Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The officials of Velsao Sports and Cultural Club and Guardian Angel Sports Club deposed today at the Crime Branch Police Station, Ribandar, in connection with the call letter asking them to appear before the Police Inspector in connection with the petition filed by Goa Football Association (GFA).
As directed, President Ancilla Britto, Coach Eban Mesquita, Manager Francisco Christovam Andrade and captain Ronaldo Pereira, all from Velsao, and President Johncy J Fernandes, Manager Nicholas Rodrigues, Head Coach Riston Rodrigues and captain Gilbert Oliveira deposed before Inspector Sherif Jaques.
GFA President Caetano Fernandes and General Secretary Lector Mascarenhas were also present, being the complainants in the criminal case.
The officials of both clubs denied that they were involved in any match-fixing in the Goa Professional League matches played in January, namely Velsao v Calangute Association on January 4, Guardian Angel v Panjim Footballers on January 8 and Guardian Angel v Dempo on January 11.
The officials categorically stated that they were not involved in any betting or match-fixing, when shown the reports from Genius which were submitted by GFA to the Crime Branch. The reports from Genius had red flagged the matches for suspicious betting patterns indicative of match-fixing.
Coach Eban stated that the question of the club getting involved in betting does not arise at all and that there is no legal betting in India and what Genius had stated was concerning betting outside the country. “Betting is not legal in our country and we are fully aware of our duties and responsibilities as law-abiding citizens without any criminal record,” he said.
As per Genius, a match is red flagged when betting monitors are unable to express confidence in the integrity of the match since there is “something genuinely concerning about the betting. Such games are immediately escalated into the relevant stakeholders and the agency delivers a detailed report.”
Genius had asked GFA to launch the investigation and as such the association lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch against the clubs allegedly involved in the same. No copies of the report sent by Genius were given to the clubs and it appeared as if the police relied on these to conclude that there was match-fixing.
Genius had stated in its report that Velsao should be investigated thoroughly after their 1-4 loss against Calangute Association when there was ‘very strong live betting’ for Calangute to extend their lead by a further goal and for at least three goals being scored by full time. The betting was entirely successful. Genius also had recommended further investigations into Guardian Angel after their second consecutive match had significant and/or anomalous betting in opposition to them.
As such, Inspector Jaques told the Velsao officials that many players are involved in match-fixing and that the coach as well as the assistant coach should know about it once the players are on the playfield and those playing below their known standard or form should be penalised.
AIFF Integrity Officer Javed Siraj when contacted said that in-depth investigations have to be carried out to prove conclusively that there was match-fixing. Apparently, the report by Genius is just an indicative one as no solid proofs or evidence has been brought on record as part of thorough investigation.
Both Eban as well as captain Ronaldo categorically denied the alleged match-fixing allegations as raised by GFA. In their statement they said: “It is not true that the match was fixed and that no player, team official of Velsao Sports and Cultural Club is indulging in match-fixing game.”
They felt that they had lost the match against Calangute Association despite their best efforts to score and win and that their rivals proved to be better than them on that day and that Calangute had capitalised on the mispasses by the players. They promptly provided the details of their PAN cards and bank details as sought by police.
If one goes by the results, would it be fair also to connect the debacle of the Goa team in the recently held Santosh Trophy in Odisha to match-fixing, although there is no official betting perhaps, remarked a die-hard football fan. There are six to seven players of the Goa squad who are under the scanner, since their performance was pathetic, there being two self-goals.
One understands that the police is aware of the same, like also the results of some of the league matches. There are allegations that there could be surrogate advertising on the jerseys with most of them allegedly linked to betting. These could be just rumours and may be even false, but the fact is that there is a decline in the attendance for these matches due to public perception of match-fixing and the police is fully aware of the situation.
Meanwhile, the officials of Guardian Angel have been called to record their statements on Wednesday, as there were some problems with the network today.
