Agreed draws are among the most unpalatable of football matches in that a percentage of the participants are merely going through the motions. Despite Ferdinand's assertion that "you can't pull the shirt on and say 'we'll draw this game'", such games exist and are tedious to watch. In this evening's Israel v England game, the only entertainment were the pre-match rantings of Jamie Redknapp as he thought up a multiplicity of reasons why viewers should bet on England and Martin Tyler who, desperately struggling to find a match to commentate on, resorted to the truly enlightening "national service is compulsory in Israel because there are troubles in the region". No? Really?
The England fans who started chanting "you don't know what you're doing" after 70 minutes of watching a training match were spot on in a footballing sense but not so accurate in a betting sense - some people most definitely knew what they were doing... It is a difficult skill to be non-competitive in a competitive sport without such underperformance being entirely evident to experienced observers (fans as well as market traders!) and not many professional footballers are able to pull it off.
In a week that saw the death of Bob Woolmer due to the impact of gambling and corruption in sport, it is shoddy in the extreme for some individuals close to the core to be fixing matches and manipulating betting markets for profit.
Euro 2008 Group E is an extremely manipulated section. Three of the biggest gambling centres in European football are Russia, Israel and England - these territories share some common agendas and ground but also operate independently. Croatian bookmakers were involved in the refereeing scandal in Germany where senior official Robert Hoyzer took money to adjust results and Greek colleagues tell me that Macedonian markets are fairly entertaining too. There are some complicated hidden strategies in this group and leisure punters should steer well clear.
Dietrological have made a tidy sum betting on the corruption in the Israel v England game today (as did our clients and colleagues) but it does leave a slightly sour taste in the mouth.
In Vietnam, the authorities imprison players for what went on in Tel Aviv this evening...
