SPANISH FOOTBALL | MATCH FIXING IN LA LIGA ?

Sports betting is a multi-million dollar business. Betting on Football results, goals & what not drives thousands of punters into a betting frenzy every weekend in order to make a quick buck, pound or euro. It seems SPANISH FOOTBALL is not immune to the "side-effects" of a business which operates on the thin line between good & evil. 






Sad to read today that Spanish late-night Sports radio

Was the 1996 World Cup semifinal really fixed?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Vinod Kambli, who was left stranded in that infamous semifinal encounter which referee Clive Lloyd had to award to Sri Lanka against India at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in March 1996, has come up an interesting observation or if you call it an allegation more than 15 years later.

Left-handed Kambli, who watched from the non-striker’s end his illustrious colleagues fall in a heap in the most dramatic of fashions, has expressed suspicion over that particular game being fixed. It’s entirely up to you whether you disregard it as a publicity stunt or get some feeling in mind that indeed there was something terribly wrong.

The fierce reaction of the Indian captain, Mohammad Azharduddin, that has followed has probably alerted more people than it could have been if the charges were ignored. May be he thought of defending himself in the media because he holds a public office but that might also backfire.

But Kambli is talking about an era when every other match appeared to have been fixed. He has probably chosen to target the 1996 World Cup semifinal because he was there until the end, having broken into tears as well.

Azharduddin, who was known for his artistic stroke-play, has clarified his position by blasting Kambli and passing a few unkind remarks that were hardly needed.

It doesn’t matter if you believe in Kambli or Azhardduin but there had been instances in the past as well and not surprisingly they happened afterwards too when a few of the high-profile World Cup matches seemed to have been victimized or influenced by the outside forces.

Both the semifinals of the 1987 World Cup, in which co-hosts Pakistan and India got eliminated against the heaviest of odds, were alleged to have been fixed. The final of the 1999 World Cup at Lord’s also remained a subject of discussion for the wrong reasons for a long time.

Kambli’s specific allegations about the 1996 World Cup semifinal between Indian and Sri Lanka make some sense because of the presence of the some ‘suspicious’ elements in the ground and whose movement remained unchecked.

Not much could be done now. Neither the Scotland Yard nor the Police authorities of any other country can investigate in such matters having taking place some 15 years ago. It’s going to be next to impossible to discover any solid evidence to book a case against the culprits.

I am sure the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have more important things to do than to probe the matches of the past. They may loathe the idea of investigating a recent foul play, let alone an incident that occurred so many years ago.

It’s an open secret that match-fixing and spot-fixing have remained rampant in international cricket for ages and there are a number of matches that have appeared to have been manipulated in illegal manner.

There’s very little hope for the practice to be stopped but yes some strict measures can prevent the sport from becoming a farce.

Spot-fixing, match-fixing to continue despite ICC actions

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The recent decision on behalf of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to impose bans on the Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir has not come as any surprise.

Michael Beloff, Chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, and his tribunal took their time before finally announcing the decision in Doha on February 5. Obviously they appeared in no hurry in arriving at any decision that would cause any embarrassment for the ICC at any point of time.

It had become quite clear that the authorities had gathered evidence in some form or the other before suspending the three Pakistani cricketers earlier last year. They took their time in framing the charges and didn’t push for any hasty verdict either.

The question in everybody’s mind right now is whether the decision of the ICC to ban Salman, Asif and Aamir for 10, 7 and 5 years respectively will make the game absolutely clean from the malpractices that have ruined the image of the game for the last many year.

Different people have different answers to this but I don’t foresee any change in trend as a result of the recent ICC actions. Those who are into it in a big way will continue doing it because they don’t do it single-handedly or individually. They have the clout and the cover in the corridors of power.

Yes there’s a possibility that the odd adventurous guys planning to do it on their own to make a fortune overnight will be discouraged because they would fear jeopardizing their career if nabbed.

Match-fixing or spot-fixing, even the law-enforcers concede, cannot be eliminated. There are numerous reasons for this. The policing to the extent of monitoring each and every move of the cricketer on and off the field during the course of a match seems practically not possible.

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC has certainly succeeded in containing the number of fixed matches or there was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s that nearly each and every other game involving certain countries raised a lot of questions.

But we can understand that even the ACU of the ICC has its own limitations. Obviously it can’t track the movement of the all the international cricketers. Neither can it expand its operations beyond certain areas.

Since spot-fixing is even more difficult to detect there’s not much the authorities could do to prevent. But yes they can bring down the number of cases by giving exemplary punishment to those found guilt.

Talking about punishment just as the ICC doesn’t have any mechanism in place to take the umpires to task when they make the most ridiculous of decisions in the field to bring the game to disrepute, I don’t think they have the authority or the will power to question the affiliated members if they appear to be a party.

There have been instances when the fingers have been pointed towards the cricket boards but the ICC has had no option but to close its eyes on such matters. In such a compromising scenario only an idiot can hope for a better future for the game.