Some people may hear the term "bent owner". In English slang the meaning of "bent" is to be dishonest. A dishonest owner.
This is not a reflection on the referee himself. Mr Toner merely has an unfortunate name that can be used to imply that a club owner is dishonest or corrupt. Recently, the owners of Blackpool were found guilty in the high court of "illegally stripping" the club of assets, and people have noticed this funny association.
Interestingly, the PGMOL decided to remove Ben Toner from the Blackpool vs Portmouth League One match and replace him with EPL referee Jon Moss. They cited that the reason for this was NOT because of the referee's name at the match, but because the match itself had become higher profile due to the high court's verdict. In the end, the third-tier match had an attendance of 5,032 and very little media coverage.
Perhaps Ben Toner should amend his name to Benjamin Toner or Benny Toner? Would that help?
Take home message: If you are a referee and you also have a funny name, you may need to think
about changing your name. Does anyone know any funny referee names?
There is a player in Hong Kong who is called "Linesman". Imagine the reaction of the match officials, when Lineman's teammates call his name!!
• Jon Moss takes over at Bloomfield Road due to ‘increased attention’
• Ben Toner’s name caused amusement following ruling against Oystons
The referee Ben Toner has been taken off Blackpool’s League One
match against Portsmouth, days after the majority owner, the Oystons,
were found by a high court judge to have operated an “illegitimate
stripping” of the Lancashire club.
After discussions between the EFL and PGMOL, the referees’
association, it was decided Toner should be replaced by Jon Moss, one of
the elite Premier League officials. As the body that appoints all match
officials it was the PGMOL rather than the EFL which made the choice.
An EFL spokesman said: “As a result of the increased attention
surrounding this weekend’s League One fixture between Blackpool and
Portsmouth, PGMOL [Professional Game Match Officials Limited] has
determined it would be appropriate for a select group 1 referee to take
charge of proceedings at Bloomfield Road.
Humble coin toss will confound fight against football graft
Seemingly
simple flip of a disc will confound those battling graft in football,
since there are no rules on how refs must conduct it
Humble coin toss a match-fixer's dream. Photo: Reuters
How
much is a coin toss worth? Can foolishly faking a frivolous flip and
flick of a thin metallic disc prove financially tempting? You bet. Five
years ago, the going rate was 100,000 yuan (US$16,000).
This was the amount Chinese referee Huang Junjie accepted from fellow
referee Zhou Weixin to rig the coin toss between Manchester United and
FC Shenzhen in 2007. Huang fixed the flip to ensure Shenzhen kicked off
the match in Macau.
Huang and Zhou admitted this in court when they became the first
referees to face trial in December 2011, following a two-year crackdown
on soccer corruption in China. Soon after, Lu Jun, a former World Cup referee, stood trial. Lu was previously considered China's most
respected referee, nicknamed the "golden whistle" for his impartiality.
Lu was found guilty of accepting 350,000 yuan for fixing a match in
2003 and subsequently received a five-and-a-half year jail sentence. In
an instant, China's golden match official joined the ranks of corrupt
referees on the mainland, who are dubbed "black whistles". These
infamous black whistles also received life bans.
In recent weeks, major organisations have declared match-fixing to be
widespread. A report by Europol revealed about 700 matches worldwide,
including Champions League ties and World Cup qualifiers, were suspected
of having been fixed.
And last week, Interpol met with Fifa officials at a conference in
Kuala Lumpur jointly hosted by the Asian Football Confederation to set
tougher laws in the battle against criminal syndicates suspected of
match-fixing.
The AFC announced it had established a task force that would
collaborate with all stakeholders and educate member associations on
ways to tackle match-fixing in Asia.
Rational Ref is keen to see what kind of role, and support, match
officials will be given in this initiative to combat suspect practices.
Take, for example, the rigging of the seemingly straightforward coin
toss.
