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Many unanswered questions in blues match-fixing scandal

Date: 23 October 2006

Niyaz (R) instructing players during the clash between Home United in Male'. It is said that the agents tried to fix the score of this match to 4-0, but New Radiant won it by 5-3
...after the first goal which was scored in the 47th minute, the whole team’s formation changed from the classical 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 allowing the opposition to penetrate more.

Match fixing has never been a new concept for the Maldivians as it has been widely practiced through out the country. But the type of match fixing new radiant faced was completely new and I guess the officials of New Radiant were deeply shocked by the power and deepness of the act.

Maldivesoccer.com managed to get in depth views and some minor details of some of the events that occurred in the match fixing scandals.

Match fixing is a very common issue in Singapore, Malaysia and in Thailand Leagues. Annually these countries spent over 115 million US dollars on illegal betting and the authorities are trying to counter this problem.

So here’s how the theory worked…

A small country like Maldives and a club whose income is quite low came in to the main target when New Radiant went in to the semi finals of last year’s AFC Cup. The club came in to a focus of a lot of illegal betting gangs which are organized mainly by Mafia gangs.

So, everyone would be putting there money for the bets and a lot of cash would be going in to the betting system. Some times ranging from 7 million to 8 millions US dollars or more. Who would think a club like New Radiant who reached the semi finals of last year’s AFC Cup would be beaten by 6 goals. So the rate of betting for a score line of that would of course be very minimal.

An agent would then speak up with some of the officials and not with the players. As the rate of the news spreading through out the club would me much faster if a player knew about it. So to maintain the secrecy of the deal, they try to speak with the officials and through them they try to capture a high profile player.

So after getting a player they would explain about the deal and would offer a lump sum of money and some times offer a share of the bet as well. When every thing gets settled down, they put down there bet with the score line after checking the other bets.

Before the match those players who were offered the deal would not have a clue whether the bets are on or not. The player would know if the bet is on then a colored flag would be flown through the stadium indicating the bet is on. So it is up to the player to decide the game. And when the game is over, the player gets the money.

As far New Radiant is concerned, management was contacted regarding the inclusion of the club in the Singapore Pools Pvt Ltd. The leading company who deals with legal betting all over Singapore. From that instance the clubs were the talking point of the illegal betters.

From the accounts of some players and the comments made by the officials during the press conference, they came over to Male’ to see some of the players and get a better feeling of the situation.

They met with a former National team manager who gave them the phone numbers of some of the key players. It was believed that they contacted these players and were offered huge some of money ranging from US $4000-6000.

Later after the departure, the team left to Malaysia and were in a hotel. It is also believed that the agents or representatives were in the same hotel or to be precise in the same floor as the team. The agents met with the officials and it was seen some of the key players met these representatives quite a number of times. The officials as well had spoken with them. And from confirmed accounts of the players to Maldivesoccer.com it has been said that the agents proposed a sum of US$2000 for any goal that’s been allowed by the goal keeper and US$2000 for any penalty conceded by any player. They even tried to fix a score line of 4-0 against Singapore’s Home United team in Male’.

From some of the accounts by key players, one player was seen leaving in a van with one of the representatives on the same day as the match was played. The match was played at night and the player left in the evening.

So from the match fixing scandal it leaves a big question mark on who is saying the correct version of it. For sure looking at the match, some players for sure have been the main focus on it and it gives more weight to the proof from the actions of New Radiant management. And for sure it was also known that after the first goal which was scored in the 47th minute, the whole team’s formation changed from the classical 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 allowing the opposition to penetrate more.

From the news conference held in FAM by the management of New Radiant they expressed that they could not find much details about it, and it seems that officials of New Radiant also met with the representatives.

‘They only knew the names of the players. So some of our officials also changed our name and spoke on behalf of the players. They had no clue about it”

Singapore and Malaysian clubs are known for illegal betting and are very organized. In fact, it is so infamous that during Malaysia Cup matches, players and referees could be booed with chants of "kayu" and "kelong" from the crowd, "kayu" meaning play-acting, or in other words match-fixing. And in S League (Singapore’s league) very recently four foreign soccer players have been arrested over allegations of match-fixing in Singapore’s professional soccer league. With all of these illegal betting Singapore’s FA has also been using lie detectors to question the players and the officials.

So for tiny clubs in Maldives, where the players are offered very less salaries compared to the S-League and the Malaysian league, it would be very easy for these agents to drag in to. And since these agents are operated by Mafia the life of the players are also very much at risk. In one of the cases a foreign player in Singapore was also attacked by one of the gangs for not obeying the deal after he was been paid. As these deals are worth millions of dollars, the agents would not mind to do anything on return.

So the clubs in Maldives, the management should protect the players and officials from these kinds of activities while they are in foreign countries. Discipline is the key I guess.

There are many questions to ask FAM as well, being the governing body of our football they seems to be very quiet in this issue. New Radiant publicly stated many stories from their side about this match-fixing scandal and some of us curiously waits to hear something from FAM but we didn’t and why?

Is FAM trust New Radiant management and believe whatever they say? It seems so, as New Radiant management said they inform respective authorities about the case but once again no reaction from them. May be they did react but nothing was revealed to the people waiting outside the boundary, who really love and care our football.

Unidentified reactions like this from top authorities could lead to the fall of a sport we love so much. This is not a matter of money some gained (if they accepted bribery) but protecting and providing the beautiful game to the next generation.

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