The recent match-fixing scandal has disappointed many. But it is a menace that has affected several sports, in many countries, and over several hundred years
Mahatma Gandhi had rightly said that the earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed. It appears that money and wealth fuel the desire for more money and more wealth. little else explains why some cricketers who are already raking in the moolah (they are surely making more than the average public servant) have been caught with their pants down trying to make yet another quick buck.
I must add that it is not really the work of the police to apprehend sportsmen who are indulging in cheating and in the process, ruining the public’s trust in the game. That is the work of the organisations which manage the game. In fact, it is the sports’ bosses, who effectively treat the game as their personal fiefdom, that are responsible in this case.
The stink of match-fixing at the Indian Premier league first emerged from the Rajasthan Royals team but has now engulfed others as well, and also spread across the country as bookies and others continue to be arrested. But then again, such rackets are not just confined to India; they have been unravelled the world over.
In 2010, Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were found guilty of spot-fixing a match against England and were handed a prison sentence by a British court. The trio had conspired to bowl no-balls at predetermined times in the game.
Other cricketers who have been involved in match-fixing include Mervyn Westfield, an English county player who represented Essex and was recently sentenced to jail for accepting £6,000 to underperform in a match against Durham in 2009. Marlon Samuels (West Indies) was also found guilty of match-fixing in 2008 for disclosing information about his team’s tactics. He was banned for two years from all formats of the game.
Back in 2000, Hansie Cronje (South Africa) was convicted of fixing one-day international matches against India. The police intercepted and released transcripts of a conversation between the South African captain and a bookmaker that implicated them of rigging matches. A court of inquiry was set up and Cronje admitted to throwing away matches. He was immediately banned from all cricket by the South Africa Cricket Board.
Cronje also took down with him two other prominent South African players, Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje. Saleem Malik of Pakistan was also found guilty ,and so were India’s Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. All were banned from the game for different lengths of time.
At the time of the ‘Cronje-gate’ scandal, Azharuddin was one of India’s top players. His record of leading the Indian team to 103 ODI victories remains un-matched. However, his reputation was dealt a serious blow after it came out that he was the main person who introduced the bookies to Cronje. A CBI inquiry followed and in 2000, Azharuddin was banned from cricket for life by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
However, the point to be made here is that gambling pre-dates recorded history, and there has been evidence of such ‘match- fixing’ over the centuries. At the ancient Olympic Games, there were allegations galore of athletes accepting bribes to lose a competition, and of city-states trying to manipulate the outcome of a game with large amounts of money. These activities went on despite the oath each athlete took to protect the integrity of the events and the severe punishments that were sometimes meted out to those who were caught. Chariot racing, especially, was dogged by fixing allegations throughout its history.
In the modern age, match fixing in football, for instance, is particularly common. In 2011, Turkey convicted more than 30 players and staff for game fixing. In South Korea, more than 50 soccer players have been indicted and 10 players given life bans. In Finland, two Zambian players have been convicted and more than a dozen people are under investigation.
Other investigations are continuing in China, El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Thailand, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. In February, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association banned 74 officials and players for fixing matches in Italy and South Korea.
The first case of match-fixing in modern sports seems to have occurred in 1915 during a match between Manchester United and liverpool, which was fixed in the former’s favour. ManU won 2:0 and avoided relegation. Yet another major match fixing incident in Europe concerned Finnish football matches. One team, Tampere United, was suspended indefinitely from Finnish football for accepting payments from a person known for match-fixing, according to the BBC.
Other cases of match-fixing include the ‘Zheyun Ye’ case in Belgium 2004-2006, the Italian football scandals of 2005-2006, the ‘Apito Dourado’ Golden Whistle affair in Portuguese football in 2004, the Hoyzer and Bochum scandals in Germany, the arrests of 71 people involved in a soccer match-fixing scandal in Poland in 2007, and the Greek match-fixing scandal of 2011.
Clearly, India is in good company. Also, the 27 European Union member states are not the only ones affected by match-fixing. The universal nature of this problem is illustrated by other cases such as the Brazilian football match-fixing scandal of 2005 and the sumo wrestling competition scandal in Japan in 2011.
The integrity of horse racing as a sport also remains an ongoing concern, gambling is an integral part of that sport. Recent allegations of race fixing have centred around the newly formed ‘exchanges’ which, unlike traditional bookmakers, allow punters to lay an outcome (that is, bet against a particular runner). In essence, the names, places and dates do change but the problem of match fixing continues unabated. It is just that what is now proved, was only imagined in the past.
Thus, it may be said that the situation in India is no better or worse than elsewhere. It is no use making bold statements, if those will not be followed up by action. It serves no purpose to breast-beat and express frustration. Instead, on must preempt the problem and make the cost of match fixing prohibitive.
The BCCI must spend at least five per cent of its profits and earnings on vigilance and anti-corruption measures, so that the people of India do not feel swindled and cheated.
As someone once rightly said, “Extra miles, extensive preparation and exhaustive efforts usually show astonishing results.”