Match Fixing Thread - 18.05.22 10 Arrested in LOI Match Fixing Probe

[sbgawa]

This season is over and he will miss the equuvelent of a hamstring g strain at ghe beginning of next season.....not the end of the world

[Yossarian]

Clifford was due to serve a suspension in the Harps game. The FAI will probably hold that now until his first game back!!

[Mr A]

Update: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/footballers-secure-temporary-injunction-over-appeal-evidence-818548.html

[Mr_Parker]

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/footballers-secure-temporary-injunction-over-appeal-evidence-818548.html

[Nesta99]

The FAI can be underhanded but come on - 'footage that may have been altered and modified'. This has to be footage from another league as there is no suh thing as footage of a 1st Division game....

[osarusan]

Footage that 'may have been altered and modified' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEGFaOeUm2A

[NeverFeltBetter]

CAS has cleared Labuts of all wrong-doing: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0717/1153977-former-athlone-keeper-labuts-cleared-of-match-fixing/

I can only presume legal action will now be taken against the FAI.

Edit: CAS have said there is “no sufficient proof to suggest that he was deliberately inadequate in order to influence the match in a certain way.” The FAI has been ordered to pay a contribution to Labuts' legal fees of 3'000 francs, or around 2'800 euro.

[total hoofball]

Good to see the CAS who cleared Man City this week join the PFAI, Igor, Igor's missus, Igor's mam in the only group of people in world who find him innocent

[Bucket]

I didn't think CAS was the court that Man City were in?
What's worse? Being found guilty of match-fixing? Or being found to be so bad that it looks like you're match-fixing?

[total hoofball]

I didn't think CAS was the court that Man City were in?
It was CAS aswell

[Martinho II]

I assume the other Athlone town player that didnt show for the hearing was the person totally to blame for this mess?

[D24Saint]

https://www.the42.ie/conan-byrne-adrian-carberry-5172719-Aug2020/

Didnt want to start a new thread so put this here. It’s worth a read.

[Martinho II]

https://www.the42.ie/conan-byrne-adrian-carberry-5172719-Aug2020/

Didnt want to start a new thread so put this here. It’s worth a read.

Great read. Forgot that he played for Athlone Town when we met in FAI Quarter final in 1998 replay in Mullogher which I was at. Forgot he was at Galway too.

[passinginterest]

Seems there may be another incident. Any ideas what game might be concerned? Do I recall something about a game earlier in the season being flagged for irregular betting patterns? https://www.the42.ie/league-of-ireland-match-fixing-5767137-May2022/

[Kiki Balboa]

https://www.actionnetwork.com/soccer/match-fixing-scandal-limerick-waterford-irish-premier-league-betting

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/fai-investigating-unusual-betting-patterns-14704353


I think these were the two most recent that were flagged. LOI First division is primed to be targetted for match fixing, as the wages are low, not a lot of attention, and its a national league (so foreigners can bet more easy). Add to that, there is number of young lads in Ireland (and you can assume it overlaps with some LOI Footballers) fall into heavy gambling habits (or maybe cocaine use/devt) and can preyed upon by more serious criminal elements.

(On the flipside, how many players do you have to bribe to change a result? Considering there are normally 28 players involved in a game...... Unless its a Goalkeeper .... or Referee)

The damages that Match Fixing does to a league is insurmountable, and a real league killer. The Italian league never recovered from their scandal in 2006, going from the strongest to the 4th, and has been on the decline since, and curroption in Eastern Europe really kills their leagues.

You really hope no results were affected by this.

Edit: The links above, and the arrests, suggest maybe it was Limerick FC involved.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Might be worth a new thread (or a re-naming of this one) since this is beyond Athlone.

With arrests reported in Limerick, you have to assume the incidents mentioned regards Limerick FC are connected.

[2 Year Contract]

If the below games didn’t involve match fixing I would be absolutely shocked:

https://youtu.be/mdR5w-8FfJs

https://twitter.com/seidodge/status/1117005503941496832?s=21&t=MvhNvr1T0DvJUnNpMnqSJg

[sadloserkid]

I was given 5 or 6 names earlier. I can't verify it but I'd just say the speculation above seems accurate to me. One relatively big name in there too.

[Kiki Balboa]

I was given 5 or 6 names earlier. I can't verify it but I'd just say the speculation above seems accurate to me. One relatively big name in there too.


All Limerick? Or did you hear other teams involved?

It would suit the league the most if it was just Limerick FC invilved, considering the are now defunct.

