MATCH FIXING HERE TO STAY

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has always been a man of many words. From calling footballers "semi-educated" to voicing his disagreement over their high wages, the soccer supremo is not new to controversy. But none of his comments beats his failed attempt to convince the rest of the world that match fixing is a thing of Africa. When commenting about the recent match fixing scandal in Italy, he said, "I could understand if it had happened in Africa but not in Italy." What makes Mr. Blatter's comment ridiculous is the fact that not so long ago, a similar scandal rocked Germany.
To any neutral observer, the signs of match fixing are present in almost all European games. You just need to count how many penalty decisions favour the big teams. If that's not enough, check the amount of added time at the end of games where the big guns are losing or drawing. European football associations like to think their leagues are fair but they are not at all. Nothing about the modern game asks you or helps you to be fair. We might want to think that the numerous trophies that our clubs have gathered are a result of pure football geniuses but facts point elsewhere. Match fixing is real and is almost a necessary evil, atleast these days.
Big European clubs have expenditure sheets that border between being unaffordable and unrealistic. This makes winning a must.club authorities would have wanted their teams to win fairly but the thought of the "money-men" growing ever inpatient is unbearable. And the outcome of losing games like missing out on European football is unthinkable for most clubs. This, plus the embarassment of losing to teams assembled for smaller fractions, makes match fixing inevitable.
Take Chelsea, for example. Club owner, Roman Abromavich has created this caricature of a man with bottomless pockets to outcompete his opponents. But he has began to pay for this. Everytime Chelsea come calling for any player, the pricetag is doubled, and so are the wages. After spending so much, winning should be the natural order of things. And when this doesn't happen, the situation has got to be fixed; with money. Match fixing scandals have not yet hit England but the FA should watch out. It's just a question of time before they start investigating their own officials and club presidents.
At the moment, it is Juventus' turn for its actions to be under the microscope and the consequences may be far reaching. But unless football associations get to the root cause of match fixing, punishing culprits will not help. Football needs to go back to its humble beginnings. There should be limits on player transfer fees and especially their wages. Until something is done to stop the escalating cost of running football clubs, match fixing will continue to be part of the game.
This article was published in the newvision.