Football and Globalisation Debates Progress Report 2017

Name: Deena Al Saweer Student I.D. 201200316

Name: Salman Buzaid Student I.D. 201400057
Name: Sarah Jawad Student I.D. 201400800
Date : 27/4/2017

Debate Topic – Cheating is Football’s Dirty Secret

Speaker One: Sarah

1. Introduce “cheating” as a topic

Start the debate with a quote; "I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating." Sophocles
(Ancient Greek writer; he wrote the Oedipus Tragedy). And why is that? Our group believes that
cheating is football's dirty secret because...

"I grew up watching Football..."

Define honor, define cheating

2. Generally and briefly justify why we are against cheating

Cheating is a violation to the code of conducts and FIFA “Play Fair Code”.
It also boosts unfairness and puts the team that plays by the rules at a disadvantage; this means that
football matches lose their excitement and honor. Moreover, footballer lose their integrity and the
respect of the fans if caught cheating; that is because cheating is frowned upon in societies.

3. What are the different types of cheating?

Match-Fixing
The French research centre IRIS defines sporting corruption as "Any manipulation or attempted
manipulation of a result or aspect of a game with the aim of securing financial gains on the sports
betting market (Iris 2012). Gorse and Chadwick adopt a broader approach, defining sport corruption as
“any illegal, immoral or unethical activity that attempts to deliberately distort the result of a sporting
contest (or any element of it) for the personal material gain of one or more parties involved in that
activity” (Gorse and Chadwick 2011).
According to "European Affairs" The manipulation of sports results covers the arrangement on an
irregular alteration of the course or the result of a sporting competition or any of its particular events
(e.g. matches, races…) in order to obtain financial advantage, for oneself or for other, and remove all or
part of the uncertainty normally associated with the results of a competition.
Diving
According to "European Affairs" The flailing of the arms. The contorting of the face into a grotesque
mask of pain and suffering. The rolling around on the pitch in agony to the point where you’re
wondering if there’s a priest on hand to administer last rites. The miraculous recovery as a player
suddenly resumes running at full speed and moving around as if nothing had happened. Dives can
change the course of a match, especially if it leads to a penalty or a sending off.
Handballs

Doping
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Drug usage – performance enhancement drugs- examples in links below

Disadvantages to doping
Once stopped use, the body will lose muscle mass and power Fatigue, Withdrawls
An increase in body fat percentage
Mental Instability
Reputation
Loss of medals/titles
Illegal Players
Disadvantages
Possible to lose medals/titles
Reputation
Banned from league/sport
male-pattern baldness

Most commonly used anabolic steroids

-testosterone
-androstenedione
-durabolin
-dianabol
-stanozolol
-nandrolone

4. Why Match-Fixing is the most significant form?

"Corruption in sports is a growing problem with new allegations of match fixing regularly reported in the
media. Evidence of match fixing can often be found as unusual patterns in aggregated data from betting
markets, since match fixers profit by placing bets on matches with pre-determined outcomes (Forrest &
Simmons, 2003)." http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ppe-repec/ppc/wpaper/0008.pdf And Sports lens also
support this.

Speaker Two: Salman

1. What is the most serious and evident form of cheating? (Match fixing).
The definition of match-fixing provided by the Australian Sport Minister (Sport and Recreation
Ministers’
Council Communiqué 2011) is even more complete: “Match-fixing involves the manipulation of an
outcome or contingency by competitors, teams, sports agents, support staff, referees and officials and
venue staff. Such conduct includes:
a. the deliberate fixing of the result of a contest, or of an occurrence within the contest, or of a points
spread;
b. deliberate underperformance;
c. withdrawal (tanking)2;
d. an official’s deliberate misapplication of the rules of the contest;
e. interference with the play or playing surfaces by venue staff; and
f. abuse of insider information to support a bet placed by any of the above or placed by a gambler who
 Football and Globalisation Debates Progress Report 2017

has recruited such people to manipulate an outcome or contingency”.

Match fixing is like as if someone had taken fixing and injected it with steroids. This new form of
corruption is like a tsunami as it will destroy the lovely game. The key to match fixing is globalization. In
the last 10 years, the sports gambling market has it is own industry if we can say. According to the BBC
Gamblers through the world can place a bet on almost any professional game (BBC).