The tradition of the coin toss is based on Western culture. Observe
most Western referees and they will place the coin on top of their thumb
and forefinger to flick the coin up in the air. The coin will twist and
twirl in a blur and then be caught in the same hand that flipped it.
Without looking at the coin and in one smooth movement, the coin is
slapped onto the back of the other hand and then revealed.
This is the standard protocol of the coin toss, providing you are
British, Australian, Canadian or American. Last Tuesday night,
Australian referee Chris Beath performed the standard coin toss as
expected during the AFC Cup match between Kitchee and Churchill Brothers
from India.
But watch referees from continental Europe, Asia or South America,
and the coin toss action varies considerably. Some cannot flip the coin
using their thumbs, some catch the coin with both hands, some catch and
reveal using only one hand, some let the coin land on an open palm, and
others will let the coin fall to the ground after throwing the coin up
without imparting any spin. Some referees are just clumsy and fumble the
coin toss.
Furthermore, the rulebook assumes all referees know how to flip a
coin. It states: "a coin is tossed and the team that wins the toss
decides which goal it will attack and the other team takes the
kick-off".
Since there is no accepted coin toss protocol, criminal syndicates
have benefited. For instance, what's to prevent referees from catching
the coin in an open palm, seeing the result and then deciding whether or
not to slap it over on the other hand, depending on the desired
outcome? There have been occasions where Chinese referees catch the coin
in the open palm, with the wrist slap being optional.
Details are unknown about the infamous coin toss at the Manchester
United versus FC Shenzhen match. If the referee did not rig the actual
toss, he could have easily used another suspect method.
Hypothetically, the referee, having gone through the motions of the
coin toss, could quickly look at the result and declare Manchester
United would choose ends, thus leaving FC Shenzhen to kick off, which
was the prearranged outcome.
Any visiting player to China, such as 33-year-old Ryan Giggs five
seasons ago, could easily dismiss this as a cultural peculiarity and in
any case would just want to get the match started without fuss. In
hindsight, we know it was an easy 100,000 yuan for a black whistle to
make.
Hence, this simple example of a corrupt coin toss is just the tip of the iceberg for AFC's new task force.
Rational Ref reckons referees on the right side of the law can assist
the task force in its fight against match-fixing. After all, referees
are whistleblowers.
"The best way to rig a match [is] to award penalties"
Referees already know this ... and if you look at the example here of Niger Referee Ibrahim Chaibou on 1 June 2011, it is quite obvious that he is fixing the match. So what has FIFA or Interpol done about charging Chaibou?
Singaporean businessman and match fixer Eric Ding Si Yang. Pic from AFP
Referee given match-fixing tips on YouTube, court told (SCMP; paywall)
Jailed official tells court he received links from businessman on how to make 'wrong decisions' Tuesday, 16 July, 2013, 3:59am
Agence France-Presse in Singapore
A Lebanese referee jailed for accepting sex to rig matches testified yesterday that a Singaporean businessman used YouTube to show him how to fix a game.
Ali Sabbagh, speaking on the first day of the trial of Eric Ding Si Yang, said the businessman sent him "20 to 30" YouTube links by e-mail to "teach me how to make wrong decisions".
"The videos had too many decisions where the decision made by the referee is not the right decision," he said.
Ding is accused of providing Sabbagh, 34, and two other Lebanese officials with women who gave them free sexual services before a match in Singapore in April..
Sabbagh and the other two officials were withdrawn from duty and placed under investigation before the match. He was found guilty in June and sentenced to six months in jail, while his assistants - Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb - were also convicted and have since been released and deported.
Sabbagh said that in a series of e-mail exchanges late last year, Ding told him that the best way to rig a match was to award penalties. Sabbagh quoted Ding as saying that "nobody will stop you, nobody will do anything ... When the corner comes, just blow and say pushing and pulling ... If there is anything in the penalty area, you can blow your whistle".
