Soccer - a game of world champion cheats

As I write this, news is breaking worldwide of a match-fixing scandal in Europe of unheard-of proportions. Yahoo.com opens under the heading Europe match-fixing probe targets 200 games:

BOCHUM, Germany (AFP) – In what one UEFA official called European football's worst ever match-fixing scandal, investigators said Friday criminals may have netted 10 million euros rigging 200 games in nine countries.

A 200-strong band operating across Europe is suspected of swaying matches in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria, prosecutors in Germany said.

They include three Champions League ties, 12 matches in the Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup, one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship and four from the German second division.

All the games took place this season.

UEFA said it would give details of the matches later, but the 15 at European level involved early qualifying round games, while the rest were under the jurisdictions of national football associations.

It said that the list included 40 matches that UEFA had previously said were under suspicion.

By bribing players, coaches, referees and officials to influence matches, the criminals are then believed to have earned millions by placing huge bets on the games with bookmakers in Europe and Asia, primarily in China.

"Without doubt this is the biggest scam there has ever been in European football," UEFA's match-fixing specialist Peter Limacher said in Germany, where the probe was organised.

'Players, coaches, referees and officials' form the ultimate winning team in soccer, one of cheating and corruption. On this alone who can take premier club and international soccer seriously?

This follows on the outrageous vision of Thierry Henry, France's star player and national captain, unashamedly slapping the ball to keep it in play right next to the Irish team's goal before lolly-popping it to a team mate who merely had to put his head in the way. Henry immediately went into a victory run showing just how devoid of any feeling for fairness the whole sport of soccer has become. Thierry Henry will pay for his blatant cheating well past his retirement.

Australians will be reminded no doubt of the way the Italian team had to cheat their way past Australia in the last world cup. The Italian team has a record which makes them all-time world champion soccer cheats. Their antics on the field make them a collection of males who do not know what manliness or fairness mean. Most men are embarrassed to see them falling and writhing around on the playing field for no good reason. They are worthy of a float in Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras.

Of course, Thierry Henry's cheating reminds us of that other champion footballer, Maradonna, who also could not be happy with his extraordinary talent. He had to cheat the Argentine team past England in the 1986 World Cup to advance to the next round and finally to the winners' podium. Cheating to win by the Argentine and Italian teams of 1986 and 2006 disqualifies those tournaments, situating them in the record as a farce.

See the 15 greatest cheats of all time

Comment: gerard@gerardcharleswilson.com