Types of match fixing:

According to Keanet, there are two types of match-fixing

A- Betting motivated cases involve fixing competitions with the primary aim of achieving an
economic gain indirectly from sport through betting activity. Asians has bigger gambling market than
European and North America. They even bet huge amount of money on small matches. Euorpol (is
the European Union's law enforcement agency) claims that Asians one of the matches bet amount
reached 121,000 Dollars. The Asians market is measured in billions of dollars. There are about 20 to
30 fixers who travel the world fixing football games. They form alliances with local criminals, who in
turn are able to form connections with corrupt players, referees and team officials (BBC). According
to "the guardian" a Singapore businessman Dan Tan has been re-arrested only a week after being
released following more than two years in detention of coordinating a global football match-fixing
syndicate. In 2013, he has been arrested as he was accused of being the mastermind of a global
crime syndicate that made millions of dollars betting rigged Italian matches and other games across
the world. Italian prosecutor Roberto Di Martino, who was leading an inquiry into international
match-fixing and referred to Tan as the “general director of the ring”. Tan was suspected of being
the mastermind behind dozens of fixed match in Italy's top three divisions. Also, he was found guilty
as he had manipulated 32 games in Hungary and Finland.

B- Motivated match-fixing – the fixing of a competition with the primary aim of achieving a sporting
advantage directly from its result. Non-betting cases, concern so called sports motivated match-
fixing – the fixing of a competition with the primary aim of achieving a sporting advantage directly
from its result. Sporting motivations may ‘simply’ involve winning a match or a competition,
escaping relegation or qualifying for a higher level of the competition. This is for example the case of
the well-known “end-of-season-phenomenon” when deals are made for avoiding relegation or
keeping a club in a competition. Whilst economic benefits are not the primary objective, it is clear
that this results in a second step of sporting advantage. Maintaining a position in a division or
qualification for higher competition of course have financial consequences, whether for public
subsidies, television rights or sponsorship contracts.(keanet).
 One of the greatest match-fixing scandals of the 21st century, the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 saw
Serie A teams Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio get relegated while AC Milan received a points
deduction evidence from the wiretaps showed the then Juventus sporting director Luciano
Moggi communicating in an “exclusive” manner with the referee designators of Serie A,
attempting to influence results by picking certain referees he considered more favorable to
Juventus. The process was made through a network of untraceable phone cards, secret payoffs
and proposals no match official could refuse. It was further alleged that throughout the season,
top players of rival clubs were shown a calculated number of yellow cards in a bid to ensure
their suspension when their teams faced the record Italian champions (sportskeeda ).
 Football and Globalisation Debates Progress Report 2017

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/21333930

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/calciopoli-2006-match-fixing-scandal-juventus-relegated

http://www.keanet.eu/docs/study-sports-fraud-final-version_en.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/02/alleged-match-fixing-mastermind-dan-tan-
rearrested

https://www.theguardian.com/football/match-fixing

2. Evidence and Statistics.

3. Quotes.
4. On/off the pitch cheating.
5. Gambling, fixed crime, mafia/gangs, etc.

Speaker Three: Deena

1. Counter argue the other team’s points (minimum 2 [counter arguments should also be a
minimum of 2 points])
2. Use evidence from research and Salman’s mentioned points
3. Discuss the unadulterated form of the sport, its values, its standards, the fact that its integrity is
a core pillar without which professional & international football would crumble to a
substandard, insignificant and de-valued “pass-time”
a. Good link that argues this very point:
http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763743840/43844_CH01_Thornton.pdf
4. Where does cheating start/end?
a. The lines are blurred but the integrity remains on solid grounds:
i. E.g. Suarez in 2010 World Cup, purposely played a hand ball to block a goal with
full knowledge that their team can recuperate from a penalty kick. He was
rightfully punished but his team ended up winning because of that little glitch in
the match. That conscious decision constitutes as cheating whereas if it was a
mistake, social pardons would have been allowed. This little move de-valued the
integrity of the entire match and added to Suarez’s dishonorable reputation
(Lewis, 2013).
ii. E.g. the notion of cheating is also blurred because of cultural differences.
Players in England are considered cheaters if they dive to instigate deliberate
contact giving them fouls, whereas South American players are viewed as
cunning when doing this very same move. At the end of the day, the game’s
integrity is what people experience, if there is anything that appropriates the
degrading of this, the entire game can be dimmed and slowly disintegrate into a
dull or lifeless game (Lewis, 2013).
http://www.wjpitch.com/opinion/2013/05/09/the-integrity-of-cheating/

5. Law professors at Washington University state (Aronson, Betts, Patterson & Mines, 2008)
“football [relies] heavily on the ethics of the participants to ensure the fairness of the results.
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The portrayal of the star athlete as a person of character, modesty and integrity, who does what
he considers right and not because it will give him good publicity”.
a. Give example of someone who looks up to a football player; i.e. Messi, Ronaldo, etc.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ten Golden Rules – FIFA (FIFA, 1994) has issued “ten golden rules” under which the on and off field
players of the sport are obligated. According to FIFA (FIFA, 1994), this “Play Fair Code” seeks to eradicate
unethical acts either by advocating the reprimanding of cheating individuals or groups as well as
stopping it before it starts. http://brsa.e2esoccer.com/Downloads/FIFAFairPlayCode.pdf