He said Ding gave him assurances that he would not be asked to rig matches that would affect his career within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Sabbagh, who is scheduled to be released from jail on August 3, told the court he was the one who first proposed that Ding "arrange for girls" when the three match officials were in Singapore for the AFC Cup tie between Singapore's Tampines Rovers and India's East Bengal in April.
Sabbagh said Ding asked them to choose between Colombian or Asian girls and "we all told him we want Asian girls".
He added that Ding had likely offered the free sexual favours with the expectation that they would help rig unspecified AFC Champions League matches to be held in South Korea, Qatar and Iran. "He [Ding] is very interested in these matches, there is too much spectators, there is too much goals," Sabbagh said in stuttering English.
Ding seemed relaxed but appeared to show disapproval at parts of Sabbagh's testimony.
He faces a maximum of five years in jail and fines of up to S$100,000 (US$80,000) for each of three counts of corruption. He separately faces two charges of stealing evidence and obstructing police after declining to disclose the password to his laptop computer. He denies the charges.
Three months later, the match officials have been sentenced in Singapore. The two ARs, Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, were sentenced to three months in jail. The judge deferred sentencing Referee Ali Sabbagh, 34, who is considered the "most culpable".
More must be done to track and hunt down the real perpetrators, such as Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, the Singaporean businessman who allegedly supplied the prostitutes, and his associates.
Lebanese referees admit agreeing to fix soccer match for sex in Singapore (SCMP; paywall)
Tuesday, 11 June, 2013
Agence France-Presse in Singapore
Three Lebanese referees pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting free sex from a gambling-linked global syndicate in return for agreeing to rig a match.
A Singaporean district court judge jailed assistant referees Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, for three months.
He deferred sentencing until today for referee Ali Sabbagh, whom prosecutors said was the most culpable.
The assistant referees broke down into sobs and repeatedly looked up as if to thank God when Judge Low Wee Ping said they could be freed by today, after remission for good behaviour and due to time already served while awaiting sentencing.
Turning to Sabbagh, 34, the judge said: "I need time to consider your sentence. I don't, for the moment, accept that you should be sentenced to six months."
Deputy public prosecutor Asoka Markandu described Sabbagh as the most culpable as he was the one who was approached by the syndicate and persuaded the two linesmen to accept the sexual bribe.
The three men were arrested and charged on April 4 with corruption for accepting sexual favours in exchange for agreeing to fix an unspecified match.
They had been abruptly pulled out of an Asian Football Confederation Cup match that they were scheduled to officiate on April 3 between the Singapore-based Tampines Rovers and India's East Bengal.
The three match officials were denied bail and have been detained at Singapore's Changi prison since April 4.
Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singaporean businessman who allegedly supplied the prostitutes, has also been charged with corruption and granted bail.
Defence lawyer Gary Low cited his clients' previously unblemished records, their guilty pleas and the fact that their acceptance of the sexual bribe did not ultimately result in any football match being rigged.
"The gratification was arranged by Mr Ding Si Yang with a view to fixing a football match in the future," Low said. "Our clients did not reach an agreement with Ding to fix a particular football match.
"In these circumstances, our clients' conduct did not in any way affect or influence the outcome of any football match," the lawyer added.
The man who was once China's top football referee has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for taking bribes to fix matches.
Lu Jun - who officiated at the World Cup - was one of nine people convicted of charges related to corruption inside Chinese football.
The defendants were arrested following an investigation launched to try to clean up the game in China.
A number of other cases are still pending.
Lu Jun, once dubbed the "golden whistle", was the first Chinese referee to take charge of a World Cup match, at the 2002 event hosted by Japan and South Korea.
He was also twice named referee of the year by the Asian Football Confederation.
But now he has been sent to prison after admitting taking bribes worth more than $128,000 (£82,000) to fix the results of seven league football games, some in 2003.
These bribes involved four clubs, including Shanghai Shenhua, which has just signed French soccer star Nicolas Anelka. 'Black whistles'
The court, in the north-eastern city of Dandong, heard how the Shanghai club had spent nearly $1m bribing officials and referees, including Lu Jun.
