You ain’t in Kansas anymore Dorothy. Back in the day, international sports integrity conferences – like Play the Game, happening right now in Colorado Springs – were jovial affairs where independent journalists, saddened whistle-blowers and beleaguered sports officials could meet, chat, drink and sometimes dance. Now, everything has changed. Sports are battle grounds of geopolitical … Continue reading How to Survive an International Sports Integrity Conference
Category Archives: Blog
The Worst Mass Murderers in History & the NBA
They are the worst mass murderers in the history of humanity and they have chosen to face down the National Basketball Association (NBA). If you missed this week’s foreboding story of communist Chinese taking umbrage at a seven-word tweet by a relatively unknown (by international standards) NBA manager, this is what happened. Daryl Morey … Continue reading The Worst Mass Murderers in History & the NBA
’Sometimes we fixed more games than we could bet’
In an exclusive interview with Play the Game, a former match-fixer tells how effectively criminal syndicates are still manipulating sports results despite all initiatives against it. The whole approach against match-fixing could be wrong, Declan Hill reports. This was first printed at: https://www.playthegame.org/news/news-articles/2019/0584_sometimes-we-fixed-more-games-than-we-could-bet/ ** The knock came late at night. Marko Stanovic – whose name … Continue reading ’Sometimes we fixed more games than we could bet’
Red Mafia & Black Mafia: Asian Police-Political Theater and Sports Gambling
There are two events occurring in Asia that show the close links between organized crime and top government officials. The first is in Hong Kong. The territory – nominally, an independent part of China under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ agreement hammered out with the departing Brits in 1997, is in the grip of a … Continue reading Red Mafia & Black Mafia: Asian Police-Political Theater and Sports Gambling
Beauty, Chaos and Tales of Match-Fixing at the Africa Cup of Nations
For those who have not been following the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2019), it has been a classic example of the beauty and chaos of Africa’s football world. “In French football you know that 10% of the money will disappear, in African football it is 90%” Joseph Antoine Bell, ex-Cameroon, Olympique de Marseille and … Continue reading Beauty, Chaos and Tales of Match-Fixing at the Africa Cup of Nations
Sex as the Coin of Corruption
Its not about sex. You might think that it was all about sex if you read many of the articles on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Epstein is the wealthy New Yorker financier indicted for sexual trafficking of potentially hundreds of underage girls. The media is full of salacious stories presented in an ‘Evils-of-Pornography-we-bring-you-a-26-part-special-investigation’ style. These … Continue reading Sex as the Coin of Corruption
The Words of the Deep Source Match-Fixers
Last spring, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a number of documents from fixers at the heart of the latest sports corruption investigation that resulted in dozens of players and match-fixers being arrested in Spain https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/46822784. I did not publish them as I did not want to jeopardize the investigation, but now … Continue reading The Words of the Deep Source Match-Fixers
Zombie Organizations: Interpol, WADA and now FIFA?
As the New Year dawns across the sports integrity world, there are a number of vast zombie organizations staggering across the corporate landscape like half-dead creatures. They have no life, energy or drive. They have given up their fundamental purpose.Their leadership has failed them. They are the institutional living dead. First, let us be fair, … Continue reading Zombie Organizations: Interpol, WADA and now FIFA?
The Death of ICSS’s Credibility
Its over. It cannot possibly stagger on with any belief. The credibility of that awful walking, talking oxymoron of the Qatari-funded agency for ‘sports integrity’ – the International Center for Sports Security (ICSS) is dead. Yesterday, in an extraordinary Football Leaks investigation the credibility of the ICSS was not just killed. They blew it up, … Continue reading The Death of ICSS’s Credibility
The Sporting Scandals of the Season
It is in the dog days of summer that the dirty deeds get done. A good habit for European and North American investigative journalists is to check government press releases at the beginning of the July 1st/4th weekend and the Friday before the Christmas Holidays. For it is then, when most people are rushing out … Continue reading The Sporting Scandals of the Season
