Safa accepts replay
BETTING SPIKE: DAMNING NEW EVIDENCE OF MANIPULATION SWAYS BODY
Bafana in serious trouble with one point from three matches.
Fifa’s Early Warning System picked up spikes in betting during Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying win over Senegal last November, that ultimately led to Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey being banned for life, and to Fifa ordering a replay of the Group D match.
This was revealed yesterday as the South African Football Association confirmed they will not be appealing Fifa’s decision to replay the game this November.
“This is a moral and ethical question,” said Danny Jordaan.
“If there is evidence that the match is the result of match manipulation we don’t want the points and would agree with Fifa that the match must be replayed.”
Safa had seemed intent on appealing Fifa’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, but appear to have been swayed by new evidence presented to them by world football’s governing body.
“Every game played under the auspices of Fifa is monitored, and these huge betting houses can see when there are spikes (in betting),” said Safa lawyer Norman Arendse.
“The spike was there in this game and immediately it alerted Fifa to there being perhaps something wrong with the outcome of this match. Whether or not that early warning was relayed to Senegal, we will never know.”
The Senegalese Football Federation did file a letter of complaint to Caf and Fifa after the match about Lamptey’s performance.
“It now turns out that what was manipulated was the number of goals scored in the match … it could even have been a 2-1 result in favour of Senegal,” added Arendse.
“There were two periods in the game where there were these two spikes. It would appear that some people made a lot of money on the game, and the poor referee (Lamptey) was put in the dock. We know from his lawyers that he has denied being involved. Fifa has told us that everything points to the referee being involved.
“So … we won’t pursue an appeal at this stage, we will accept the decision of the organising committee (of Fifa), we will replay the game.”
Arendse stressed that this could change if Lamptey wins an appeal in Swiss civil courts against his ban. This appeal, however, is unlikely to be heard before the rematch with Senegal, meaning that at that stage Safa will probably only be left with a lawsuit for damages.
Safa did say that Fifa have agreed to cover the costs of the replayed match, estimated by South African Football Association CEO Dennis Mumble to be around R5 million.
Bafana will play Burkina Faso at home in October in their next World Cup qualifier, before homeand-away games against Senegal the following month.
With the Senegal result taken away from them, they now have just one point from three Group D matches so far.