THE Covid-19 pandemic could well see a different disease, match-fixing, resurfacing when the M-League resumes.
The bookies sense opportunities, and the powers that be must be vigilant to keep them at bay.
It’s no secret that non-payment and late salaries were contributing factors in Malaysian footballers having to rig matches for money in the past.
Now with clubs talking about pay cuts following the M-League suspension — even when some clubs still owe players their previous year’s salaries — match-fixing is bound to happen.
With low budget teams paying players well below what they are worth, the latter are vulnerable to cash-laced offers from match-fixers.
This has happened before. In 1994, a total of 21 players and coaches were sacked, 58 players suspended and another 126 questioned by police on football corruption.
It’s no secret that football corruption still exists in Malaysia, and will continue to fester for as long there is illegal betting.
Many M-League officials tend to side-step the sensitive issue but there are brave men who speak their mind, as was in a recent case when a club coach raised the problem of match-fixing. Not surprising, he was quickly shown the door, amid some players being hauled up by the authorities.
Englishman Steve Darby, 65, who had coached several Malaysian teams over the years, told Timesport in an exclusive interview he had come across football corrupters here.
Darby said he first encountered match-fixing while coaching Johor FA. He was walking off the pitch at half-time when a foreigner from the other team said, “You’re going to win 2-0.”
When Darby asked how did he know, he replied: “I can understand Bahasa.”
Sure enough, Johor FA scored in the 84th and 89th minutes, so no time left for a third goal, and the other team weren’t going to score.
“When you are winning, you don’t think about the fix. You think you are a great coach and winning,” admitted Darby.
“In another match that my team won, I noticed during the game, their goalkeeper never made any major blunders (the ‘good fixing’ keepers don’t) but he was slightly out of position and any save he made was palmed back into dangerous areas.”
MODUS OPERANDI
Darby said a Malaysian player once told him that he would get a phone call, with the caller mentioning the amount of his (Darby’s) salary, and whether he had been paid or not by his employer.
“The bookies have access to all confidential information, it’s their business to be in the know. For example, they know you earn RM3,000 a month and maybe (employer) are two months behind in wages. They offer you RM10,000 to help fix a result.
“You say no! Then they ask does your daughter still go to this school, or does your mum shop every Saturday at 10am?
“The player has little choice but to agree and take the money. You get it, but next time, and there is always a next time. you get offered less as they know you have nowhere to go.
“Also, as we saw a few years ago in Negri Sembilan, young players were targeted and once the bookies have them, they have them for life.
“I asked why not go to the FA or even the Police. It took the player a while to stop laughing before replying... you don’t know how high this goes and who is pulling the strings.
“Also, what do you do if your father is in debt with the bookies? Your daughter needs an operation? It’s very easy to take the moral high ground, but there are situations where players close an eye to their principles.
HEADS NOT ROLLING
“The sadder issue is that the players who are at the bottom of this food chain are often the ones caught and banned for life, whilst the players above, the runners and the fat cat money men at the top get away with it.
“There was a case in Perak where one of my players was approached by runners. He reported it to me, including photos of him with the runners. I reported this to our FA, and they, in turn, reported it to FAM. Nothing happened! PFA reported it to the Police, who interviewed me (not the player) and again nothing happened, despite photo evidence.
“Overall, I am convinced I have been involved in both winning and losing of 11 games. I am certain there must be more. Some are publicly confirmed such as Kelantan versus Ninh Binh in the AFC Cup when the Ninh Binh team were banned after the game. Others were confirmed in the book Kelong Kings by Wilson Raj Perumal, the renowned convicted fixer. He speaks about games he was involved in at international level but were fixed by referees.
“‘Buying’ a referee is a cheaper and easier way to arrange for a game to be fixed, and again there are solid rumours in Malaysia about who is ‘buying’ referees, but then again no proof. Though I have been shown video evidence of a bookie giving signals to a referee in a match, and this was reported but again nothing happened.
“The other naive view of match-fixing is that it is a win-lose scenario. Not with the Asian handicap system or simple spot fixing, for example, a red card in the second half. You can win and still make money! It almost compensates for the immorality,” he said.
Darby thinks that match-fixing can never be stopped but the cases can be reduced with the measures below.
• Pay the players on time. Poverty is the best area for bookies to exploit.
• Educate players against match-fixing at schools and academies. Match fixers go after youth players as they are cheaper and easier to corrupt.
• If a player is guilty of match-fixing out of greed, he must be banned for life from all forms of the game, not be allowed back as a coach or an administrator.
• Legalise football betting in Malaysia with the revenues going to the poor, or to youth development.
• Catch the big boys, the money men.