In Greece, it is not the betting patterns and bookmakers that determine the outcome of football matches so we should at least be grateful for that. It's politics instead.
Yesterday's Greek Cup Quarter Finals 2nd Legs demonstrated this clearly. Second Division Pas Giannina knocked out the mighty Olympiakos despite refereeing that was extraordinary in it's bias. Giannina is a small town at the foot of the Zagori mountains that straddle the border between Greece and Albania and, incidentally, is a base camp for us mountain bikers and climbers.
The remarkable rise of Pas Giannina is one of those heart-warming stories that simply would not occur in the moneyed hierarchies of English football. The match in Athens was the equivalent of Carlisle beating Man Utd over two legs.
Creative refereeing in the Panathinaikos game at least assured the government's team of further progress which is fortunate for them as they have no chance in the Hellenic Super League despite controlling the officials.
There was one match several years back that Olympiakos were losing 3-1 with 20 minutes remaining yet the Piraeus fans in The Kop (Garitsa's Olympiakos bar) remained confident of victory to the point of being blasé. A couple of penalties later and a 4-3 win. I remember Giannokopoulos laughing as the first penalty decision was given as he quite clearly performed a pirouette with a triple salto thrown in - nobody near him.
The situation in Greece is replicated in Spain where huge debates take place across the media on the announcement of the officials for the weekend's round of matches. In both countries politics is a root of these controversies with Spain offering the added complication of rampant regionalism.
Comparison with this season in Italy demonstrates how far the FIGC and the Italian government have come in rooting out corruption in Serie A. Remarkable considering it's historical issues.
If only the FA, the Premier League and the backhander brigade at the Department for Corruption Media and Sport would be similarly efficient - Italian football is now considerably less corrupt than English football which is not something that would have been predictable 15 years ago when Murdoch first appeared on the scene.
