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Match fixing in English football?

The_Steve

By The_Steve
in Other Football

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The_Steve Grand Master

The_Steve

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Six people have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into an international match-fixing ring targeting English lower league football matches. The suspects, thought to be held at a police station in the Midlands, reportedly include current players and the former Premier League footballer turned agent Delroy Facey.

 

The arrests, made by the new National Crime Agency over the past two days, mark the first time that police in the UK have amassed enough evidence to arrest those involved in seeking systematically to fix matches to make money in the vast illegal Asian betting markets.

"Six men have been arrested across the country as part of an NCA investigation into alleged football match fixing. The focus of the operation is a suspected international illegal betting syndicate," said the NCA on Wednesday night. "The NCA is working closely with the Gambling Commission and the Football Association. This is an active investigation and we are unable to provide further detail at this time."

 

The arrests are believed to relate to non-league football and follow an undercover investigation by the Daily Telegraph that suggested fixers from Asia were targeting matches in Britain. In a series of covert conversations recorded by the newspaper over the past fortnight one of the arrested individuals claimed that lower league matches could be fixed and correctly forecast the outcome of three games played by the same team. It quoted him as saying the price for fixing a match in England was £50,000.

 

Over recent years an epidemic of match fixing has been uncovered in European football. Largely fuelled by unregulated betting markets in Asia, the ease and speed with which bets can be placed over the internet and mobile phones and the globalisation of crime, sport and betting, arrests have been made across the continent. In February Europol said it was probing 380 suspicious matches in co-operation with police forces across five countries. Recently attention has turned to Asian gangs thought to be targeting lower league matches in England, with millions of pounds wagered on a single non-league tie.

 

According to international betting monitors, some nondescript non-league matches were attracting as much money as a Barcelona game. The fixers are thought to focus on the goals scored market, betting on a minimum number of goals and bribing teams or players to concede.

Earlier this year UK bookmakers stopped taking bets on matches featuring AFC Hornchurch, Billericay Town and Chelmsford City due to integrity concerns. In March the FA told all the Conference South clubs "to remind their players and officials of their responsibilities under the betting and integrity rules of the FA". But the FA was criticised for not doing more to investigate the issue.

 

In Australia, four British players who spent part of last season with clubs in the Conference South have been arrested and charged for alleged fixing in the Victoria Premier League this year. They have been suspended by Fifa and are due in court later this month.

 

An FA spokesman said on Wednesday night: "The FA has been made aware of a number of arrests in relation to an NCA investigation. We have worked closely with the authorities in relation to these allegations. The FA will make no further comment at this time due to ongoing investigations."

The Football League's chief executive, Shaun Harvey, said it had not been contacted over the investigations. "The threat of corruption is something the Football League and other football authorities treat with the utmost seriousness. The integrity of our matches and our competitions is the bedrock of the domestic game."

 

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briny_ear Veteran

briny_ear

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DJ Cambell has just released a statement saying that he is 100% innocent and hopes to be booked in the forthcoming draw at Milwall
Fixed for you ;)
if you said that to his face, he'd punch you for it - as long as the ref was watching. Edited by briny_ear
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darrenm Rising Star

darrenm

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I know so far this is restricted to outside of the Premier League but for ages I haven't been able to get my head around how some things happen. Mainly refereeing decisions that defy all logic even accounting for human error.

 

Then sometimes players who get a booking or sending off for absolutely no reason. Everyone just assumed this was to get a week off or something previously but this shows that there may be more nefarious reasons.

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Jimzk5 Rising Star

Jimzk5

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Its been going on for yonks, didn't le tossier say in his book he used to bet on Southampton getting the first throw in in a game and then kick the ball out of play from the kick off

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chakal Newbie

chakal

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Its been going on for yonks, didn't le tossier say in his book he used to bet on Southampton getting the first throw in in a game and then kick the ball out of play from the kick off

 

yep, the best part was that he didn't manage to do it, cause his teammate intercepted the ball 

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BOF Grand Master

BOF

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Tranmere adopting the innocent until proven guilty approach. Oldham on the other hand have suspended a player without pay until a decision is reached. Must say I find Oldham's approach unsettling.

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Rovers13 Newbie

Rovers13

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Of course a Rovers player is involved, and of course it had to be one signed by former Baggie and the only manager who is more defensive than Alex mcleish, Michael Appleton. DJ Campbell can **** off. (Though I guess we can save on his bloated wages now? Hopefully)

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Zatman Grand Master

Zatman

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not England but a huge name mentioned in Italy and this would surprise me as wouldnt see him involved in it 

 

 

Gennaro Gattuso has responded to allegations of match-fixing in a fairly forthright manner. The former midfielder has said he will “kill himself” in the city square if he is found guilty. He has insisted he has nothing to hide.

The Daily Mail reported Gattuso’s emotional comments.

One of the four men arrested in the case, Francesco Bazzini, alleged to be the link between Serie A players and foreign bookmakers, was revealed to have texted Gattuso 13 times. However, according to James Horncastle, Gattuso never once responded to any of the texts.

‘After all, my life would be meaningless from that point on. I would not have the courage to look anyone in the eye. I say that from the heart ‘In my life, I have never sat down with anyone to fix games, nor have I ever thought to, as I wouldn’t even know where to start..I don’t even play five-a-side football with my friends because I can’t stand losing. This matter is absurd and unbelievable. I don’t know what they want from me. I don’t know what match-fixing is. I am angry and offended. I do not want to have this stain on my career and my character.’

“The case of Gattuso is the one that has grabbed the headlines. If you look at the fine print and the details about this, one of the people who was arrested last night basically texted Gattuso 13 times. Gattuso never once replied and the prosecutors want to understand what, if any, relationship he had with this guy who has been implicated.”

 

Gattuso himself has stressed this point.

‘The phone records show Bazzani sent me 13 text messages. They will, therefore, also show I never replied to any of them.

This man knows half of Serie A, he came to the Milanello gates like many hundreds of others.

He was a  bookmaker in Bologna, but I never talked about fixing games.

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