St Pats in player betting allegations

[pete]

Going to be difficult to prove this but the St Pats name has already been tarnished. If the media can't prove this can Pats sue?

IMO the Ramblers recent was the most surprising. Pats didn't exactly have youth team players on that side.

Whatever about fixing matches if I was a Pats fan I would be very disappointed by the unprofessional performances by their players. They may not be able to win the league but they still get paid & especially should be performing at home.

[Schumi]

For the record here's the teams in questions

V Cobh
ST PATRICKS ATHLETIC: Barry Ryan (Friesz, half-time); O'Cearuill (Bialek, 69 mins), Harris, Gavin, Rogers; Brennan, Fahey, Dempsey, Kirby; Guy, G Fitzpatrick (S Fitzpatrick, 65 mins)

V Galway
St Patrick's Athletic : Friesz; Haverty, Gavin, Partridge, O'Cearuill; O'Brien (Harris, 75 mins.), Brennan, Bialek, Byrne (Fahey, 62 mins.); G. Fitzpatrick, S. Fitzpatrick (Guy, 66 mins.).

Starting Glen Fitzpatrick in both games? It must have been Johnny McDonnell who had the money on!

btw - 8/1 tonight for the 0-0 with ucd. put the mortgage on it.

Agreed, Pats couldn't throw a game against us, no matter how hard they tried.

[EalingGreen]

Don't know anything about the games/players in question, but do know a wee bit about betting. Basically there are two types of scam.

The first is where a connected person has inside information which indicates a certain result and so backs its.
Obvious examples where Team A has injury problems, rows in the dressing room, a manager who's "lost it", or a deliberately weakend team is to be picked e.g to save the players for a more important game.
Their opponents, Team B, might not be up to much, but if they are giving 100% against weakened/non-trying opposition, then they (Team B) will have attract generous odds to win. And crucially, if the connected person is in a position to influence the result further i.e. is a player or manager of Team A, so much the better.

But that is not quite the same as a fixed result i.e. where Team A should beat Team B comfortably, and so match fixers arrange for Team A to lose. In such circumstances, it is actually very rare for the players to be the key - whether bribed to throw the game, or betting on themselves to do so.
This is because you can't rely on two or three players to produce an upset, e.g. giving away or missing penalties, or a keeper letting in soft goals etc, because if their teammates are giving 100%, then the activities of the dodgy players will be so blatant as to attract attention. Moreover, they can't guarantee they won't be subbed if they are playing badly, or sent off if fouling etc.
And bribing several players from a team might cost more than you win, as well as greatly increasing the chances of it leaking out, or one of the players approached reporting it to the authorities.
In which case, the key to match fixing is actually to get to the Referee - as has been seen even in the big leagues, such as Germany and Italy - or conceivably Team A's keeper.

But even then, fixing a match result (W, L or D) to upset the odds is too crude these days. It is much easier to arrange, and less likely to be noticed, a spread bet on the score.
For example, Team A is rated to beat Team B by 2.5 goals (effectively three). You will get decent odds on Team A only to win by 1.5 or less (effectively by a single goal, or even draw or lose). Therefore, if you can get to the Referee/Keeper - then you greatly enhance your chances.
So that if e.g. Team A goes ahead after 30 mins, the Ref/keeper doesn't need to cheat. If Team A then get a second goal, the Ref/Keeper still only has to award/concede a penalty, the score is now 2-1 and the bet is a winner again.
If that's how the match finishes, then nobody really notices - Team A just made harder work of it than normal.
Of course, if Team A gets a late 3rd goal, then the Ref/Keeper has to work extra hard to concede a second goal, but even if he does, people will just put it down to an "off-day" i.e. their suspicions won't be aroused, since Team A still won 3-2.
Of course, if Team A has a blinder and score half a dozen unstoppable goals, then the Ref or Keeper just accepts he cannot be seen to "throw" five dodgy decisions/own goals etc and the bet loses.
The fixers behind it know you can't win them all, but there'll always be another game and another opportunity.

Anyhow, from the speculation so far, if there is anything in the rumours, it is almost certainly an example of the first type of scam (imo).

(Still stinks, mind, with anyone caught and proven deserving a life ban from the game imo)

[JC_GUFC]

The different reaction to this thread and the Monaghan v Longford thread is astonishing!

A bookmaker reported seeing substantial amounts of money being wagered on a "nothing" First Division game and reported this but is accused of just whinging but some journo seems to make up a story with no hard facts behind it that Pat's players were betting on themselves to lose and everyone is up in arms!

As Dodge pointed out Pat's had weakened teams out for the matches in question, particularly against Galway, so there would be nothing irregular at all about bets being taken opposing them in games where the opposition was battling to save themselves from the drop and some people knowing that they'd be missing players.

[Dodge]

The different reaction to this thread and the Monaghan v Longford thread is astonishing!

Some of us are consistent.

others are doing the usual dramaqueen stuff

[adamd164]

If this is true, then they're a disgrace to their club and to the fans who pay good money to watch them.

Hopefully not, because it'd be another major embarrassment for the league.

[TheSaint2002]

Hopefully not, because it'd be another major embarrassment for the league

Fact : this league cannot get any more embarrassing.

This seasons woes would break even the hardest LOI fan.

[charliesboots]

Going to be difficult to prove this but the St Pats name has already been tarnished. If the media can't prove this can Pats sue?

IMO the Ramblers recent was the most surprising. Pats didn't exactly have youth team players on that side.

Whatever about fixing matches if I was a Pats fan I would be very disappointed by the unprofessional performances by their players. They may not be able to win the league but they still get paid & especially should be performing at home.

Pats couldn't sue - there would have to be a mistruth to do that.

all they reported was the meeting, the reason for the meeting and the rumours.

[Dodge]

No, the mail said that there were two players involved. Even mentioned the games.

[bellavistaman]

All i can say is dont judge either rams or galway. All we did was the same team we do every week, try to win.

Saying that though we had to play against fahey galway didnt.

WEll everyone by the way Lim Till I Die was right FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[charliesboots]

No, the mail said that there were two players involved. Even mentioned the games.

The quote from the mail is:

"The unsubstantiated claims centre around two players, only one of whom is understood to have taken part in the relevant games. If true the implications for St Pats and the integrity of the league are immense"

They don't state anything that could be proven to be a mistruth.

[Dodge]

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying

[charliesboots]

Here's the article







if you read the article this is nothing but rumour at the moment

[Dodge]

http://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=2716

Seems like something an on the ball CEO would do.

[Founders]

http://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=2716

Seems like something an on the ball CEO would do.

The damage has been done to the league already,so if its not true will pats sue??

[Dodge]

The damage has been done to the league already,so if its not true will pats sue??

No one will remember in 3 months. Every league has had betting scandals

Stop being a dramaqueen

[Rambling Along]

I told ye all 2 weeks ago there was match fixing going on and every one of ye laughed at me and said I was crazy that I was just being a bitter Ramblers fan but since then we've had the "Boylesports Scandal" and now this.

FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................told ya so!

Any chance they could be thrown out of the league?

[brianw82]

Any chance they could be thrown out of the league?

A bit OTT. If the players are found guilty, the club should punish them. No more.

[Inside Man]

If i was a Harps fan I would be particularily agrieved.
I'd expect to have some sort of reaction by them if they go down.

[Kildareman]

And Kildare County have just beaten Limerick37 at odds of.....6/1. OMG