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Match Fixing in the Premier League


maqroll

Match Fixing  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. Do You Think Matches Are Fixed in the Premier League?

    • Definitely Yes
      1
    • Definitely No
      16
    • Probably Yes
      11
    • Probably No
      23


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Probably at some level or another yeah, not sure exactly how you'd go about it though. Too much money and not enough ethics in the game for there not to be if you ask me.

too much money is exactly why i think that there isn't any match fixing

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Probably at some level or another yeah, not sure exactly how you'd go about it though. Too much money and not enough ethics in the game for there not to be if you ask me.

too much money is exactly why i think that there isn't any match fixing
Cos of the potential risk? Fair enough point. Just seems to me that there's so much bending and outright breaking of the rules going on all the time that it wouldn't come as a surprise if some matches are fixed. Whether that be by bribing a ref, key player or whatever, I really don't know.

I do however find the official line that match fixing only happens in lower leagues or abroad pretty insulting, because if the implication is that the BPL is on some higher moral plane I've seen little evidence for it. Also, footballers seem to attract a lot of unpleasant characters/groups who'd have no problem doing them a "favour" in exchange for something else somewhere down the line.

No evidence mind you, just a hunch.

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Match fixing? No

Spot fixing? Yes

Fully agree with this.

Don't think players or managers do, or even can, influence entire results, but imagine a few key events in the game are bet upon by a few players, who are in a position to influence those events.

Especially when you can bet on time of the first corner, throw in, etc. I always wonder when I see a ball go straight for a throw or goal kick within a minute of the kick off.

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I would say a football match outcome can be "heavily tilted" in the direction of one team if you have bribed the referee and one or two players. as West says though it would seem that spot fixing would be much less complicated, less expensive and more lucrative.

 

the more people are involve the more expensive the bribes are for the match fixer and the more likely someone will defect to the authorities. for spot fixing, as compared to match fixing, you only need to bribe one player.

 

obviously the referee is the first target for match fixers. he can award penalties and send players off.  even so, the referee has to be careful he doesn't get a reputation for bias, making completely and obviously wrong decisions frequently etc. or he will be fired. so that limits the number of times a referee can fix matches.
 
Edit: The manager also is one to watch because he decides the formation, style of play, tactics and substitutions. 
Edited by Con
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I honestly think the referees integrity in the PL is very good and I wouldn't question them.  They make bad calls, for sure, but they'd never card someone intentionally for nothing, or give a penalty or free kick for money.

 

I'd say, as others have, that receiving a yellow or putting the ball out for a throw in etc would be far, far easier.  Also extra time, players can go down for nothing these days and if the ball is put out and they stay down for a few minutes, you could easily bet on 4 mins+ stoppage time in the first half and get quite a lot of money for that.

 

We know it's happened in the lower leagues (DJ Campbell etc), there's no reason players couldn't do it in the PL.

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why would a player who earns between £2m & 10m a year risk losing everything and all future earnings by taking a bribe of a few hundred grand or even a million.

 

thats why i don't think it happens in the premier league. footballers might be stupid, but they also like money and they know where the money comes from.

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It would be surprising if the league was squeaky clean, with that much money invested people will look to gain every advantage they can. 

 

It would not surprise me if clubs have systematic doping programmes to improve their training and rehabilitation. 

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Maybe I'm naive but no, I don't think anything as blatant as match fixing is going on in terms of the ref.

 

Referees are biased to teams, and make bad calls because of it. But I don't think it's explicit. It's just normal big club/home crowd/manager/player bias. And Ref's buckle to it.

 

But I don't think it's because they're being bribed or anything.

 

 

However, individual players being paid to try and influence the outcome of a match I'd say probably happens. Whether that's spot fixing or match fixing I'm not sure. But I bet that happens.

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Match fixing? No

Spot fixing? Yes

 

The problem is that a lot of media reporting confuses those two things. It's easier to do spot fixing, easier to hide and it can be a lot more lucrative than trying to fix the result of a match.  

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The only people who can notice spot fixing is the bookies.

 

Who would notice a midfielder trying to find the winger with a long ball and overhitting it for a throw.

 

But a bookie might notice that it's slightly unusual that someone has bet several thousand pounds on there to be a throw in the seventeenth minute. 

It's also risky to bet still - because in football there's 22 players out there, and to get odds worth the risk you need to be relatively precise about what happens when, and it might be that your player just doesn't get the ball in that spell, and able to influence it. The more people you bribe, the bigger risk of being accused, and the more money to pay out.

 

Spot fixing is generally seen (by those who do it) as not influencing the game at all. Look at Amir, the Pakistan bowler, who bowled no balls at specific times in the over. OK, he did too many and made them so obvious they were noticed, but his defence when he was found guilty was that it didn't affect the outcome of the match. But in a sporting world where margins are so fine, I don't think that's true. 

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Match fixing? No

Spot fixing? Yes

 

The problem is that a lot of media reporting confuses those two things. It's easier to do spot fixing, easier to hide and it can be a lot more lucrative than trying to fix the result of a match.

I guess players think it's pretty harmless too, because a lot of them are stupid.

I would really be shocked if there was match fixing, the players in the premier league earn a fortune, there really isn't any excuse.

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