With the Mapusa Police taking prompt action on the very next day after Chapora Yuvak Sangh lodged a complaint on Oc tober 24 against nine of their own players participating in the GFA’s Professional League on alleged match-fixing allegations and the GFA postponing the club matches and serving show-cause notices, to the alleged players, it has in duced fear, anxiety and despair amongst players, team manage ments and football fraternity at large in Goa. “Since we received the complaint, we acted promptly, due to very se rious allegations. We summoned all the nine players allegedly involved in match manipulation at the in stance of the club in question for interrogation,” stated Mapusa DySP Wilson D’Sousa, SDPO. “With PSI Aditya Gad, also in volved in the tough questioning process, the details will be for warded to the Old Goa Police Sta tion where the alleged crime kicked off through an alleged bookie in Old Goa. Ultimately, the case will be handed over to the Crime Branch at Ribandar for further investigation,” summed up SDPO Wilson. “We cannot share details of the matter since it is highly confiden tial. Finally, the police will leave nothing to chance as evidence has to come on record and our Crime Branch will launch the prosecu tion after conducting the neces sary legal investigations,” observed DySP Wilson, who is known for his thorough professionalism, and is a stickler for details. Forced to offer his views, SDPO Wilson, who normally shies away from the media, said: “Such things, if true, should not happen. It needs to be condemned. It sets a very bad example especially to our youngsters.”
“It is condemned because it removes the element of fair competition and unpredictability which is central to the integrity of sports. By predetermining the outcome of the game for financial gain or other advantage, match-fixing erodes public trust, ruins careers and damages the reputa tion of the sport, itself,” he emphasised. The GFA has also moved pretty fast. Besides immediately postponing the matches of Chapora Yuvak Sangh, which is the first Club in the State to level charges of match-fixing against their own players, they have served show-cause no tices to the players as to why they should not be suspended immediately and given seven days for receiving their re plies. “We have already received four replies. We are very se rious in conducting the enquiry and I have already talked to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who is also the Home Minister, to instruct the Crime Branch to carry thorough investigations and punish the culprits. Match-fixing cannot be tolerated at all, and once the charges are proved, we will ask the police to confiscate the passports of those involved in match-fixing. That apart, there will be a life-ban on such persons,” disclosed Caitano Fernandes, Goa Football Asso ciation (GFA) president. “Once the replies are received and further, statements recorded, the matter will be placed before the Disciplinary Committee headed by Judge (retd) Pramod Kamat and with Albert Pinheiro, Kajal Nagvekar and Myron Araujo as members,” disclosed GFA Secretary Adlear D’Cruz. Those conversant with football disciplinary and legal matters complimented Chapora Youth Club and especially its president Praveen for having suspended the concerned players. However, they expressed that, this being a very serious charge, which has to be ultimately proved, it was premature to divulge the contents of the complaint as it could be violative of the confidentiality clause of GFA’s Eth ics Code, and more so as names of more players could crop up during the inquiry. And, the punishment could even be life-ban, some remarked. Coach Levino Anthony Pereira, popularly known as Hambo, from Taleigao, praised the players as the Chapora team registered a tough 3-2 victory against strong oppo nents FC Goa in their very first match. “The second match, against Vasco Sports Club ended in a shock 0-1 de-feat as most of the players did not perform to their level best, de spite being outstanding during the practice session earlier,” stated Levino. The third match against Churchill Bros saw Chapora los ing 0-3, having conceded three goals in the first quarter, largely due to the mistakes of the defenders, pointed out Levino, who made no secret that, he doubted that he felt that something was going wrong somewhere. “The team did not perform at all against Bidesh XI, whom we thought would beat by a handsome margin. But the match ended in a surprise 2-2 draw. I was convinced that something was awful with the performance of the boys. It was really bad,” confided Levino. “I discussed with the club officials, pointing out that the players were giving out their best at the practice sessions, but that the same was not reflected during the actual match,” stressed the coach. “We lost 1-2 to Clube de Salgaocar next on October 16. We were confided by some players that on the previous day of the match, some of our players were invited to a talk with the so-called alleged bookie at Old Goa. We missed three goals and that rang alarm bells about the big problem. It was only when someone broached the topic of the meeting of the players with the alleged book ie at Old Goa with our club president that the complaint was immediately lodged with the police at Mapusa, An juna and GFA.” “Not everyone who went for the meeting can be la belled as alleged conspirators. There were some who were closely associated with our club officials and espe cially the president, who has been taking personal inter est with dedication and sacrifice along with his family. What took us by total surprise is the fact that even the ones who came off from the meeting at Old Goa did not even sound us about the sad happening,” summed up Levino. Genius, the integrity firm which is still with the GFA, did not red-flag any of the matches of the club for suspicious betting patterns, confirmed Adlear. “The complaint against the players is with regard to their alleged involvement of fixing matches against Chapora for monetary benefits, thereby lowering the reputation of the club as a whole,” elaborated Praveen. Match manipulation, also known as match-fixing, refers to the unlawful influencing or altering of the course, result, or any other aspect of a sports match or competition. This is typically done to gain an improper advantage, financial benefit, or other undue rewards. It undermines the integ rity of sports and violates principles like fair play and re spect. FIFA combats match-fixing through a dedicated report ing system, investigations and disciplinary actions. It car ries severe penalties including life-time bans, heavy fines and potential criminal prosecution.