The referee was one of a group of nine people - including other referees and officials - convicted following a trial. They were given sentences ranging from no time in jail to seven years behind bars.
There were tales of a wrongly-awarded penalty, the fixing of international friendly matches and gambling.
In China, corrupt referees have become known as "black whistles".
The promising career of a young Hong Kong football player has all but ended after the 20-year-old admitted to match fixing during an international friendly between hosts Hong Kong and Russia on 5 November 2011. The match finished 1—2.
20-year-old Iu Wai faces a life suspension from the game
Notice in the Hong Kong corruption case that there is a lack of investigation (or lack of media reports) looking beyond the 20-year-old player. Obviously, there must be a mastermind or masterminds that set up such match fixing cases. Only the small fish have been caught.
Things will get worse before they get better because at present in Hong Kong there are moves afoot to open things up and to be more transparent. This is due to a new initiative codenamed Project Phoenix which aims to make significant changes in the management structure and future operations of Hong Kong Football. As with all 'shake ups', skeletons may fall out before things get better.
Reference
Bribes bid admitted by soccer player (SCMP; subscription required)
Iu Wai reverses earlier plea and says he tried to bribe teammates to fix a showpiece youth friendly against Russia at Mong Kok Stadium Austin Chiu and Colleen Lee Dec 17, 2011
A young Hong Kong soccer player yesterday admitted that he tried to bribe his teammates to fix a showpiece international friendly match, reversing an earlier plea of not guilty he made after his arrest.
Iu Wai, 20, an up-and-coming defender for Hong Kong Sapling Football Club who also turns out for Hong Kong's under-21 side, was remanded in custody after pleading guilty at Kowloon City Court to two counts of offering an advantage.
Iu was arrested when ICAC investigators staged an unprecedented raid on a friendly youth match between Hong Kong and Russia, attended by 5,000 spectators, at Mong Kok Stadium on November 5. The Russians won 2-1.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption raid was not only a blow to the already battered reputation of soccer in the city, but led to an important government public relations coup backfiring spectacularly.
The international match at the centre of the investigation was arranged in April during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Hong Kong, when Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen invited Russia's youth squad to play in the city, and initiated an exchange opportunity for young players.
Yesterday in court, Iu admitted that he approached teammate Chan Cham-hei, a defender, and Chiu Yu-ming, a goalkeeper, to throw the match in return for several tens of thousands of dollars. The two turned down his requests and called the ICAC.
Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned sentencing until December 30, pending a background report, detention centre report and training centre report on Iu.
The court heard that in November Iu was approached by a man, whom he referred to as "Ah Liu", in Shenzhen to bribe Hong Kong youth representative team players to fix the match.
Iu set out to lure Chan and Chiu during a four-day residential training camp days before the match.
Last year, Iu was arrested but not charged when mainlander Yu Yang was jailed for 10 months for trying to fix a First Division match between Happy Valley and Fourway Rangers.
Philip Lee Fai-lap, Sapling's team manager, said: "Iu is foolish to have made the mistake. His career as a football player has just started but it's likely that it's reaching the end."
Lee said Iu was likely to receive a life suspension from the game.
"But we have to appreciate kids do make mistakes. He is going to be punished by law. The next thing the club will do is to give him a helping hand." Lee said.
He said the club would remind its members to always stay clean and abide by the law, adding that the scandal had had a huge impact on the club's reputation.
The Hong Kong Football Association declined to comment.
Timothy Tong Hin-ming, the ICAC commissioner, said the commission completed the investigation and prosecution of Iu within a month of receiving the report.
In the first 11 months of this year, the ICAC received 31 bribery complaints regarding sport and recreational activities, compared with about 20 last year, Tong said on the sidelines of an ICAC seminar.
