#declan hill

[overeducatedsoccer]

Declan Hill and Jeré Longman in the NY Times with the first part of a series on match fixing and other bribery allegations from the 2010 World Cup.

A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000...

[overeducatedsoccer]

In the wake of the recent UEFA sanctions, anti-corruption crusader/journalist/writer Declan Hill gives his take on how to end match fixing in Turkey.

First, demote every team who had players, coaches or officials convicted of fixing.   Every team.  No exceptions for big teams like Fenerbahçe or Beşiktaş.  They all go down to the bottom of Turkish football.   If the Scots could do it to their top team – Glasgow Rangers – than Turks can do it as well.

Demote them all.

...

Paying players is the keystone of most fixing.  Pay the players [their earned wages] and most of them will not fix.  Do not pay players and most of them will fix.   So pay the players.

I'm a little less sanguine than Declan about the effectiveness of such moves.  After all, Declan's own writing talks about how much corruption exists at all levels of the game.  Unfortunately, I can't think of any better options.  His most important point is that this is a systemic problem and solutions must be holistic.  Singling out players or individual teams isn't good enough.

[mediagag-blog]

Another Tip of the Iceberg

On the IPL Spot Fixing scandal

An article for FiveRupees on how to sort out this current mess; and possible future editions of it http://fiverupees.com/2013/05/19/another-tip-of-the-iceberg/

[venicetakeawaystewards-blog]

Declan Hill's visit to the British Pavilion

Declan Hill, a director of Forum for Alternative Belfast (FAB) and one of the teams of the Venice Takeaway exhibition made a visit to the British Pavilion today.  He found time to chat with the stewards about his work and his experience being part of the exhibition within the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale.