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In today’s materialistic and totally commercialised world no one doubts that greed is the root of all evil. Scandals are common and universal in every sphere of life and only fools are convinced that sport is administered, controlled and played by holier than thou virgins. Though millions all over the world enjoy participating or watching brilliant spectacles there are a few thousands and possibly more, whose illicit involvement meant solely for financial gains, rocks the sport.
The wizards become idols because of their world-class feats, but occasionally the limelight is taken by those who do not play the game and are found out. The cheats! The irony of it all is that they still manage to pocket a lot of extra cash by selling details of their sordid deals to the media, through gurus who have no scruples or morals. They take the stage because their illegal actions!
Those who love celebrities and the usual thrash, would have been thrilled to view the Brazilian ace Ronaldo marrying the twenty-four year MTV host Daniela Cicarelli on Valentine’s Day in a Chantilly Chateau near Paris to which 350 special guests including Moratti and Perez together with Real Madrid’s stars and Posch Spice were invited. Even footie-mad DJ Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim has been signed for the reception. But there will not be any marriage celebration tomorrow, as confusing reports from Rio de Janeiro state that both parties’ divorce papers had not come through. Many think that this is a pathetic excuse especially as Ronaldo had left Madrid for Brazil in haste on a mysterious mission which could also be connected with efforts to release a Brazilian engineer kidnapped in Iraq.
Ronaldo was married for four years to Milene Rodriquez, a brilliant ball juggler and footballer who he met on Copacabana beach. They have a son named Ronald. Likewise, the story goes that Daniela had not divorced Luiz Augusto Milano, a multi-rich businessman who she wed in Miami two years ago. To add to the confusion, other sources state that Ronaldo is worried by his brother Nelinho’s illness, though the player’s official spokesman Rodrigo Paiva never mentioned any illnesses when he stated that ‘Nelio is in need of money!’.
Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Periera, who does not like to be referred to as ‘professor’, despite his high academic degrees, spared Ronaldo for the midweek match against Hong Kong, and though the Cariocas got a million dollars for the match a big number of fans stayed away because of the absence of a famous crowd puller. Ronaldo and Daniela may not beat Prince Charles and Camilla, to the marriage vows!
More serious
The news that the president and medical officer of Sao Caetano have to face murder charges in San Paolo Courts for the death of defender Serginho who died during a football match last October was more important for the Brazilians than Ronaldo’s wedding plans, though they were equally interested with the story of the German referee Robert Hoyzer, 25, who confessed that he took €67,000 from the ‘Croatian mafia’ to fix seven matches. Corruption is also reported to be rife in South America!
History shows this is not the first time that referees, players, and officials were found guilty of taking bribes. Even the Athens’ Games were marred because of dubious decisions in various disciplines!
More than forty years ago a number of English footballers, including Tony Kay and Peter Swan were found guilty of corruption; in the eighties the Italian game was rocked when Carabinieri arrested a number of footballers, like Paolo Rossi, Ramon Wilson, Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia and others from a number of grounds. They were eventually charged because of their part in illegal betting. Last year the Italians faced yet another shocker and a number of players were suspended. These are not isolated episodes.
Lately a yuppie from the German football referees association who was under investigation admitted that he and others fixed the results of certain matches. Hoyzer’s confessions led to the Public prosecutor to get into action and in no time 150 policemen to raided 32 premises in ten German states.
Café’ King in Berlin
It seems that the centre of all the illegal activities was concentrated in Café’ King, a bar in Berlin’s fashionable Charlottenburg, situated in Rankestrasse, a side street, off Kudamm. It is an area where money and sleaze always converge and shift easily. Apparently Hoyzer used to frequent the place which is open twenty-four hours a day. It is owned by three Croatian brothers, Ante, Filip and Milan, who have since been arrested, but not before betting receipts totalling €2.4m had been collected by the police who also found receipts for a newly purchased Ferrari and a just delivered flashy convertible Merc. A university don remarked that “there is nothing unusual about match-fixing. It has happened in many countries before. The only unusual thing is that it happened in Germany!”
Perhaps that is why UEFA has finally drawn up legislation to prevent players, officials, referees and those in management from betting. Not surprisingly President of the German FA Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder , a member on the FIFA and UEFA Executives, heralded the idea when he stated “UEFA wants to introduce a code of honour. It is not just a German problem. Italy, Romania and the Czech Republic have also experienced problems with manipulation.” The rapid globalisation of the gambling industry and the growth of internet betting make it difficult though not impossible to control who bets on what. Of course strange patterns usually bring about investigations, at least in many European countries. And certainly in Germany.
It was from such a report from the betting firm Offset that the probe came to light. Mysteriously large sums were put on a Paderborn victory in their cup match against Hamburg, played last August. Paderborn SV, a regional side were the underdogs and trailing by two clear goals. Then Hamburg’s most dangerous striker Emile Mpenza was sent off for complaining against the referee’s decision, two very dubious penalties were awarded in Paderborn’s favour, and eventually they went on to win 4-2. Wonder of wonders. The punters had their day! The referee in question was Robert Hozyer who was visited by the Croatian brothers at his hotel before the game, and who even gave him a lift back to Berlin where he was handed €20,000 in cash.
The present scandal brought memories of a similar event way back in 1971 when more than 50 players, referees and club officials plus Kickers Offenbach and Arminia Bielefeld were found guilty of offering bribes and fixing matches. The German don must have forgotten about sad occasions, which had prompted the German Government to regulate the betting industry.
Since then the game has not been spared of similar indictments.
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