The following incidents occurred during the friendly match between Nigeria and Argentina on Wednesday 1 June 2011. The match finished 4—1.
There were two penalty decisions and I'll leave it to viewers (and to investigators of corruption) to decide whether something was suspect about Referee Ibrahim Chaibou's performance.
First Penalty This actually looks half-credible but consider how easy it was for the Referee to give it. Look at the Referee's angle of view and now decide whether he actually saw the incident clearly.
What's the Referee thinking? $$$
Referee's non-standard positioning for a penalty kick
Second Penalty The last goal of the match was highly suspect. There was 5 minutes of added time but the Referee continued after this and eventually in the 90+8 minute he awarded a penalty. He indicated the penalty was for handball, but even without replays it was clear no handball had occurred. Players were bemused and the Referee repeatedly indicated handball (more to convince himself than anyone else).
What's the Referee thinking? $$handball$$
Referee's non-standard positioning for a penalty kick (again)
SUMMARY
Much has been written about match fixing (among the best come from The Telegraph ... examples here, here and here), particularly from Asia. The reason is because in Asia there is a whole gamut of gambling options open (e.g. goals scored in first half, goals scored in second half, total goals scored) plus there are numerous betting outlets that help avoid alerting bookmakers in real time about significant swings in particular betting patterns.
With Nigeria leading 4-0 there was a huge swing on some in-play gambling markets which appeared to anticipate a fifth goal.
With 90 minutes played referee Ibrahim Chaibou awarded five minutes of stoppage time but let play carry on until, in the eighth minute of additional play, he signalled a handball against Nigeria, awarding a penalty to Argentina.
Replays indicated the ball had hit one Nigerian player’s shin and diverted to another player, whom it hit in the stomach. The whistle appears to have been blown immediately after the ball hit the first player. Mauro Boselli, of Wigan, converted the penalty.
“With 86 minutes played the odds for over 4.50 [a fifth goal to be scored] were absolutely insane. The market was effectively saying it was odds against that there would be no more goals. It is hard to get an exact figure for how much would have been bet to force that kind of swing but we are certainly talking hundreds of thousands, possibly more than £1,000,000,” said Matthew Benham of SmartOdds, an online betting firm.
The referee involved, Chaibou, of Niger, was in charge of the Sept 7 friendly between Bahrain and a ‘fake’ Togo team, another game under Fifa investigation. That match was organised by Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match-fixer who is facing trial in a Lapland court after being charged with bribing players to fix games in the Finnish league. Telegraph Sport attempted to contact Chaibou last night but calls were not returned.
Lu Jun, China's most prominent referee to have fallen from grace, has admitted to match-fixing corruption charges in China's domestic league during the 2003 season. This a year following his historic achievement in becoming the first Chinese from mainland China to officiate at the World Cup in the 2002 tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan.
Having previously been dubbed the "Golden Whistle", Lu Jun now joins the dodgy ranks of the "Black Whistles" that have tarnished the reputation of Chinese soccer (see here and here).
Referee Lu Jun during the 2002 World Cup group match between Poland and USA (pic from here)
One of the mainland's top soccer referees confessed to fixing a match in the country's top league in return for 350,000 yuan (HK$415,450), state media reported yesterday.
Clad in orange prisoner's garb, former leading referee Lu Jun , who used to be a household name for millions of soccer fans across the nation, told China Central Television that under instructions from Zhang Jianqiang , the top football official overseeing referees in China at the time, he favoured Shanghai Shenhua in a derby match against Shanghai International in late 2003.
"He dropped me some hints that the Shenhua side might do me some favours if they managed to win the game," Lu said.
Lu showed one of International's players a red card, sending him from the pitch with 30 minutes left in the game. The sending off was controversial, with Shenhua eventually beating 10-man International 4-1, the report said. Lu later got 350,000 yuan in cash in a paper bag, with Zhang also getting the same amount.