Also, this clip is going around twitter. Looks suspicous (even more than just bad play) from Cork in 2017, https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxM5q_vTqT1Lh_jmLzc1ltHUCcbB7j_Wpc (Its blurry, but I think the same player who makes the mistake in this clip was with Limerick in the 2019 season).
Edit- if this is being too speculative, you can remove this comment.

[Risteard]

Ha. Ya. One huge name.

[Lim till i die]

The 2017 clip against cork, that game definitely wasn't fixed cork were going for the league. Shane Tracy scored a free kick a couple of minutes after that maybe fifteen minutes into the game. cork battered us for the rest of the game but only pulled one back.

That clip is an example of said player being lazy and **** rather than corrupt.

Were Limerick FC games fixed towards the end? Probably, there was no one getting paid!

[sbgawa]

If the below games didn’t involve match fixing I would be absolutely shocked:

https://youtu.be/mdR5w-8FfJs

https://twitter.com/seidodge/status/1117005503941496832?s=21&t=MvhNvr1T0DvJUnNpMnqSJg

Looks like an over under bet on the bookings and red cards + total goals.
If its from a few years ago these players are all over the league at this stage i guess given Limerick are gone (except underage).

[Straightstory]

Love this from old PFAI statement: 'the errors in the match were typical of that standard of football'.

[sbgawa]

Limerick FC finsished bottom of the First Division. If the match fixing is contained to that season and that team, then I doubt those players played much of a part in other teams in this League.

There are tonnes of clips of that 'Famous' named Limerick player.... He really must have been either involved or one of the worst ever LOI players.

They were/are good players in a bad team could be more around the league. Looking at the clips above id say it was very much a minority of players and youd imagine the guys involved didnt see a future in front of them in the league.

[Nesta99]

Fixed or not, some of the goals in these games above were quite good so not that obvious for fixed results. Getting carded is different story though I dont know how its always a banker though I know little on how gambling works like accumulators but assuming that a bet is made on cards being shown at particular times or in numbers, its only really the ref that cane make that work. Players not in on a scam could be legitimately carded and throw off the bet surely? And its LoI which can be soooo random especially with refereeing its mad that fixing can still work.

[Real ale Madrid]

Title edited - to be on the safe side no names lads please no matter how obvious you think it is. (And probably is)

[total hoofball]

Definitely against Shels one Limerick player in particular stood out that they were throwing it. I heard he had no regrets over his performances and he feel the rumours about him were somethin' stupid

That Sligo game was also a blatant joke. Even one of the Limerick players went for a steward in a unfortunate sending off and escaped conviction it after a court case

[Nesta99]

Definitely against Shels one Limerick player in particular stood out that they were throwing it. I heard he had no regrets over his performances and he feel the rumours about him were somethin' stupid

That Sligo game was also a blatant joke. Even one of the Limerick players went for a steward in a unfortunate sending off and escaped conviction it after a court case

Maybe there were issues with wages or insurance and was unapologetic for not busting himself for people where werent busting themselves. I dont know of course but i dont think thats a big red flag for match fixing.

[KBurke]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/seven-footballers-are-among-those-arrested-in-connection-with-match-fixing-in-league-of-ireland-41662795.html

5 retired players and 2 players still playing in the LOI among the men arrested.

[EatYerGreens]

I think the club should be charged as then there only has to be evidence of strange betting patterns and unusual results on the field to support the unusual betting patterns.
You'd have to have good compelling evidence to prove an individual player was at fault.

In fairness, if irregular betting patterns were all that was needed to land a football club in major trouble, then that would open the door to all kind of problems in future. Betting syndicates could cause absolute bedlam in various leagues for sh!ts and giggles - and still have the option of making money at the same time via the betting too. That would effectively be handing over a lot of power.

[sbgawa]

I often bet against Rovers when i really want them to win (and betting on them has gone against me in the past) so my betting would look suspicious , then again i have been known to sit outside the ground and only go in at full time in matches that are important to us to win but where my presence in the ground has been unlucky for the team in the past.
Id better keep my head down for a knock on the door from the guards or the looney bin whichever comes first

[sadloserkid]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/seven-footballers-are-among-those-arrested-in-connection-with-match-fixing-in-league-of-ireland-41662795.html

5 retired players and 2 players still playing in the LOI among the men arrested.

One in the Premier and one in the First if the swirling rumour is to be believed.

