Spot Fixing in the EPL

Dempsey

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/lundekvam-makes-spot-fixing-allegations-081045981.html

"It is not something I'm proud of," Lundekvam is quoted as saying in The Sun. “For a while we did this almost every week. We made a fair bit of money.

"We could make deals with the opposing captain about, for example, betting on the first throw, the first corner, who started with the ball, a yellow card or a penalty. Those were the sorts of thing we had influence over.

“The results were never on the agenda. That is something I would never have done. We were professional competitors. Even though what we did, of course, was illegal, it was just a fun thing.”

No surprises there really. Happens everywhere I reckon

GavRedKing

Its not as serious as Match fixing but still a worrying thing to have ongoing IMO.

recyclebin

You would wonder why bookies would give odds on these kind of things in the first place?

Was it in the EPL or another division when Le Tissier tried to kick a ball out so the first "action" in the game would be a throw-in but a team-mate chased the ball down and kept it in play?

BKC

Deleted User wrote: »

Was it in the EPL or another division when Le Tissier tried to kick a ball out so the first "action" in the game would be a throw-in but a team-mate chased the ball down and kept it in play?

Premier League against Wimbledon I think.

BKC

BKC wrote: »

Premier League against Wimbledon I think.

Yeah just checked, it was timing of first throw-in.

Kirby

He claims he bricked it so much during the game that he never did it again....but I kind of doubt that. I'd say it goes on all the time.

Kirby

Kirby wrote: »

He claims he bricked it so much during the game that he never did it again....but I kind of doubt that. I'd say it goes on all the time.

I'd say it happens more in the lower leagues. With the money the players in the PL have they'd generally have to be in some kind of major trouble to need the cash and such things would be well known.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

It happened in Dream Team so it must be true in fairness.

CSF

I don't care as much about this as I maybe should. As long as they don't go after gamechanging outcomes I'm ok enough with being blissfully ignorant. Moreso out of fear of the alternative probably.

Corholio

It's not as bad as match fixing, but it does take away from the competitiveness of the game. From the first whistle it should be completely 'unwritten' and stuff like this definitely takes away from that. Doubt in supporters minds is never good.

Kirby

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd say it happens more in the lower leagues. With the money the players in the PL have they'd generally have to be in some kind of major trouble to need the cash and such things would be well known.

Micahel Chopra was millions in gambling debt and admitted to orchestrating transfers because he needed the Signing On bonus to pay the heavies pressuring him. Chopra played in the premierleage and was on over 50 grand a week at one stage.

It's more common than you would think.

Pedro K

recyclebin wrote: »

You would wonder why bookies would give odds on these kind of things in the first place?

Because compulsive gamblers will bet on anything. It's pathetic really. They'd bet on flies crawling up a wall given the opportunity.

opr

Pedro K wrote: »

Because compulsive gamblers will bet on anything. It's pathetic really. They'd bet on flies crawling up a wall given the opportunity.

That almost never works. They always fly away before one of them gets past the line.

Opr

Pedro K

opr wrote: »

That almost never works. They always fly away before one of them gets past the line.

Opr

In which case the bookie who gave the odds wins, again!

Dempsey

Pedro K wrote: »

In which case the bookie who gave the odds wins, again!

If the bookie does that then you should find yourself a better bookie!

losthorizon

How can a penalty not change an outcome of a match EPL fans?

Kirby

If the team is already 3 or 4 goals ahead. Thats how.

KaiserGunner

Just an observation and not an accusation but, I have seen QPR quite a few times last season while taking the tip off just launching the ball long and forward out for a throw in. Always found that a little strange. It is a worrying trend though if this practice on betting on corners, throw ins and fouls is a common practice between players.

Pedro K

Dempsey wrote: »

If the bookie does that then you should find yourself a better bookie!

Ha. I'm not a gambler. I just have a small bet every now and again. For example, the last bet I had was before the Euros started. €5 ew on Portugal to win outright! Had Portugal beaten Spain on Penalties I would've gotten the ew terms at the very least.

I used to work in the gambling industry, and have seen the worst of it.

Anyway, regarding the OP, while I was working in an Irish bookies (I also worked in an English one in London for a while), there were quite a few LOI footballers that had accounts. I never personally found any of them to have had bets on LOI matches, but according to former colleagues of mine who still work there they occasionally do have such bets, which is, of course, completely against the rules.

