EXCLUSIVE BY TONY MARIADASS
THE Covid 19 pandemic could
well see a different disease, one which is considerably more dangerous – match
fixing – resurfaces again when the M-League finally resumes.
The FA of
Malaysia, Malaysian Football League (MFL), States FAs, clubs and authorities
must remain extra vigilant and nip any such attempt in the bud.
It's no secret
that in the past Malaysian football was heavily plagued by rigging of matches
mainly because of late payment of players' salaries, low wages and on occasion
players living the high life.
With pay cuts
being the hot topic presently due to the temporary suspension of all Malaysian
football tournaments because of the Covid 19 pandemic, and with several clubs
yet to settle outstanding payments to players, the recipe for match-fixing to
rear its ugly head is on the cards yet again.
Of course, present
day players earn much more but there are still teams surviving on low budgets
with some players being paid well below what they are worth which brings about
rumblings due to disparity of wages among the players in the team.
How can we forget
the blow Malaysian football suffered when an investigation in 1994 resulted in
a total of 21 players and coaches being sacked, 58 players suspended and a further
126 questioned about corruption?
Contrary to the many who
choose to sweep the match-fixing problem under the carpet and opt believe that
it has been completely eradicated from Malaysian football, it is no secret that
the problem still exists and will continue to do so as long as there is illegal
betting on football matches. Maybe not as rampant as previously but it
still exists, as has surfaced on occasions.
A majority of
officials will side-step the subject when brought up, but the bolder ones who
have nothing to hide and only have football's interest at heart, as was a
recent case when club team's coach raised the issue. Not surprisingly he was
quickly shown the exit soon, despite some players being hauled up by the
authorities
NST Sports, in a
bold effort to try and get rid of the match-fixing menace, has held an
exclusive interview with English coach, Steve Darby, who coached several teams
in Malaysia from the late 90s up to seven years ago. Darby talks about his
personal experience and gives his suggestions on how to combat this menace.
Darby, who turned 65 on Jan 15, is a well-known football
pundit in Asia but is currently back in Oxton Wirral
(opposite Liverpool) looking after his 88-year-old mother. “My mother is not
doing well, so it was time for me to come home and do the right thing, and with
the current corona virus situation, it was indeed the right thing to do.”
“Match-fixing is not a black and white issue. It’s very
complex and not easy to understand. But I fully agree with Declan Hill, author
of 'The Fix’, and an expert on the subject when he said "it is the
greatest threat to sport that exists. But a few salient points have to be
stated first.
1. It’s not a recent phenomenon, it was
happening in the 1900s e.g. Liverpool and Manchester United.
2. It effects every country including
England, Italy, Spain, Germany, as well as the Asian continent.
3. It’s driven by gambling, especially
Asian gamblers. Online gambling causing a boom.
4.There are many reasons why people fix
and there are many ways on how to fix.
I played and began to coach in England
and Australia and a major feature was that it was pre-internet and hence no
online gambling. This made me believe, rather naively, that when I first
encountered the match-fixing menace in South East Asia, that it was a straight
forward black and white issue. You were either a cheat or you were not.
I first encountered match-fixing (I
think!), while coaching Johor FA. I was walking off the pitch at half-time and
a foreigner from the other team said “you’re going to win 2-0 …” and I asked
how do you know? He replied: “I can understand Bahasa!” Sure enough, we scored
in the 84th and 89th minutes, so no time for a
third and they 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.
In another match that my team won, I
noticed during the game, and this was confirmed on video, their goalkeeper
never made any major blunders (the good fixing keepers don’t) but was slightly
out of position and any save he made was palmed back into dangerous areas.
An honest Malaysian player explained some
of the realities, or if you prefer, the complexities of the subject. He told me
you will get a call, and the caller will mention the amount of your salary and
knows if you have or have not been paid. The bookies have access to all
confidential information, it’s their business to be in the know. For example,
they know you earn RM3000 a month and maybe 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 takes 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.
Again my naivety kicked in. I innocently 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 is very easy to take the
moral high ground, but there are situations where players close an eye to their
principles.
This summed up the most realistic issue
for me. Why should an often uneducated player have these wonderful ethics and
values, when the Police, politicians and administrators, who are meant to be
pillars of our society are often corrupt. But 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 v 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 e.g. a red card in the second half. You can win and still make money! It
almost compensates for the immorality.