Liu Xiaoxin , the newly appointed publisher of Soccer News, a Guangzhou-based newspaper, said yesterday that the match Lu fixed was one of the most important games in the top league that season.
"The Shanghai squads were the two strongest contenders for the League A title that year," he said.
"Maybe it was as a result of the fixing, maybe not, but the fact was that the Shenhua side lifted the trophy in the top league in 2003 and International finished second."
Liu said Lu had taken more money than other corrupt referees because he was prominent in his profession at that time. Dubbed "the golden whistler", Lu officiated in two matches at the 2002 World Cup, one in Japan and one in South Korea.
Two other referees, Huang Junjie and Zhou Weixin , allegedly rigged matches between Beijing Hyundai and Shenyang Ginde in 2004, and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Qingdao Zhongneng in 2009, the report said.
The night before that particular match, Fourway Rangers defender Jean Jacques Kilama received a phone call from a mainland player playing for Happy Valley, suggesting that his team should lose the match. Kilama, a 27-year-old Cameroon-born player who has been a professional player for eight years in Cameroon, Romania and Indonesia (including the past three years in Hong Kong), declined.
Despite clearly saying “no”, Kilama was again approached, this time in person by the Happy Valley player, at 6am the next day. He asked Kilama how much he wanted in return for throwing the match. He again declined and later told his club superiors. Kilama’s club director advised him to go to the ICAC.
In May 2010, the ICAC arrested mainlander Yu Yang, 27 and charged Yu with one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. The ICAC also arrested four other players who were released on bail pending further inquiries.
In June 2010, HKFA’s Disciplinary Task Force followed up on the bribery case. At their meeting held on 21 June 2010, they suspended Yu Yang for life (see below) and released their findings on 16 July 2010.
According to the Certificate of Trial of Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts and Press Release of ICAC on 20th May 2010, Mr. YU Yang, the player of Happy Valley Football club, earlier pleaded guilty to one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. He was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment at Kowloon City Magistracy for offering a bribe to another footballer for his assistance in fixing a match. He was subsequently also disciplinary charged by HKFA.
The Disciplinary Hearing was convened on 21 June 2010 where Happy Valley Football Club declined to send representative on behalf of Mr. YU Yang. Basing on the aforesaid information and after full consideration, the HKFA Disciplinary Task delivered the decision as follows:
1. The player, YU Yang of Happy Valley was found guilty of having violated provisions of HKFA Disciplinary Code 2009/10 (in breach of Chapter 4, Clause 3.1.22).
2. The accused, YU Yang was ordered to be suspended for life. YU Yang is not allowed to participate (including as a role of players or officials) in any matches or activities organized by HKFA.
3. The suspension would be made known to FIFA & AFC.
4. The above suspension would be effective at 12 noon, on 16 July 2010.
From time to time cases of [alleged] match-fixing have arisen in Hong Kong. For example in March 2009 during the 2008-2009 HKFA season, Hong Kong first division club Tuen Mun Progoal were leading Happy Valley 1—0 at half-time only to lose 1—5. Allegations of match-fixing arose after a Progoal player blogged that his mainland teammates had thrown the match for money.
Back in 1998, the ICAC arrested six players representing the Hong Kong team for taking bribes and fixing matches during qualification games for the 1998 World Cup. From the perspective of match officials, there is nothing referees can do if players from one or both teams are involved in match-fixing—other than to perform their duties to the best of their abilities and apply the LOTG appropriately. All match officials must focus on their match at hand and perform their duties to the best of their abilities.
“The best referee is one who has the courage to make decisions even when it would be easier not to.” — Pierluigi Collina.
This blog agrees with Collina's definition and therefore advocates optimum officiating for the good of the game. A good game is fair, safe and enjoyable, with the Referee playing a part.
NOTE: Time and effort is used to post match analyses and observations here so that other Referees can learn from the mistakes {and successes} of high-profile Referees. Please use the content presented here and take heed of the following quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — George Santayana.
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