A massive step back for football, sadly, is corruption. All you cricket aficionados out there will definitely remember all the corruption coming out from Pakistan, India and South Africa, and corruption has also touched lesser-followed sports like snooker and badminton. But English football was clean! It was pure! And now, it’s being tainted just like the rest.
It was bound to happen, though, wasn’t it? Match- and spot-fixing has been rife in Italian football for years now, with many cases involving high-profile clubs and individuals. It’s also not out of order to assume that it’s probably the norm in South America and Africa. But last month, that ugliness finally made its way over to England.
At the moment, it’s just the lower leagues we have to worry about. Part-time footballers who are probably electricians or call centre workers on their off-days. But this is going to be the beginning. Call me a cynic but, this time next year, I could easily see me reporting about corruption within some sort of high-profile football club. To think otherwise would be utter naivety.
I don’t like it; I don’t want it; but it will happen. All we can hope is that the damage it causes isn’t too bad. When Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were found guilty of spot-fixing, it pretty much destroyed three very good cricketing careers. I’d hate to see the same happen to three very good footballing careers, deserved or not.
PHOTO FINISH
Want something a little different to keep track of this month? The Snooker Welsh Open kicks off on the 19th
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