The Pyramids of Giza serve as a graphic to help describe a simple 3-D model of corruption in football
The power pyramid on the left represents agents, betting, mafia.
The power pyramid on the right represents the ruling bodies, the national associations, major leagues.
The power pyramid in the centre represents the territory where these two other pyramids mingle - the upper part of the central pyramid is the white market, the lower half is the grey market and the underground is the underground.
Any organisation, cartel, consortia, committee, institution, and any of their tentacles of operation may undertake quantised interactions with any other entity in either of the side pyramids. These equilibria exist at various layers in the central pyramid depending upon their degree of opacity. Clusters frequently develop but swiftly disperse due to a bounty of proprietary (and often antisocial) agendas.
When we delve into the dire, diabolical, desperate, difficult, dangerous, dodgy world of the underground, one might discover that the same equilibria repeatedly develop.
Betting dominates the left hand power pyramid - that is where all the various interests choose to coincide.
Committee poisons the right hand power pyramid.
Their combination is disastrous for football.
Because the brand is everything, we are presented with a truly Orwellian world where bodies like UEFA and the EPL undertake 'white corruption' to undermine more serious forms of 'grey/black corruption'.
For UEFA, an East European team backed by gun running in Transdniestria or a dodgy penalty to the crappy French team?
For EPL, allow a mass insider cornered market on a Premier League game or take actions to challenge that criminality?
Because the brands cannot be tainted, they play with our neohyperrealities.
In the good old days of fixed football in the 90's, every so often a game would come up that was fixed - Juventus v Piacenza, say, after Gianni Agnelli's death.
Nowadays, there are very few top flight European league matches that don't have several competing power bases all believing that they have control of the event.
Total Football.
Forget that...
... what we are dealing on here, girls and boys, is Total Poker.
A number of insiders around a virtual table with Dark Pool inputs and individual operators controlling their bids. Player A looks comfortable with a midfielder and some injury information, while Player B is hoping that the 4th Official might influence the referee, but Player C owns a team and the opposing goalie and is piling on the chips.
Under Blatter, the global game has deteriorated to this gambling spectacle we witness today, as he and his cronies stuff the booty in their bags and run for cover.
To their credit (limited in certain cases, very limited in others), UEFA and the Amazing Mr Platini, Interpol, HMR&C, some European bookmakers, the EPL and, most critically in the world of the middle pyramid, the Asian market makers are attempting to dislodge rogue consortia from the game.
All but the most psychopathic understand that the time has come to rein in the corruption - the general public are in no mood to countenance being ripped off by crowds of addicted shysters.
The EPL has finally discovered that the psychopathic template has its limitations
The system is not accepting further destabilisation.
This might not clean the game up in the medium term but at least we will have a classier form of fix!
© Football is Fixed 2006-2012
