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Match Fixing “Can’t Happen Here”? What Makes Scottish Football So Special?

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This week has brought a lot of old arguments back to the fore.

We haven’t had them as much over the past few years because we were the only show in town, but there are issues now.

Part of this is jealousy, and the desperation of our rivals, to ensure we don’t win a treble, so we can be labelled failures and maybe provoke a crisis. All this to try and even it up with our poor relations

But lets not go over that … let’s examine how it links with what James has said this week about the corruption in the game.

It does exist.

Of course it does.

Lets look at some examples.

Spain: Un-Real Decisions, Match Fixing And A History Of State Aid.

Take Spain. Everyone in world football sees that Real Madrid get decisions in Spain (James discussed Europe, but it’s even more blatant at home) that simply would not happen to any other club. When Jose Mourinho was in charge and he tried his “everybody is against us” routine even Real fans laughed at him.

On top of that, it’s an established fact that Real Madrid got “state aid” when they sold their training ground to the City of Madrid for a grossly inflated sum of money.

Madrid are, without dispute, Spain’s “establishment club”, but they weren’t even alone in the “state aid” scandal. Four other clubs, including Barcelona, had to pay millions back to the taxpayer, and in fines.

Spain is being rocked right now by a match-fixing scandal … it involves lower league (tier three) club Eldense, who have already sacked a dozen of their players because of it. Their corruption came to light this season, when Barcelona’s youth side annihilated them 12-0 … it was 8-0 at half time. The chairman had harboured suspicions before that match, but after it he took action, reporting the matter to governing bodies and the police.

It’s not the first time this has happened in Spain; the country has been periodically rocked by these allegations, going back years. A game in 2011 was the subject of a police inquiry after Real Zaragoza players were alleged to have bribed Levante players to lose an end of season game which kept them in La Liga. A number of high profile footballers, included ex Hearts midfielder Miguel Pallardo, were caught up in that one. A more recent claim involved an investigation into Real Vallecona players and their betting habits, prior to a 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad in May last year.

Then there are the tax cases involving a number of high profile players, talk that a massive doping scandal lies buried amongst blood collected already but never proper analysed … and it goes on and on and on.

It’s not “accepted” but it is known.

But it “can’t happen here”?

England: A Game Run By One Man … And A Recent Court Case That Proved Everyone’s Worst Fears.

There’s a perception in England that whoever the big team is at the time they get decisions, but how true is it?

Once upon a time, it certainly was; it was Man Utd for years, as Alex Ferguson had the ear and the fear of every official in the game down there.

Fergie Time, anyone?

Even our very own Hugh Keevins once said. “The game in England is controlled by one man.”He meant Fergie.

That was not accepted, but it was known enough that the media talked about it.

There are other examples in England, and these are not simply speculative but stone cold facts.

There was the enormous match-fixing scandal in 1963, which saw 33 players prosecuted, with some jailed, in relation to match-fixing covering at least four – and probably many more – games. This was viewed, at the time, as the tip of the iceberg.

Unusual betting patterns saw an investigation into a game between Accrington Stanley and Bury in 2008, at the end of which five players were banned from the game for varying lengths of time, four from Accrington and one from Bury after all had bet on Stanley to lose the match, which they duly did, by 2-o.

And that was nothing on the scandal which erupted in 2013, and resulted in criminal convictions for a number of footballers including Delroy Facy and Michael Boetang. The case was allegedly tied into a wider investigation, covering numerous other nations including Italy and Germany, and which involved Champions League games including one involving Liverpool. The Europol case, called Operation VETO, was the largest of its kind thus far.

But it “can’t happen here”?

The Italian Job: 2006 And The Case That Nearly Sunk Serie A.

In Italy, it was proved, beyond doubt, in court, that Juventus officials, players and managers had been cheating for years. Fans of rival clubs had been alleging it for long enough. They were punished and when it happened everyone knew it was right. But they weren’t the only ones involved, although the punishment they recieved was by far the greatest. They were stripped of two league titles – one of which was assigned to Inter Milan – and relegated from the league.

In addition, AC Milan eventually recieved a 30 point deduction and had to play a match behind closed doors; Fiorentina was excluded from the 2006-07 Champions League and ordered to play two matches behind closed doors; Lazio were told to play two games behind closed doors and kicked out of the 2006-07 UEFA Cup and Reggina were fined and their chairman was banned from football for 2 1/2 years.

That scandal eventually swelled to claim media scalps, chiefs of the Italian FA and a number of match officials. It is one of the biggest scandals of its kind in the history of European football, and a lot of people are convinced that other clubs, Inter included, were as deeply involved in it as those which were disciplined.

It was not the first scandal in Italy either; a comprehensive list of all the individuals and clubs linked with scandals there – including the notorious 1980 match-fixing case which sent Milan and Lazio down a division – that it would take an age to compile it.

Controversy and allegations of corruption have surrounded that league, and certain clubs in it, especially Juventus, for decades.

All of this is known.

But it “can’t happen here”?

The German Match-Fixing Scandals Of 1971 And 2005.

Two major scandals, at least, have rocked football in Germany, one in 1971, involving players, officials and six teams, and another in 2005, which involved lower tier games (and some in the German cup) being fixed by a referee, Robert Hoyzer, was reported to the league by four other refs after they witnessed a series of baffling decisions in his games.

He was nabbed, and quickly decided that the best way to beat prison was to name names, and he implicated a number of other refs, club officials and players, as well as lifting the lid on the Croatian gambling syndicate which had organised it all … a £2 million scam that involved more than a dozen games.

That scandal proves, definitively, that refs can make a lot of money on the side, and that corruption doesn’t have to involve allegiances to any particular team.

All of this is known.

But it “can’t happen here”?

Betting Syndicates And A Global Problem … Anywhere But Scotland?

Betting syndicates are out there. Criminal ones too. We know they exist, they are betting on anything to make money, they are looking to influence anyone they can if it tilts the odds in their favour amd they would be perfectly willing to sweeten the pot by exploiting political, religious or team prejudice, and in some ways this would probably save them a lot of cold, hard cash.

Imagine, late on in the game on Sunday, Celtic – undefeated in domestic competition – are 2-1 up and its 14/1 for the game to finish a draw …

Is it really beyond the realms of possibility that the match could be swung the way certain people want it?

This is a global problem, and refs have often been at the centre of it.

In 2004, in South Africa, 19 of them were arrested on match-fixing charges. Two were arrested in Brazil in 2005.

Two enormous pan-European scandals have been investigated and dealt with in the last ten years; the 2009 scandal which affected 200 games in 9 different countries and the enormous Operation VETO investigation involving 380 plus games across 15 nations, and where indictments were issued to over 400 officals, players and organised criminals.

All this is accepted. All this is fact.

But it “can’t happen here”?

We Know It Happens. And It Can Happen Here.

Now I am not accusing anyone of anything at all, what I am saying is these things exist and by definition they are a risk and we must accept that there is a chance.

But our football governance is not fit for purpose and our press dismisses and ignores it.

We know players have been involved in betting. We know some have bet on their own games. There is undoubtedly more.

Yet when its brought up, especially by Celtic fans, its deflected as paranoia.

Some Celtic fans do believe this has anti-Celtic roots, but even when that is never mentioned, it is still brought up and dismissed.

As James said, this is a red herring.

To dismiss and ridicule all concerns as mere “paranoia”, that’s what people do when they don’t want to or can’t answer points.

Its a form of bullying and manipulation.

We must ensure this is talked about as much as possible, it is the only way it can be dealt with.

This article was written by Dave Campbell, with additional research by James Forrest.

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