Punish match fixing
Aug 31, 2003
AN EXTRAORDINARY result in a national league match has raised eyebrows and put Ugandan football under even closer scrutiny.
AN EXTRAORDINARY result in a national league match has raised eyebrows and put Ugandan football under even closer scrutiny.
Champions SC Villa put 22 goals past Akol last Wednesday. It is easily the national record, as were the seven scored individually by their leading striker. But they should not make the record books for they would disgrace Ugandan football for posterity.
For it all looks suspicious. With three matches left to end the league campaign, the two leading contenders, Villa and Express, were tied on points. This meant that if they achieved similar results, i.e. wins, draws or losses, the title would be decided on goal difference. So it would make perfect sense to score as many goals as possible in the remaining matches. But a 21-goal margin is unlikely between teams of the same division, hence the suspicion.
But any investigations should not stop at that result alone. There are allegations that Express fans took away some Akol players before the game in order to frustrate the fixture. Even before last Wednesday, Express was gaining points rather dubiously, with matches not completed for one reason or another, but wins would end up being awarded to this contender.
Our football authorities need to investigate all these allegations without fear or favour. There are precedents for punishing big teams. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Olympique Marseille were the most powerful club in France, winning five league championships, plus the European Cup. When found guilty of match fixing, they were promptly relegated, and they are only just re-establishing themselves now.
If found guilty, it may take similarly drastic action against Uganda’s ‘best’ to drag our game out of the mire.
Champions SC Villa put 22 goals past Akol last Wednesday. It is easily the national record, as were the seven scored individually by their leading striker. But they should not make the record books for they would disgrace Ugandan football for posterity.
For it all looks suspicious. With three matches left to end the league campaign, the two leading contenders, Villa and Express, were tied on points. This meant that if they achieved similar results, i.e. wins, draws or losses, the title would be decided on goal difference. So it would make perfect sense to score as many goals as possible in the remaining matches. But a 21-goal margin is unlikely between teams of the same division, hence the suspicion.
But any investigations should not stop at that result alone. There are allegations that Express fans took away some Akol players before the game in order to frustrate the fixture. Even before last Wednesday, Express was gaining points rather dubiously, with matches not completed for one reason or another, but wins would end up being awarded to this contender.
Our football authorities need to investigate all these allegations without fear or favour. There are precedents for punishing big teams. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Olympique Marseille were the most powerful club in France, winning five league championships, plus the European Cup. When found guilty of match fixing, they were promptly relegated, and they are only just re-establishing themselves now.
If found guilty, it may take similarly drastic action against Uganda’s ‘best’ to drag our game out of the mire.