Fixed

 Following my piece in an earlier edition of Where’s The Bar, summarising the excellent BBC audio series investigating Moses Swaibu’s role in National League South match fixing in the 2012/13 season, I was fascinated to find out more about this blight on the game. This was particularly due to the personal impact it had on my view of a time when I was more heavily involved in the day to day life of a National League South club.

Thus in June I attended an open seminar at Birkbeck University when Swaibu was interviewed, followed by a panel discussion with a range of individuals involved in the gambling industry, and the study and enforcement of sporting integrity.

The panel expanded on the general problem of match fixing in sport as a whole, starting with non league football. Those present heard that at the start of the century an unofficial summer bonus scheme operated whereby teams who were safe from relegation and unable to get promoted would routinely manufacture outcomes of the final few games between them. This was seen as a way of boosting players' income when contracts would be for the season only. This was stopped in 2009 following an FA investigation into a Blue Square Premier (now Enterprise National League) match between Grays Athletic and Forest Green Rovers when suspiciously high sums of money were placed on an outcome with odds of 22/1.

Swaibu went onto detail his sad descent into match fixing, stating that in his view players at twelve clubs were fixing matches in the Blue Square South (now Enterprise National League South) during the 2012/13 season.  Fellow panellist Alan Alger, who was then liaising between Blue Square (a betting company), and the league, explained that he brought to the attention of the board suspicious betting patterns. The most famous example of this came when a market on a Billericay Town v Hornchurch midweek match in March 2013 attracted more money than the same one for a Champions League match involving Barcelona on the same night.

Alger said the league were keen to keep this quiet, Swaibu confirming that the only consequence was a poster that appeared in dressing rooms warning players of the consequences of being caught match fixing. 

I asked Swaibu if in his view the division should be declared null and void for that season. He agreed. At the end of the evening I bought his book and although poorly edited, it's an eye opening read both in terms of the tragic circumstances of his upbringing, and the way matches were fixed. As an aside there is also a revelation of how Bromley Chairman Mark Goldberg paid players half by cheque, half in cash. One can only speculate as to why a club might do this.

I’ve listed below the matches he identifies in the book where he was involved in fixing the outcome, the inference is that there were many more of which he was unaware. The one that stands out is the match at Hayes Lane against Hayes & Yeading United. Swaibu describes how this was the first occasion when players from both teams met pre match to decide how the fix would play out. In hindsight, the youtube highlights are quite damning, particularly for the penalty decision and red card.

At the end of the season the organisation behind the match fixing decided their next target would be the National League North, and attempted to buy Alfreton Town with a view to controlling their results. This failed and signalled the end of this particular story but the ensuing panel discussion gave much food for thought.

There is currently no criminal offence of match fixing in the UK. In the USA, negative markets, e.g. a player to get booked are banned, nevertheless Mafiosos are turning themselves into the FBI to go into witness protection for what they know about NCAA match fixing. It was claimed that FIFA World Cup group matches have been fixed this century, and a high profile player based in the UK is currently under investigation facing a life ban.

The key problem currently is gambling online. Lower league football is seen as cannon fodder for problem gamblers making match data a prized asset. The absence of any governance of data companies who sell data to betting companies on behalf of governing bodies was seen as a real achilles heel. Furthermore Chinese companies were using students to collect data on all sorts of grassroots football begging the question at what level is football too vulnerable to match fixing?

All in all a thoroughly depressing topic but one that is only liking to become more so. A real case of any rose tint to my spectacles absolutely disappearing when it comes to football.

Matches Moses Swaibu states his book ‘Fixed’ that he was involved in fixing:

Blue Square South

21/8/12         Eastbourne Borough         3 Bromley         0

29/12/12         Tonbridge Angels         0 Bromley         3

19/2/13         Hayes & Yeading United         1 Bromley         1

23/2/13         Billericay Town                            2      Bromley         3 

26/3/13         Staines Town         3 Bromley         1

6/4/13         Weston-super-mare         3 Bromley         0

13/4/13         Bromley                 0 Hayes & Yeading United 4

16/4/13         Eastleigh                 3 Bromley         0

20/4/13         Maidenhead United                4 Bromley         2

https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/50513/fixed-my-secret-life-as-a-match-fixer-moses-swaibu