Match Fixing – Match fixing is a serious problem in football and one of the most prominent forms of
cheating. Cheating degrades the value of a match, some forms may seem more tedious than others but
match fixing doesn’t only disrespect the sport, but the gravity of it is so serious that it is considered
punishable by criminal law (European Affairs, 2012). http://www.keanet.eu/docs/study-sports-fraud-
final-version_en.pdf

Honesty – Many organizations, clubs and leagues advocate for a specific code of conduct. A lot of the
code revolves around honesty; honesty of injuries, illness, game rules, being a witness to a discrepancy,
etc. (Berkley Vale Soccer Club, 2004).
http://www.berkeleyvalesoccerclub.com/library/Players_Code_of_Conduct_Full.pdf

Money – Example: “In 2010, the Bahrain national soccer team beat Togo’s national team 3-0, or at least
they said they were the Togo team. However, Togo fans should not worry because the team that was
shut out was a fake team organized by someone to “pocket” money from the event” (Thornton,
Champion, Ruddell & Ruddel, 2011). Patrick K. Thornton, Walter T. Champion Jr., Lawrence S. Ruddell, Larry
Ruddell. http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763743840/43844_CH01_Thornton.pdf

Fixing & Betting – http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ppe-repec/ppc/wpaper/0008.pdf

Examples of cheating – detailed examples of previous football events that involve cheating.. (Handballs,
Fake injuries...) http://talksport.com/football/footballs-most-ridiculously-blatant-cheating-13112068829

Types of cheating - "Generally, the three biggest areas for cheating in football are diving, doping, and
match-fixing. Some of the biggest examples in each of those areas: http://sportslens.com/cheating-in-
football/18878/

Diving examples - Rooney Ends the Invincibles Era – Manchester United v. Arsenal, English
Premier League, October 24, 2004. Replays show that Campbell clearly made contact, but that
Rooney definitely lurched forward, as if he were trying to draw a penalty. In any case, Van
Nistelrooy stepped up and atoned for the previous year, putting United ahead, 1-0.
http://sportslens.com/diving-in-football/19457/
 Football and Globalisation Debates Progress Report 2017

Doping examples - http://sportslens.com/doping-in-football/19458/

Match-Fixing examples - http://sportslens.com/match-fixing/19459/

http://sabotagetimes.com/sport/10-most-corrupt-football-leagues-ever

Match-fixing: How gambling is destroying sport http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/21333930

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/24354124 https://goalstatbetting.wordpress.com/match-
fixingcorruption/

Handballs examples - http://sportslens.com/famous-handballs/19465/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/uruguay/7869777/World-Cup-2010-Luis-Suarez-
handball-against-Ghana-instinctive-says-Uruguay-coach.html

Research paper about Match-fixing - "Corruption in sports is a growing problem with new allegations of
match fixing regularly reported in the media. Evidence of match fixing can often be found as unusual
patterns in aggregated data from betting markets, since match fixers profit by placing bets on matches
with pre-determined outcomes (Forrest & Simmons, 2003)." http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ppe-
repec/ppc/wpaper/0008.pdf

New Desk Media Journal about Match-fixing, doping.. -

http://www.newsdeskmedia.com/images/Upload/PDFs/ICSS-Journal-vol1-no1.pdf

Juventus example on match fixing - https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/calciopoli-2006-match-

fixing-scandal-juventus-relegated

New Zealand Football's Anti-match fixing and betting guidelines -

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/NZF-Anti-Match-Fixing-and-Sports-Betting-
Guidelines.pdf

Match fixing Quotes - http://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/soccer/id/8939177

Clearinghouse on match-fixing and sport betting - "readily accessible information on match-fixing and
sports betting under the following categories:"
 Background: Why match-fixing and illegal sports betting are a threat to sports integrity
 Definitions of match-fixing, corruption and illegal sports betting
 Policies and laws on match-fixing and sport betting
 Match-fixing - International
 Match-fixing - Australia
 Sports betting - International
 Sports betting - Australian
 Further research and reading

https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/649235/Match_Fixing_Octobe
r_2015.pdf
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Cheating the beautiful game - "In soccer, all sorts of manhandling—jostling, obstruction, shirt pulling—
goes on as a matter of course. Stride ignored that stuff, as well as offside violations, poorly timed
tackles, and what he refers to in the study as “intentional rule violations due to a player losing his
temper.” (Classic example: the headbutt that France’s striker Zinedine Zidane delivered to Marco
Materazzi, of Italy, in the 2006 World Cup final, after Materazzi told Zidane, “I prefer the whore that is
your sister.” Zidane was given a red card, and France lost on penalties.)"
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/cheating-the-beautiful-game
Football and Globalisation Debates Progress Report 2017