FAI rushed to judgement over ‘fixing’
Athlone probe ‘flawed’ says PFA
THE statements of support for the two Athlone Town players banned by the FAI for 12 months for match fixing were steadfast.
The language used by both the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland and the club’s board of management was evocative and raw, while the counter allegations were severe after goalkeeper Igors Labuts and midfielder Dragos Sfrijan were found guilty of ‘unduly influencing’ the First Division game with Longford Town last April.
Athlone described the findings as ‘outrageous’ and even accused the game’s governing body of fixing the outcome.
‘The club is left with the conclusion that the outcome was predetermined and reflects a face-saving exercise for certain people within the game rather any forum where truth or justice could prevail,’ it read.
PFA Ireland was equally as robust. ‘The most serious allegation that can be made against a footballer must be backed up by overwhelming evidence, not halfbaked innuendo.
‘No player in the history of sport has been found guilty of match fixing on such little evidence. There is an obligation on sports authorities to treat players with fairness and not seek to scapegoat them in order to gain cheap wins in what is a serious global problem.’
IF, as the above suggests, the FAI has banned Labuts and Sfrijan without the relevant evidence after months of investigation stretching back to May, then this is a mess which is only going to linger.
Indeed, PFA Ireland is prepared to take its case as far as the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the picture it painted of the way in which the FAI’s process was carried out is alarming.
Some of the details are staggering as the FAI sets about determining the validity of UEFA’s Betting Fraud Detection System (BFDS) report which demonstrated ‘clear and overwhelming betting evidence that the course or result’ of Athlone’s First Division game with Longford Town in April ‘was unduly influenced with a view to gaining corrupt betting profits’.
PFA Ireland explained that a three-man panel was formed to study the footage of the game in question.
‘No rule exists for such a panel but it was nonetheless asked to determine if these players performed in an adequate or illogical manner,’ it explained. ‘Of these three, only two reached an opinion that they had while a third, though expressing reservations, said he felt there was not enough evidence.
‘At the hearing, one of these experts did not appear and his opinion was withdrawn while another, who had expressed reservations, changed his view. A further expert was introduced, a sports consultant from Austria.
‘He refused to say whether he felt the actions of the player in question was deliberate or not.’
Richie Sadlier and Pat Dolan were both involved in the investigation — reviewing footage on behalf of PFA Ireland of the incidents being examined — and have also gone public with their objections to the verdict on the basis of the evidence seen.
More questions will now arise, but supporters had been asking plenty before this situation materialised.
The most pressing one was regarding the identity of the overseas investor who got involved at the start of the season and helped bring Labuts and Sfrijan, along with several others, to Ireland in the first place.
Chairman John Hayden has remained in place but even the board suggested it had been ‘duped’ in a statement last May. French football agent Marc Fourmeaux was appointed director of football operations in the new set-up and this is where Athlone’s ties with the Portuguese lower league outfit Atletico Clube de Portugal (CP) and a company called Callaview Ltd become most pertinent. It was set up last year ‘to aid the management of club’s first team affairs.’
It has three directors. Joey Boland is one – a local businessman and club treasurer in 2014 – Fourmeaux is the second and Jose Manual Francisco the third.
The latter is a football director with Atletico CP and UEFA has previously suspected them of match-fixing – although this did not lead to any disciplinary action against the club or its players.
AS well as these off-field links, Labuts has played for Atletico previously and was cited as having played in 17 suspicious games scrutinised by football’s European governing body, while Sfrijan was also involved in matches examined in his native Romania. Again, UEFA did not take disciplinary action in relation to any of these games.
The links to Atletico CP don’t end there, as midfielders Frederico Hernandez and Jose Viegas, who have since left Athlone, also played for Atletico at a time when Ricardo Cravo was in charge of Atletico CP’s second string before coming to Athlone this season. He, too, has since departed following Roddy Collins’ arrival as manager.
These ties are important because Atletico are owned by a Chinese agent by the name of Eric Mao who, it was reported by Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor, has affiliations to six clubs across Europe and China.
One, FC Clinecni from Romania, had an official fined and banned after a senior club official went to the country’s Integrity Unit alleging wrongdoing.
This all happened before the FAI met with Athlone’s investors – a meeting director of competitions Fran Gavin confirmed several months ago – but supporters were the ones soon sounding alarm bells as they tried to work out the puzzle.
The charge against the FAI now is that it has rushed to judgement without piecing all the bits together.