 2009, they've gone through presidents and CEOs as though they were finance ministers, leaving behind a dysfunctional organisation.It remains a miracle, a testament to our natural talent and the hard work and commitment of a few volunteers, that we win even a single medal at global competitions.It paints a depressing picture. I remember once asking the hypothetical question: "If Michael Phelps were South African, how many Olympic medals would he have won?"He has already won 22 for the US. Let's hope the answer to that question by the end of 2016 is "10 or 11" and not the four or five I feel it is at the end of this annus horribilis...