A BIG match-fixing scandal will rock Australian sport within five years

[dave nz]

YUKO NARUSHIMA
October 9, 2009


A BIG match-fixing scandal will rock Australian sport within five years, an author probing organised crime in sport says.

Australia is ripe for exploitation by an Asian crime syndicate with established reach into Europe and an eye to expand, Canadian writer and investigative journalist Declan Hill said.

The nation's obsession with sport, the rise in gambling, its shared time zone with Asia and numerous sporting codes made it an obvious target, he said.

''The people who are doing this have targeted your country and will be destroying your sports within three to five years,'' he said. ''You have a brief window of opportunity to stop them coming in or they will wreak havoc here.''

His warning to the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association annual conference in Canberra yesterday came as independent senator Nick Xenophon called for a ban on sports gambling and the Federal Government identified it as an evolving threat.

Public concern about the social impact of gambling has been heightened with online betting agencies pervading lounge rooms to allow ''live'' bets on games as they unfolded on television. Punters can now dissect matches like never before, with potential to place wagers on each delivery or attempt on goal.

According to Mr Hill, who spent nine years researching his book, The Fix, the illegal sports gambling racket in Asia dwarfed legitimate agencies.

That syndicate destroyed the Chinese premier league soccer within two years where corruption was so bad, teams walked off the pitch mid-match, he said.

Also, fractured loyalties to cricket, Australian rules, rugby league, rugby union and soccer meant numerous leagues thrived but high-profile players were not necessarily well-paid.

''They play in these high-profile games but if [fixers] were to come to a certain team with $10,000, it's probably more than many of their junior players see in a week,'' he said.

Senator Xenophon said an Australia-wide ban on sports gambling was required to stop corruption in sport until the Federal Government established national regulations against match fixing.

The Federal Government said sports gambling, and its evolution online, was emerging as a threat.