My last coaching role was with the Laos national
team for the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. After the qualification was over and I
had left, four of my team players were banned for life. Two I had suspicions
of, but they were easily in the best eleven and trained well and played well in
the World Cup matches. But apparently they earned their money in friendlies.
Usually away from home so there was less pressure of exposure on them.
The other two I would have put my
house on being honest, I would now be homeless! Though I am convinced one is
still innocent and sadly the fixers who are well known in Laos football are
still free and operating.
A
trusted player said to me: “Coach think about it, we don’t get paid to be in
the national team, some even lose money. We are on about US$200 a month from
our club. We go into a match knowing we will lose as the other team is better
so we may as well lose by a set score.”
It’s
a logic, a different cultural logic, but if it means they buy their mother a
house, they justify it. Or the less altruistic ones buy a car.
How
do we stop this menace?
Sadly,
I think it will never be stopped while there is money to be made by somebody
somewhere. All I think you can do is reduce the incidents.
These
measures will help:
· Pay the players on time. Poverty is the best
avenue for the bookies to exploit. That is a big problem in Malaysia. I
experienced that in Perak when the new state government stopped paying the
players.
· Education
programmes in schools/academies. It’s too late when players are full professionals.
The fixers are now going after youth players as they are cheap and you have
them for life. An AFC representative came to my national team, said the right
things and left a shiny leaflet with hotlines for whistle-blowers. After the
session there were 22 paper aeroplanes flying about. The pamphlet was in
English; the players couldn’t understand or read English so the education has
to be locally driven.
· If
someone is genuinely guilty and fixed for pure greed, then bans must be for
life from all forms of the game. Not allowed back as a coach or an
administrator.
·
Legalise
gambling in Malaysia with the profits going to the poor, or to Youth
development. This would at least eliminate a percentage of money going out of
football. I suggested this in Malaysia, I was hammered by the zealots! But no
one is made to gamble, just as no one is made to drink beer, but you can
legally buy beer. And let’s be honest, all races in Malaysia are gambling!
·
Catch
the Big Boys, the money men.
Though perhaps that's my naivety kicking
in again.”
Steve
Darby’s coaching details
Darby obtained his UEFA A Licence in 1979. He
became an official FIFA Instructor for the Oceania region in 1981 and AFC
Instructor 1998 and was Technical Director for the Australian Soccer Federation
between 1990–1995.
He then moved on to coach Sydney Olympic, but left
in 1998 to coach Johor FA, where he enjoyed a successful spell, winning
Malaysia FA Cup and league title. He left the club in 2001 to take charge of
the Vietnam women's team, whom he led to a gold medal in the 2001 SEA Games.
The first ever Gold medal for Vietnam in Football.
After that, he was appointed youth team coach for
Sheffield Wednesday FC under Terry Yorath, but remained there only for a season
before taking over the reins at Singapore'sHome United. In his four-year tenure
as Home United boss, Darby led them to a league and cup double in 2003 and also
a semi-final spot in the 2004 AFC Cup. Also winning the Singapore Cup in 2005.
At the end of his Home United contract, Darby was
heavily linked to the vacant India manager's post. However, he did not take up
that job, choosing instead to join Perak despite having offers from two other
Malaysian clubs and a Vietnamese club.
He led Perak to the Super Cup in 2005, a second
spot in the league 2006–07 season and to the Malaysia Cup final in 2006 and an
AFC quarterfinal. It was the furthest a Malaysian club had gone in Asian
Competitions at that time.
In October 2008, he was appointed as Thailand coach
and worked together with Peter Reid who was appointed Thailand Manager in
August. He would stay on as coach to the newly appointed Bryan Robson and as
the U-23 Team Coach, after previous coach Peter Reid left to become Coach at
Stoke City. In 2012, he spent a year as a coaching consultant in Asia for EPL
club Everton and as a football advisor to the Manipur government in India.
In September 2013, Darby was appointed as Coach for
Kelantan FC in the Malaysian Super league (MSL) He was familiar with Malaysian
football as he previously coached Johor and Perak. He coached Mumbai FC in 2014
in the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) including players such as Nikolas
Anelka, Freddie Ljungberg and Manuel Friedriche.
In 2015, he was appointed as Technical Director of
the Laos Football Federation and later as National Coach preparing for the 2018
World Cup Qualifiers. In this time Laos obtained its first World Cup points and
its highest ever FIFA ranking.
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