A former bookie yesterday claimed he had suspectedfootball players could be throwing matches as bookies began giving oddson the games last year. The ex-bookie, who wanted to be identified as Lau, said bookies werewarned off giving "hang cheng" (handicapped odds) on local footballmatches in the mid 1990s, following the crackdown on match fixing bypolice and the Anti-Corruption Agency.
"Today (yesterday), I read in the newspapers that several players havebeen detained for match fixing and several more are being investigated. "I believe the numbers should be a lot higher than that, and that thereshould also be players from other teams besides Sarawak and Police. "I saw it coming a while back as I had noticed, since last year, thatlocal league matches and cup ties had been offered by the bookiestogether with the usual English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, ItalianSerie A, German Bundesliga and some others," said the businessman, in his50s.
He said the present situation was a little different from when he wasinvolved in illegal betting years ago, as the use of the Internet nowplayed a major role. "There is hardly any use of a `555' notebook anymore as most puntersrely on their notebook computers to access their betting accounts. "That means bookies no longer need to frequent coffeeshops or otherwatering holes to do business. "And I am not just talking about illegal betting accounts with illegalbookies as local soccer is now good enough to be offered betting odds byregistered or licensed international bookmakers."
Lau said recent checks on one of the betting websites owned by acompany, regulated and licensed by the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom,revealed handicapped odds being offered on the Malaysian FA Cupquarter-final matches. Meanwhile, Terengganu Football Association vice-president Shaikh AhmadTajuddin Shaikh Yusoff said enough irregularities in team performancesand results were found in almost every team competing in local leagues in the past few years to warrant investigation.
"But finding proof of match fixing was difficult. "The most we, in management and administration, could do to thesuspected players was to slap them with fines or suspension ontechnicalities or disciplinary grounds. "Then again, when it comes to match-fixing, we cannot just pointfingers at the players as the match officials could be on the take tomake decisions in favour of one team. "But without proof, all we can do is speculate," he said.
Shaikh Tajuddin said if some big clubs in European leagues andinternational players who earn big money could be found guilty ofmatch-fixing, it should not be difficult to think that local playerscould also succumb to temptation. "The key here is not to dangle a carrot in front of a horse. The bestway to avoid such circumstances in this case is by teaching players andmatch officials about the perils of match-fixing or better yet, bycompletely removing betting elements from the local games," he said.
By Christopher Raj; Alang Bendahara; Dennis Wong; Suganthi Suparmaniam
Published by NST : 26th April 2008
If the bookies really involved in local football, I bet they did the whole thing based on fixtures and final results only without even watching the game, which as you saw during your stint as Wisel Penamat guest, the whole 90 minutes are almost unbearable to watch. Who NST sent to cover for Selangor's game yesterday anyway? To quote: "Hardi Jaafar weaved his magic with a stunning goal in the 70th minute" when the actual fact is the goal was damn ugly, scored by Khairul Anuar Baharom in a goalmouth melee following a corner by Hardi. The picture of that goal can be seen at FAS official website at faselangor.my frontpage. Did you guys really watch the game or not? Haha
ReplyDeleteReceived this SMS from a person who after a very long time, braved himself to watch a Malaysian League match:
ReplyDelete"I just left halfway watching UPB-My Team vs Selangor, what a bore! and Selangor is top of the table"
Mister G, what your friend endure was nothing ler, on some Saturday Mr Raj here will be the guest at RTM, watch a full match, then talk/debate/discuss about that particular match for another one hour. Imagine the torture! Also judging by the time that show was aired live (12.30 past midnight), not sure how many people still tune in haha. That show itself in my opinion should be changed to something similar to ESPN's Final Score program, just show the goals, nobody wants to see a talk show at that ungodly hour
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr Amir. I always stay tune for Wisel Penamat, but just to see the results and goals, not the 'heavy' and unrealistic topic that we couldn't bear to watch on midnight.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing, don't ever expect much when you watching Malaysian League. I'm just tired of hearing somebody compared our C-rated AFC league (if i'm not mistaken) with high-profile league such as EPL. Just watch, cheer, booing, and let the ball rolling... Don't go beyond