What MLS does to combat match fixing
Ms. Eisenmenger is becoming one of my favorite soccer writers. She is pulling together great articles during the off-season. This included.
3 months ago
Kejsare
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Interesting reactions at BigSoccer
I was sitting in the members stand at a KC game last year, next to a guy and his buddy. His buddy was into the game and chanting right along. The though was just standing there watching the game and talking to his bluetooth all night accept halftime. Asked his buddy why he was talking on his phone and even bother going to games. Turns out he was on the phone to dubai or some place like, with a bookmaker giving play by play so they could move the line faster. Appearently he does this full time as his job and he goes to all kinds of games to do the same. Whether or not this goes towards match fixing it does show that foreign bookmakers have an interest in MLS.
I remember a couple of years ago I was contacted through these boards to go to Revs games and basically do exactly that. They would have bought my season ticket, but I would have made no actual money from it. I never bothered responding so I don’t know the details.
I wanna say he’s on the phone to India, if I remember right he started doing that because of our signing of Chhetri. I noticed it because it was right after I’d read Hill’s book.
There was a guy who did this at Austin Aztex games. I was shocked that anybody cared.
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1898244
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
Is there any evidence at all that any MLS matches have ever been fixed?
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
When I write, I write for the Timbers. Contributing Editor of Stumptown Footy
by Andrew Wheeler on Feb 12, 2012 11:09 PM PST reply actions
I don't think so
But the allegations that some players feed info on injuries, etc., to bookies is alarming. That might not be match fixing but it certainly seems like a conflict of interest to me. Hopefully those players are no longer in the league.
That's what she said.
by yepyou'reright on Feb 12, 2012 11:12 PM PST up reply actions
No
However there have been players feeding information about injuries and such.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
Highest profile gaffe was one referee accepting a jersey from Blanco
Conflict of interest more than anything there. Seems to be a common practice in other countries.
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
Sad thing is
Most of the time it just makes me wonder about the ineptitude of the Ref’s…. Which is why match-fixing is so hard to pinpoint unless you are following the gambling money looking for irregularities.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
Referees are usually involved in match fixing
so it’s not so much their ineptitude as their corruptibility. It’s easier in soccer to let things slide than it is in most sports, so if someone says to a ref “hey man here’s $25K to let Team A win” or whatever, it’s easy to not call anything but the most blatant foul on Team A, because there’s so much leeway in what constitutes a foul in soccer.
I agree
Refs are usually the target in match-fixing but I was pointing out that it is hard to determine that the “fix is on” with Refs because of some of the refs are inept.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
On one hand, it feels like progress that bookies care about MLS
On the other hand danger lurks, particularly with some of the lower paid athletes in MLS. It sounds like MLS is taking it very seriously and is doing a lot to educated players and strongly discourage temptation. All leagues in any sport must do this. However, raising the salary cap would do a lot to discourage temptation too.
That's what she said.
by yepyou'reright on Feb 12, 2012 11:10 PM PST reply actions
I think the lower levels, not MLS, are ripe for the picking.
But MLS is high enough profile to be a target. And as the above anecdotal evidence suggests, they’re onto MLS.
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
I think MLS is lower level in the eyes of international bookies and gamblers.
by P Town Player on Feb 12, 2012 11:49 PM PST up reply actions
Which makes it a great target.
However, the US has a lot of gambling monitors in place.
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
I don't make that much money
but I make more than at least a third of the Timbers’ roster. Those guys have families, and bills, and the temptation to make a quick buck will always be there as long as that is a case.
It definitely exists.
wherever there is money there is motivation to do something. The extent of it happening is the real question. When players are only making 40 grand a year there will always be good motivation. Until the salaries are higher than the fixing money it will exist to some extent.
culture
is an important factor as well. the places listed in the article are all places where corruption and bribery are part of everyday life. also, the financial ramifications to promotion/relegation are huge…for example, last game of the season – one team is secure in second and assured promotion to the top flight, the other needs 3 points to avoid relegation to the football netherlands, the two owners are good friends who have got where they are (in business) through breaking the rules to their advantage…its not just the gamblers.
i think that american culture is one of the most pro-active when it comes to bribery and corruption (it happens, but its frowned upon and we punish those caught) and that works to our advantage, all of our american players grew up in a cultural system where its not okay to throw a game, can’t say the same for a kid from africa, central america, or mediterranean europe.
by #1 Leverage Fan on Feb 13, 2012 8:01 AM PST reply actions
The article addresses it, but only slightly.
Watchdog organizations cite MLS as a league that could be particularly susceptible to manipulation because of its increasing prestige and telecast distribution, low salaries, and churn of international players entering and leaving MLS on brief contracts, some only a few months long.
Points to those coming in, but doesn’t continue that thought.
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
relegation
I recall hearing that maintaining top flight status was worth more to many clubs than making it to Champions League. A good parallel is sumo wrestling, which also has a promotion/relegation scheme. In sumo, wrestlers who are not going to make the finals but are not in any threat of relegation will often throw the game to wrestlers who are threatened with relegation. Freakonomics did a piece on this, if I recall.
Promotion/relegation has different mechanics in soccer than sumo, but I wonder, if you did a bit of number crunching there what you would see.
by skenjis on Feb 13, 2012 2:03 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Meanwhile, in the Zurich office of FIFA's Early Warning System...
…..Scott Foster…
….Scott Foster…
…Scott Foster…
‘“What is’ zis “Scott Foster” alarm keeeps setting off for?
I believe he is referring to
Scott Foster of the NBA. Who called goaltending on the last play of regulation from half court on Aldridge.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
We have a winner.
NBA Commissioner David Stern a member of the “3 Monkeys School of Corruption Investigation.” David Stern trusted every word the NBA ref Tim Donaghy said until the FBI caught him red handed fixing game in the the middle of FBi organized crime sting…
…until Tim Donaghy said there were a half-dozen other NBA refs, including Scott Foster fixing games too.
then David Stern said nothing Tim Donaghy said could be trusted.
David Stern
Is best buds with Seppy Blatt
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
The Economist delves deep into Chinese soccer, from Dec 2011
http://www.economist.com/node/21541716
In 2001
"I was shocked," Geely’s chief, Li Shufu, told the media. "For a match, bribes of one million, two million yuan [$120,000-240,000] were offered, and not a single football official or referee ever got caught."
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
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