Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/977918
maltatoday SUNDAY 6 MAY 2018 Interview 14 By Raphael Vassallo Football is often described as 'the beautiful game', and in Malta it is by far the most popular and beloved sport. Yet at present, there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over it. There have been cases of match-fixing, and there also seems to be an embedded perception of corruption. How true is that perception, and how seriously is it impacting the game? You mention that our football is 'under a cloud' right now. But the perception that football matches are manipulated has been there a long time We are not talking about any- thing that is new, or only happening now. However, technology and in- stant communication have enlarged the situation: everybody is aware of it, so obviously we think it's bigger. Is it bigger? Well, if you have a base for something that will grow... probably, that is the situation of our football. If you go back in history – you can research the Encyclopaedia of Mal- tese football, especially – there were already cases going back 50, 60 years. Our rules have contemplated match- fixing and corruption for a long time. Our law against corruption in sport has been in existence since 1976. Probably we are the first European country that enacted such a law... So before 1976, there were no international laws against corruption in sport? Only a few. When I attend inter- national conferences in Europe, they are trying to enact a new law now... we have had that in place for 50 years. Unfortunately, one way to interpret that fact is that the problem is so rife locally that we needed to legislate long before other countries... It is big. Then, obviously, percep- tions, comments and rumours make it bigger. But... does it exist? I would say, we wouldn't have enacted a law 50 years ago if it didn't... Meanwhile, much has changed since in Maltese football the 1970s. There is – or is rumoured to be – a lot more money in the game today. Is that a fact, and does it impact the corruption scenario? That's what they say. The prov- enance of all this money is often very difficult to pinpoint. Not just in Mal- ta, but across the football world. You get 'big guys' going into clubs... you don't know what their background is, you don't know what their objective is. If you go into football, there is sup- posedly a financial fair-play system in force; but obviously there are loop- holes, and it is by-passed over and over again... different contracts for different players; and if the big play- ers get big money, it goes down the line. The smaller players will ask for more money. So it grows: the finan- cial background of the game itself has grown... not only internationally, but even locally. [...] It's about competi- tion, ultimately. If you are in a club, a team, a football organisation.... com- petition will lead to higher objectives. You need more cash if you want to achieve success. Success, in itself, at- tracts more money... competition at- tracts more money... and the money aspect has grown disproportionately in the meantime. But football is big business, not just a sport. Independently of sports leg- islation, there is already international legislation regulating financial trans- actions, money transfers, etc. We see this in news and current events that have nothing to do with football: here are ongoing probes into corrup- tion and money-laundering involv- ing banks, governments, and so on. Is football subjected to the same levels of scrutiny as, for instance, banks or financial institutions? Is there scrutiny of bank transfers, though? Probably not enough, granted... Let me put it this way, when we talk about 'corruption in sport'... we're not talking about 'sport'. We are talk- ing about corruption, about outright criminality. Sometimes the onus is on us, as a football association, and on myself, as the MFA's integrity of- ficer... some people think that it is our total responsibility to control, inves- tigate, and prosecute a criminal. That is the situation. But it is not about football. As a football association we have done our part. But surely it is the job of the police, not the MFA, to investigate crime. That is something else. We have good collaboration with the police. When I started seven years ago, it was at a certain level... today, I am satisfied: there is more collaboration, though obviously I keep asking... nat- urally, I understand the priorities, the resources... but with the information I have passed onto the police... there is enough information for them to at least act, in certain cases... The implication there is that they are not acting, or not as much as you would expect from the information given... They do act; but I would like to see them act much quicker. If I had a warrant, and the equipment and technology that might be accessible to the police, probably I would move faster. Do you know of individual cases where the police have not acted, despite having the information to do so? No: each case I know of, in which I am in possession of information – and my intelligence on this matter is quite extensive: I have informers, naturally, because that's the way it works. But I am very discreet and confidential. I have people coming to me with information, but I weigh everything: unless I have the right background, unless the information is solid... I will not move. It would not be fair on the informer, or on the situation itself. But when I did have solid information... I moved. As you said earlier, there is big money in football, and this obviously attracts criminality. Have you ever been threatened? Well... you mention 'big money', but the reality is that football manip- ulation goes right across the board. It's not just top divisions; not just global divisions, either. It could be outside any divisions or any league. It could be anywhere. So the amounts vary, depending on the level, where the match is played and so on. But it's there all the same... Much as I hate to bring this up, but I remember cases of 'corruption' even in school football... [Shrugs] It is part of our football culture, unfortunately. That's the situation [...] so when I speak about it, people may doubt, or may want me to shut up... Has this ever extended to actual threats, though? Yes. The thing is: you might be threatened directly; you might hear of what is being said about [you] in the background... but now I've crossed that line, and I won't go back. I won't give up. Coming back to the cases you have reported: what are your realistic expectations? The way it works is... I collaborate, I pass on information; and then it is not up to me. I won't push, or what- ever. They know how to deal with it... and I am 100% sure that they do deal with it, at their own pace. When you go to the police headquarters, you can see the amount of work that they have... ... and how understaffed they are... Yes. Lately, there was a conference where somebody asked whether we should have a specific unit [dedi- cated to corruption in sports]. The answer is yes, but we should have a specific unit for every crime. Where does 'football' – even though it's not 'football', as I said before – feature in the programme? In the – how shall I put it – the list of priorities of how police deal with cases? Where do we put it: up at the top, with drugs? I don't think so. So where else? Money laundering? Domestic violence? I can keep on going. Where do they fit it? This is not about football: it's about a lot of other things. Especially money- laundering. The police understand this, because I have trained some of them myself... There is a tendency with organised crime to have a hand in all sorts of different criminal activities. You mentioned drugs, for instance: in the criminal underworld, it often goes hand in hand with prostitution, etc. Do you see any similar correlation between football manipulation and other crimes? Well, though earlier I said it's about criminality, not football... let's not forget that part of it is about foot- ball as well. The first objective will be manipulating a match for sport- ing advantage... to get the result you want. Or for another team's benefit... there's a whole array of different reasons to want to fix a match... It's not just about money, then? Of course not. The money is an added incentive. Betting – probably you're going to mention betting, ob- viously... is another added incentive to what used to happen... Yes, in fact I was going to mention betting. Another change between the 1970s and today is that gambling, in this sense, is now legal. There are betting agencies in every town and village. Has legal betting had any discernible impact on the match-fixing situation? We're not saying that, in the past, there was no betting. There was: it was illegal, probably on a smaller scale than now... but what is hap- pening now, internationally, is that technology has made betting so ac- cessible, 24/7... you wake up in the middle of the night, and if you want to place a bet on a match anywhere in the world... you can do it, if you have a betting account. That's how it works. Obviously, it hasn't helped the situation. It hasn't helped. It's an added temptation. Those people who want to take advantage of It hasn't helped. It's an added temptation. Those people who want to take advantage of legal betting by manipulating a local match... the rewards are much higher. To tempt somebody on the pitch, on that green rectangle, with big money... it's very easy LEGAL BETTING There is football, and then there