Doubt cast over the integrity of the game, again.
Monday, 07 April 08, 10:40 AM
News broke last week that at least one Premier League match in the last two seasons has been fixed. The player, whose name has not be revealed due to the Sporting Chance clinic's stance on patient anonymity, is alleged to have intentionally gotten himself sent off and persuaded three teammates to get booked in order to pay off large debts that had piled up as a result of his gambling addiction.
The Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, is leading the charge to have the player banned for life from football, be it as a player, coach, or any other job within the game. Wenger doesn't believe footballers should be allowed to gamble as the temptation to bet on matches is too great, and I agree wholeheartedly. Some will say that's a violation of players' personal rights, but when you consider they're getting paid upwards of $250,000 a week to do a job most would do for free, it doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice to stay away from the bookie. Wenger has also called for the player to be publicly named and shamed, again, I agree. Working class people work hard to get enough money to go to Premier League stadiums every week, they go without certain things they like in order to watch 90 minutes of football on the weekend, they deserve to know who did this to them because they're the victims. We don't know if that loss may have seen a club relegated, or had a possible domino effect on the league standings and knocked another club out of contention for a European spot.
Americans and Canadians, or any non-North American who follows baseball will be able to tell you about the outrage caused by Pete Rose's allegedly betting on games when he managed the Cincinnati Reds. Rose is currently serving a lifelong ban from the sport of baseball. Like the unnamed player, Rose was said to have bet on his own games in order to pay off the heavy debts he had collected from a severe gambling addiction, there is no reason why the situation should be handled any differently.
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BradleyelBradley said:He Clearly takes down the man even in the Angle on the Arsenal website you can ...
susan01 said:I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would...
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Bobby
Charlotte, US
Random rantings about football
On Just two small teams from Glasgow