[Mr A]

Geez what were the odds

[2 Year Contract]

One in the Premier and one in the First if the swirling rumour is to be believed.
Haven’t heard the rumours on who the current players are but from looking at the below squad list of the 2019 Limerick squad, of the players still playing LOI football, there’s currently 2 at Sligo, 1 at Shels, 3 at Treaty and 1 at Galway

https://ie.soccerway.com/teams/ireland-republic/limerick-37/8200/squad/

[Johnnie C]

Anyone know if the 5 retired are just retired from LOI and still playing non-league?

[da bishop]

Well known in Limerick what was....allegedly..... going on and who was doing it ,and while they will focus on a couple of games there were lots more.Name and shame hopefully ,no excuse for it.Funny thing is surely those in charge in the club at all levels should have flagged this if we could see it from the stands.

[total hoofball]

Any other games apart from these below under investigation or rumoured? So I can try to flick through youtube to see hilariously obvious statuesque defending, crazy penalties, crazy backpasses and crazy dangerous tackles

Limerick 1 Wexford 1 - 12th April 2019
Shelbourne 2 Limerick 0 - 19th April 2019
Sligo 6 Limerick 2 - 24th August 2019
Shelbourne 7 Limerick 0 - 21st September 2019

[osarusan]

Galway beat us 3-1 in Terryland back then, and their second featured a baffling attempt at a tackle that let the striker in on goal.

[total hoofball]

Would that be 2017? Yeah its on youtube 2nd goal for Galway with one of the usual suspects

[osarusan]

Would that be 2017? Yeah its on youtube 2nd goal for Galway with one of the usual suspects

Yeah 2017. I was at it, and watching live, I was immediately thinking 'How the f**k could he make an error like that?"

[Fermoy Blue]

Villa FC Waterford v Pike Rovers in the FAI Centenary Junior Cup Final 2pm on Sunday in Turners Cross …..should we expect anything fishy there?

[Nesta99]

Villa FC Waterford v Pike Rovers in the FAI Centenary Junior Cup Final 2pm on Sunday in Turners Cross …..should we expect anything fishy there?

Pure baiting!

[blueblood]

Galway beat us 3-1 in Terryland back then, and their second featured a baffling attempt at a tackle that let the striker in on goal.
The third goal too looks fair dodgy.

[Nesta99]

If the below games didn’t involve match fixing I would be absolutely shocked:

https://youtu.be/mdR5w-8FfJs

https://twitter.com/seidodge/status/1117005503941496832?s=21&t=MvhNvr1T0DvJUnNpMnqSJg

The left back may not have been too popular in that second clip or not in on the scam as he almost got there in an accidentally falling to a goal line clearance his head down at a daisy cutter, falling and nearly clattering in to the post. The pass was sloppy but ye see those happen, the Wexford player was at full tilt and the last defender looked as much like he knew he'd only have taken out the player and would have walked so didnt commit to the tackle, keeper closed and ball was put between the legs and still needed the tap in to make sure so some fortune involved if that was a deliberate concession of a goal. Maybe the pattern over a series of games set off alarm bells but that clip in isolation there doesnt seem much contrived to me.

The concern for me is tarring the entire LoI with the same brush (there were certainly rumours during the Connor year around Dundalk on players betting habits and we did break a UEFA record on red cards in a season to boot). At a confirmation yesterday family members that are more GAA than I fell over themselves to 'talk' to me about it, mud sticks - could it undermine the recent surge in general interest in LoI? Or would that lean too much in to melodrama?

[osarusan]

I was at the Wexford one also, and even though it looks the worst of the lot, at the time I was thinking that the player was obviously going to slip a pass in to the unmarked striker, and that it needed to be cut out. He feinted to do it then kept going.

Now, given some of the other defensive...eh...errors by the player in question, it's still very dodgy for sure (in all the clips he spends a lot of time frozen when way out of position), but at the time I thought it ws more a good dummy than anything else.

RTE reporting that peple knew what the results would be, but is that not a particularly stupid way of doing it these days (and fixing a 6-2 scoreline being incredibly attention-grabbing)?

I'd have imagined it'd be more about 'a goal in the first 20 minutes' or 'more than 3 goals in the first half' than just an overall result. Much much easier to engineer, I'd have thought.

[joey B]

Fixing a 6-2 scoreline sounds like you’d need a lot of people in on it , people betting on that particular score in large amounts would be particularly obvious to me anyway….