So it doesn't really surprise me to hear that it goes on elsewhere as well.

Dempsey

Technically, even if one player goes out to spot fix it will effect the outcome of the game. His motivations to get easy money will be a higher priority to actually playing a football match to the best of his ability.

BKC

I don't particularly mind betting on throw-ins, who takes tip, etc. as that is all fairly harmless stuff. The problem is when people are fixing stuff that have an effect on the outcome of the match.

losthorizon

Kirby wrote: »

If the team is already 3 or 4 goals ahead. Thats how.

Or 2 goals ahead maybe? and thens theres a penalty?

And you end up with a draw instead of a lose for one team.

Maybe others went further than this character or maybe its all ****e because its the Sun.

CSF

Dempsey wrote: »

Technically, even if one player goes out to spot fix it will effect the outcome of the game. His motivations to get easy money will be a higher priority to actually playing a football match to the best of his ability.

Yeah, I mean of course its bad. It just doesn't fill me with dread the way actual matchfixing does.

Bodhisopha

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Just an observation and not an accusation but, I have seen QPR quite a few times last season while taking the tip off just launching the ball long and forward out for a throw in. Always found that a little strange. It is a worrying trend though if this practice on betting on corners, throw ins and fouls is a common practice between players.

It's a tactic to win a throw in deep in the oppositions half. Knock it out and squeeze up. Sexy football, eh!

fullstop

Kirby wrote: »

Micahel Chopra was millions in gambling debt and admitted to orchestrating transfers because he needed the Signing On bonus to pay the heavies pressuring him. Chopra played in the premierleage and was on over 50 grand a week at one stage.

It's more common than you would think.

£50,000 a week? He was in his arse on that sort of money.

batistuta9

who would know about this just the two captains or the majority or maybe whole of the teams?

They also must of had a rule that you can't score directly after from one of these throws or corners wouldn't they

otherwise it's going to effect the game, nearly reverse or backfiring match fixing.

Kirby

fullstop wrote: »

£50,000 a week? He was in his arse on that sort of money.

He was Sunderlands highest paid player when he joined them from cardiff. He was on that much. Craig gordan and Kenwyne Jones were also on similar deals. Sunderland spent alot that summer.

eagle eye

opr wrote: »

That almost never works. They always fly away before one of them gets past the line.

Opr

I got 10/1 on that once!:D

BKC

Saints legends deny spot-fixing.

Former Southampton stalwarts who played with Claus Lundekvam have distanced themselves from his claims about spot-fixing.

The former defender, who spent 12 years with the club, recently claimed on Norwegian radio that he and his team-mates, as well as opposing captains, regularly made money by betting on events during games.

His revelations have created a furore within football and concerns about how widespread this practice is, prompting an investigation by FIFA into the Norwegian's allegations.

The game's governing body is now contacting former team-mates of the Scandinavian in a bid to gather information about the purported practices.

However, Matt Le Tissier, who is the Saints second-highest scorer, tweeted: "Aside from that one incident in my book I've never been involved in any betting scams and have no idea of Claus Lundekvam'sclaims."

His rebuttal was further backed up by Francis Benali, who preceded Lundekvam as captain.

No knowledge

"I can say categorically I have no knowledge of the betting allegations made by Claus," he said.

"Dressing rooms are very tight environments and if something was widespread, even if you weren't part of it, you would hear it being discussed and talked about."

Lundekvam has broken ranks with his revelations but seems to be finding very little support from previous team-mates who state that they have no knowledge of such practices.

David Hirst, who was at Southampton during the period when these events were supposed to have taken place, insists he was unaware of the practice.

"It was a massive surprise to me that he came out with something like that," he said.

"I was never aware of anything taking place like that, not at Southampton or Sheffield Wednesday or Barnsley - or England for that matter.

"I have never been involved in anything like that and I have never heard of players doing it anywhere."

allanb49

I've seen some of the guys for Wayside Celtic come into a local bookies i worked in while playing a Cup match and put a few quid on it, this was about 2008/2009

razorblunt

Obviously need to carefully word this, but about 5/6 seasons back, my buddy stated that he had been given a very strong tip that for the upcoming game between A and B (Championship or League 1 cant' remember) team B would go 2 up, it will be 2-1 at half time and A would win it 3-2.

Typical guy in work is friends with Joe Bloggs who plays with Team A and their players are all over it. I passed it off as pure nonsense as did he but lo and behold that exact result came through.