TAINTS SA-SENEGAL CLASH
Fifa still to decide on replay following match-fixing ban of referee
LEGAL experts at Fifa have been poring over regulations in Zurich to determine whether Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier match against Senegal should be replayed, following a life ban of the referee.
The experts have been in talks in the past two days, after the match referee was found guilty of fixing the outcome‚ Times Media has been told by insiders at Fifa.
Shock waves reverberated at the start of the week when the soccer world governing body’s disciplinary committee banned Joseph Lamptey, of Ghana, for fixing the result.
Fifa had banned Lamptey for life from any form of football activity – the harshest sentence it can impose.
He had been found guilty of influencing the result when South Africa beat Senegal 2-1 in their Group D qualifier, at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane in November.
Linesman David Lartey‚ who had also been charged‚ was found not guilty.
Fifa said more details would be made available once the decision was binding‚ in other words when Lamptey has exhausted any appeals he may consider, although he is unlikely to do so.
Fifa insiders said they had been alerted to the possibility of match-fixing by irregular betting patterns and then investigated the match officials.
Lamptey had already been suspended by the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
He was removed from the panel to officiate at this year’s African Nations Cup finals for his poor performance in the game, in which South Africa were awarded a soft penalty and netted a quickly taken free kick while Senegal’s players were still talking to the ref.
But that had to do with his on-field performance and came without knowledge that he had been paid to fix the result.
Fifa must consider whether it will nullify the outcome of the game and order a replay – something it has done only once in World Cup history – 12 years ago when it declared invalid the result of the 2006 World Cup qualifying match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain and made the two countries replay the game.
But on that occasion it was technical issue‚ where the Japanese referee made a blatant error and the Uzbekis protested straight away‚ that led to the decision.
If the Bafana-Senegal game is to be replayed‚ it will be the first time that match-fixing has led to such a step.
Fifa monitors all betting on its matches and competitions.
Irregular spikes in betting or unusually high amounts of money placed on the outcome of a game triggers alarm bells.
Last month, Fifa closed its own Early Warning System and outsourced the work to Sportradar‚ a specialist private company who were already detecting international match-fixing and irregular betting patterns for Uefa‚ the Asian Football Confederation and South America’s Conmebol.
At the time of the change‚ Fifa president Gianni Infantino was at pains to stress that weeding out betting criminals was still a priority.
Saying match-fixing was a serious concern for everyone who loves the game‚ Infantino said Sportradar would invigorate and enhance Fifa’s own integrity programme.
Match-fixing has already bedeviled Bafana‚ before the 2010 World Cup when several friendly games were fixed by a Singapore betting syndicate‚ led by Wilson Raj Perumal.
Several Safa officials were duped by him into appointing corrupt referees and millions were made by dodgy gamblers.