[Nesta99]

Yeah, unless all players on both sides and maybe even officials are in on it I dont know how a specific scoreline can be planned. It would have to be more than x number of cards with multiple players planning to put the boot in, corners/offsides type stuff maybe but specifically 6-2 or say Sligo win by +3 eg leaves quite a few variables, and a maybe indicates a wider problem than a few players at one club, never mind the bookies sussing something amiss. Wasnt it Sligo that failed to bet an Albanian side in Europe that were trying to throw the match. Snooker, tennis and the like seem a safer bet, pardon the pun, than football if trying to manipulate results for gain.

[Lim till i die]

I don't think it would be the actual result, more the handicap.

I definitely remember Sligo -2 and Shels -2 as two of the hot bets that season.

Was talking to a mate last night and with hindsight about halfway through that season a good few of our group just stopped going

It wasn't cos they were ****e, they were nearly always ****e, it was more just pitiful after Paud stopped paying out and you were hearing mumblings and it kind of became what's the point.

I distinctly remember betting a couple of bob on that Sligo game because when I saw Limerick were up 2 0 I remember giving out to the person that told me.

As for it reflecting on the whole league, it's potentially a problem across the whole league. Once you stop paying fellas what you said you'd pay them you kind of lose and moral high ground. And Limerick and Paud were hardly unique in that circumstance. I can think of four clubs off the top of my head where I heard similar down the years. So could most of ye being honest. It's football at league of Ireland level.

[Nesta99]

The Sligo game is strange but you have Limerick go 2 up with 2 good finishes, Sligo get a peno, that looks more that the defender got between the striker and the ball so not stonewall as it was the Limerick player that was kicked, keeper saves the penalty. Then you have the Leverock clattering one player with a dangerous bicycle kick effort in a crowded area and then punching another and sent off (the groan from the Sligo crowd as soon as it happened) which seems more deliberate that a lot of other stuff. The ref ran past another dangerous high boot to the face of a Limerick player to deal with the punch.

There looked to have been a real edge to the game. The second card for Kelly was innocuous enough and he was just a bit late, and I wouldnt have had him down as a player you'd question integrity and commitment? Then Sligo score with a decent free from just outside the box though the keeper does look oddly late diving (would need to see it from behind). 4th goal the keeper made a good stop before the rebound was put away, 5th could have been offside but the last 2 goals were a disorganised defence, with 8 men v 10 after a filthy tackle and a Limerick player shoving(?) a steward when he kicked the ball away, stuff thrown on the pitch etc. An ill tempered affair.

All can happen in a tetchy game where discipline is lost, ref loses control, players are stroppy with each other and it not pre planned at all. If anything the crazy nature of the game could work against match fixing, eg Leverock could be called out yet he could have just lost it. I suppose Im just saying that while an eventful game, are people retrospectively seeing things as 'must have been planned'. Again taking this clip in isolation, but acknowledging that there is likely more evidence than the game incidents themselves for a criminal investigation.

[Jd2793]

The Sligo game is strange but you have Limerick go 2 up with 2 good finishes, Sligo get a peno, that looks more that the defender got between the striker and the ball so not stonewall as it was the Limerick player that was kicked, keeper saves the penalty. Then you have the Leverock clattering one player with a dangerous bicycle kick effort in a crowded area and then punching another and sent off (the groan from the Sligo crowd as soon as it happened) which seems more deliberate that a lot of other stuff. The ref ran past another dangerous high boot to the face of a Limerick player to deal with the punch.

There looked to have been a real edge to the game. The second card for Kelly was innocuous enough and he was just a bit late, and I wouldnt have had him down as a player you'd question integrity and commitment? Then Sligo score with a decent free from just outside the box though the keeper does look oddly late diving (would need to see it from behind). 4th goal the keeper made a good stop before the rebound was put away, 5th could have been offside but the last 2 goals were a disorganised defence, with 8 men v 10 after a filthy tackle and a Limerick player shoving(?) a steward when he kicked the ball away, stuff thrown on the pitch etc. An ill tempered affair.

All can happen in a tetchy game where discipline is lost, ref loses control, players are stroppy with each other and it not pre planned at all. If anything the crazy nature of the game could work against match fixing, eg Leverock could be called out yet he could have just lost it. I suppose Im just saying that while an eventful game, are people retrospectively seeing things as 'must have been planned'. Again taking this clip in isolation, but acknowledging that there is likely more evidence than the game incidents themselves for a criminal investigation.

the prices kept moving in sligos favour even at 2-0. game was 100% fixed