Yesterday in Vietnam, 8 soccer players went on trial charged with rigging an international game against Myanmar in the 2005 South East Asian Games in the Phillipines.
The corruption was allegedly undertaken on behalf of a betting syndicate who desired that the Vietnamese only beat their opponents by 1 goal which they duly did. All of the players and the supposed middleman face lengthy jail sentences as the Vietnamese authorities attempt to clean up the game in a country renowned for it's corrupt football markets.
Our Asian colleagues have shown us the betting patterns for the game and, unsurprisingly, they show a remarkable similarity to England international matches when a similar performance outcome is required by the bookmakers.
As we have stated previously, British betting turnover on England internationals is stratospheric. The excessive nationalism that exists in the country results in many leisure punters betting in a xenophobic manner on England whatever the realities of the game. Consequently, the bookies have huge liabilities on England victories. The layers accomodate this situation by reducing the price offered on England to minimise value and by working alongside people within the England camp to achieve a desired result. As far as our Trading Team are aware, there are three players around the England set up who operate in this manner. The bookmakers manipulator of choice is always the referee but, in international games, they depend upon the squad and, in such instances, management, goalkeepers and forwards are most frequently targeted. On a playing level, there are issues for the British bookies at the moment as one of these 3 players is not in the team and another is injured. This puts a colossal onus on the one remaining individual.
Vietnam has survived the birth defects and defoliation caused by US forces using Agent Orange in the 60's and being the slavery centre of choice in SE Asia for the globalisation brigade today (due to a total absence of worker's rights). Somebody should be writing the modern day Vietnamese equivalent of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (which detailed the horrendous human rights abuses involved in Belgium's King Leopold II's slave camps in the Congo).
For a Third World poverty centre to be addressing corruption in the international sporting arena while, in England, such corruption is totally accepted within the game is a clear indication of the lack of institutional integrity that exists in mother England today. It also indicates a type of contrary trading that is profitable - selective betting against England is a nice little earner!
