Fixing the tainted sport Primastuti Handayani  ;  Managing Editor at The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA POST, 09 November 2014

                                                

                                                                                                                       

Persib Bandung won the Indonesian Soccer League (ISL) for the first time in 19 years, defeating worthy contender Persipura Jayapura in a penalty shootout on Friday. Both were tied at 2-2 after extra time in a see-saw finale at Jakabaring stadium in Palembang. The match was moved to the South Sumatra capital after the National Police refused to issue a permit for the final to be held in Jakarta. Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) chairman Djohar Arifin Husin regretted the police’s decision, saying the relocation showed that Jakarta was unsafe for a major sporting event. “Whereas big clubs from Europe will come to Jakarta next year,” he added. Nevertheless, neither security threats nor haze disrupted the final match. Fears about power outages in Palembang never materialized, either. As this season ends, we have just kicked off a national drive against bribery in soccer. The public witnessed a shameful match between PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang on Oct. 26 in the quarterfinals, in which both teams allegedly scored five own goals to avoid facing Borneo FC in the semifinal. The scandal — locally known as sepak bola gajah — angered soccer fans. The PSSI quickly ordered its disciplinary committee to investigate the scandal. Of course, both teams denied that their own goals were intentional; but it was clear to fans that players failed to uphold values of sportsmanship during the game. Disciplinary committee chairman Hinca Panjaitan finally decided that PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang would be disqualified from the league’s premier division and could face tougher sanctions if the match fixing accusation was proven true. Even the world soccer authority, FIFA, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) demanded the PSSI investigate the incident. The association’s disciplinary committee has summoned more than a dozen players and questioned them about who might have masterminded the match fixing. Match-fixing scandals in Indonesia date back to the 1960’s, when PSM Makassar suspended their famous striker, Ramang, for allegedly accepting bribes. Two years later, allegations of bribery prompted the PSSI to change the lineup of the national team ahead of the 1962 Asian Games. The abrupt reshuffling was blamed for the squad’s poor performance at the quadrennial event. The latest embarrassment came in November last year, when Bontang FC manager Camara Fode of Guinea was banned from soccer for life after PSSI’s disciplinary committee found him guilty of fixing the match between Bontang FC and PSLS Lhokseumawe. The committee suspended players from both teams for 24 months. Indonesia is not the only country that has to deal with match fixing. In September, Reuters quoted John Abbott, the head of the Interpol-FIFA initiative, as saying that the body had received reports of match fixing from between 60 to 80 countries over the last three years. Abbott said that although match fixing began in the early 20th century, now professional criminals had gotten involved. “We have evidence of organized crime groups in China, Russia, the Balkans, the US and Italy making substantial money,” he said at the Soccerex Global Convention. He said that billions of dollars were at stake, adding: “Sports governing bodies and football associations need to get real about prevention. Many sports, of course, are affected by match fixing, but football [soccer], the global game, is top of the league and cricket is second.” Meanwhile, Kevin Carpenter, a UK-based lawyer who specializes in sports law, wrote in lawinsport.com that the ramifications of match fixing should take three forms: penalties from governing bodies, criminal sanctions and reputational damage. Carpenter also wrote that the majority of sports now had anti-corruption units in place. Unfortunately, their establishment has, in the main, been triggered by revelations of match-fixing scandals rather than as pro-active preventative measures. This is reflective of the fact that many sports officials have buried their heads in the sand for too long, adamantly saying, “We’re clean and it couldn’t happen to us!” Match fixing has become such an alarming problem that in the Wall Street Journal, FIFA said, “the world of football [soccer] is under threat from organized crime and others attempting to corrupt players, referees and other officials in order to unduly influence football [soccer] matches.” The Economist quoted a report from the Qatar-based International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS), which said criminals laundered US$140 billion a year via crooked sports betting, with soccer the sport in which games were most often rigged. However, investigations usually target soccer players, missing the larger problem. Chris Eaton of the ICSS said: “Betting fraud is the cause, match fixing is the effect […] only globally coordinated supervision and regulation of sports betting can rein in fraud and corruption.” Match fixing in Indonesia may not be as rampant or as lucrative as it is in other countries, with billions of dollars at stake. However, since it has been going on for half a century and all stakeholders seem to have turned a blind eye, treating it as a petty crime is definitely not the proper way to deal with it. Match fixing is a serious crime in sports because, according to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Jacques Rogge, it affects the whole competition. Victory is meaningless if it is prearranged; it runs counter to the principle of sportsmanship all athletes are supposed to uphold. We often highlight results and tend to forget the long and winding road an athlete must take to reach the podium. With all those considerations, the PSSI should start cooperating with related institutions, including the National Police, to fight match fixing. Without any breakthroughs, only the players and managers will be punished, while the real culprits — those who gain millions or even billions of rupiah — will remain free, searching for their next prey. ●