Canadian soccer deals with fallout of match-fixing

If I told you the Secretary General of the international police agency Interpol estimates revenue from soccer match-fixing is comparable to Coca-Cola’s, you might not believe it.

If I told you that, two years ago, evidence at a German court case revealed that match-fixing took place in Canada and eight other countries and that Canada took no serious action to combat it, you may be forgiven for not believing it.

If I told you that, at a FIFA-UEFA Interpol conference on the subject in Rome earlier this month, Interpol’s top cop Ronald Noble used the Canadian Soccer League as a warning to leagues around the world of how even leagues almost no one has ever heard of can get caught up in the practice, you might be stunned. The Canadian example was repeated at another FIFA conference in New York.

You might wonder why such a minnow of a soccer league would attract big bettors around the world. Simple, the CSL is a perfect point of attack for the fixers. It is semi-pro. Most of its players do not get paid a living wage and have short-term contracts. It can make them perfect potential targets for bribery. All of this is shocking, but true. Declan Hill, Ottawa author of The Fix — the book on the subject — was in Rome as a keynote speaker at the two-day conference and he admitted to me Friday he was deeply embarrassed that his country had been singled out as a bad case.

“This is not new information,” he said. “I believe it’s outrageous action is only now being taken because we were embarrassed internationally. Serious action should have been taken two years ago.”

That was when the court heard that a match between the CSL’s Trois-Rivières Attak and Toronto Croatia was fixed.

When Hill talks of action, he refers to reports this week suggesting the Canadian Soccer Association may no longer be prepared to sanction the CSL. The CSA refused to confirm this Friday, saying it has nothing official to say in connection with any severance, although there have been ongoing discussions.

Unconfirmed reports also claim syndicates in various Asian countries have bribed players or officials to influence CSL matches on which somewhere in the region of $100 million has been gambled.

“The focus has been on the CSL being the problem here,” said CSL spokesman Stan Adamson. “We cannot buy that. We follow both FIFA and CSA rules and I cannot for the life of me understand how we can be responsible for this.”

Adamson also said the CSL had received no notification in writing from the CSA regarding sanctions, but did suggest the league might be taken under the wing of the Ontario Soccer Association rather than the CSA.

“Whoever we are governed by, we believe the CSA would continue to sanction us,” he said.

Clearly the waters are muddy, but should the league shut down it will demand serious change on the Canadian pro and semi-pro landscape.

This is the third level of the game in this country behind MLS and the NASL — the league in which the Ottawa franchise will start to compete in at Frank Clair Stadium next year.

Both Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact academy teams play in the CSL but, if it is not officially sanctioned, that will come to an end. So the question becomes: Where will they play?

The situation makes the imminent findings of the Easton Report particularly critical. Quite some time ago, the CSA commissioned the study to investigate the feasibility of a Canadian semi-pro league as a natural stepping stone for players aspiring to higher levels of the professional game both in North America and abroad. That study’s findings will be revealed next week.

While we wait for the CSA to announce how it plans to combat the threat of match-fixing both on its own and in conjunction with the rest of the FIFA world, I believe there are several steps they should consider and consider fast.

I offer them after considerable discussion with Hill, who is acknowledged as a world expert on the subject and is the man who designed an education program on the subject for Interpol.

Install a phone-in hotline for any player or official who wants to report match-fixing suspicions. Each person is assigned a confidential number to use for making a report. That way their identity remains a secret and the number means the line will not be inundated by disgruntled fans or troublemakers. At present, where does a player go if, for example, he or she is privy to fixing talk in the dressing room? Appoint one person dedicated to preserving the integrity of the game —

a Canadian soccer ombudsman. Introduce an education program for every promising young player in the country so they have a roadmap to becoming a top player — a what-you-need-to-know guide. It can include recommended agents; how to manage your career; a special session on integrity in the game and how to beat match-fixing approaches; and the clear message that if you are caught fixing you will never play the game here professionally again.

Amnesty for anyone who comes forward in the next three months to confess they took bribes to fix matches.

Find MPs and senators ready to champion the introduction of proper legislation to stop sporting fraud in Canada.

I cannot see this costing too much and even if it were the case, it is a small price to pay for preserving the Beautiful Game the way it should be preserved — beautifully.