Were limerick not sponsored by some obscure foreign bookmakers around that time too?
I also still donât understand where the liquidity comes from ? How many people are betting under/over corners in an LOI match?
Bet365 would have corners betting anyway. And I suspect a few more would also.
Iâll have a look at my Asian broker tomorrow for the limits on same.
A man from Foynes another name Iâve heard this morning.
Cc @TreatyStones @Aristotle @manbehindthewire
And one current Treaty player.
Did they fix games just by playing Patrick Kanyuke at centre back?
One still in custody.
I think @Thomas_Brady would know one of those arrested.
He was in the car sales business amongst other businessâŚ
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I know his older brother but yeah, the family lived around the corner from us in Moyross.
Jamie?
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I can get around âŹ7500 on Rovers -1 Asian Handicap from 3-0 up right now.
If Rovers win by 1 goal from here itâs a refund. 2 or more is a winner.
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Do you think these lads were just doing it themselves or do you think there was a higher level orchestrating it?
Bazunu spent most of the UCD game signing autographs guys
what a top guy
Treacy, and Duggan among the arrested.
Themselves Iâd say.
Pat wasnât paying them at the time.
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Another own goal
After ten people are arrested over alleged match fixing at Limerick FC, Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan ask if gambling is ruining football
The Operation Brookweed investigation arose from complaints made by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and Uefa, the European football authority, that has placed some 60 games under suspicion of match fixing
STEPHEN MCCARTHY/SPORTSFILE
and
Sunday May 22 2022, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times
At 6am last Wednesday the gardai began banging on doors across Dublin and the southwest. Ten men, aged from their twenties to their sixties, were arrested over a three-year investigation into alleged match fixing at the now defunct League of Ireland club Limerick FC.
A source close to one former Limerick player, who protests his innocence, says he was shown text messages that he felt were âpretty incriminatingâ for some of his old team-mates. The former player was shown footage of punters placing large bets on Limerick FC matches and asked if he knew their identities.
The Operation Brookweed investigation arose from complaints made by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and Uefa, the European football authority, that have placed some 60 games under suspicion of match fixing. The allegation is not only that results were fixed but that players contrived to assist punters who placed bets on the amount or timing of throw-ins, corners, goals and bookings.
With the FAI celebrating its centenary year, the timing was not good for Irish footballâs image, damaged by financial and governance scandals in recent years.
Two of those arrested are still playing professional football and are receiving assistance from the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI).
âThe league is in a good place at the moment,â said Stephen McGuinness, the PFAI president. âCrowds are up, the quality of football is good, the clubs did quite well in Europe last year â but stuff like this damages everyone and completely undermines what we are all trying to do. But we need to be clear here that this is stuff going back as far as six years.â
The first case of confirmed match fixing in the League of Ireland came in 2017, when two foreign players with Athlone Town got one-year bans after being found guilty by the FAI of throwing a game that drew large wagers on Asian betting exchanges. The only evidence was the unusual betting patterns and an analysis of the playersâ allegedly suspicious performances. One was cleared on appeal due to the lack of evidence against him.
Unlike the Athlone Town case, which was solely handled by the FAI, the gardai investigation into Limerick FCâs former players involves evidence of text messages that allegedly indicate that associates of some players were passed inside information. The gardai will now send a file to the director of public prosecutions to decide if any charges will be brought.
McGuinness believes the education of players on the dangers of gambling has improved through PFAI and FAI talks that stress how the authorities monitor games for unusual betting patterns. All teams must host an âintegrity presentationâ for players by Fran Gavin, its integrity officer.
His talk outlines how players may not bet on their own matches or any games in their competitions. They are also forbidden from passing inside information on any team or match to friends or associates. If they have been found to have broken these rules they can be suspended, banned or face criminal investigation. Players are warned that they can be targeted for recruitment by match-fixers who could be monitoring them in-person or on social media for vulnerabilities.
McGuinness said the Irish league was particularly vulnerable due to a culture of gambling in football and the modest pay for players. He knows of cases where players have run up large gambling debts and then got sucked into criminality to pay off debts. âThe integrity of our game is at risk due to the fact that our players are paid so little and in some cases they are amateurs,â McGuinness said. âThe suspicion around the current case involved a club that was unable to pay its players a basic salary. When that happens thereâs potential for players to resort to other means to raise money. Obviously thatâs completely wrong to manipulate results and situations in games, but we have to ensure we have a full-time professional league. I donât think you see these problems in other leagues where players are better looked after.â
McGuinness said the anti-gambling message to players is diluted by a preponderance of gambling sponsorship. Barry Grant, who runs Problem Gambling Ireland, said the country was 15 years behind the UK in setting up a gambling regulator. The Department of Justice said the new regulator should be in place next year after the passing of a bill imposing new restrictions on bookmakers, advertising and their treatment of punters.
Grant said the FAI had not been as strong on tackling gambling as the GAA, which banned sponsorship from gambling companies for all teams in 2018.
The FAI decided in January 2021 not to accept a gambling sponsor for itself or the league, but clubs may sign such deals, which can be worth over âŹ100,000 a year. While Drogheda United have said they will not take a gambling sponsor, nearby Dundalk, one of the most successful teams over the past decade, are sponsored by BetRegal, a Malta-registered bookie. Champions Shamrock Rovers are sponsored by the betting giant 888.
Last week the FAI said it ran a âzero-tolerance policyâ towards match fixing and promised âthe heaviest punishment possibleâ on anyone convicted.
A 2014 UK study found the rate of problem gambling was three times higher among professional sportspeople than in the normal population. Seamus Kelly, a lecturer in sports management at UCD and a former footballer, said gambling culture can be strong at football clubs.
âA lot of sportspeople bet because they have so much time on their hands,â Kelly said. âWhen you go to Cheltenham, itâs a whoâs who of the Premier League. In Ireland, days out and bonding sessions will be at the races. Itâs ingrained.â
Kelly said playersâ inside knowledge of injuries and team selections can make betting or sharing details irresistible, particularly with mobile gambling. âA few years ago you would have eight or ten lads who would go to the bookies around the corner â and now they would be on their phones,â he said. âA message comes that one club is putting out a weakened team as their eyes are on a European game. Before, a player might think âI have to go down to a bookieâ, whereas now itâs just 30 seconds away on the phone.â
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This League of Ireland is really just for the dregs.
UNDERCOVER GARDAĂ AS well as uniformed officers are clamping down on ârampantâ drug use at League of Ireland football matches, The Journal has learned.
Officers attached to drug and public order units have been carrying out operations targeting drug use at games. Dublin-based clubs as well as those in Louth are understood to be among those being patrolled and monitored, sources said.
This publication spoke to many fans, including people attached to several Dublin teamsâ supportersâ clubs, about the increase in drug use among the crowds at matches since Covid restrictions were lifted earlier this year and the new season began in early spring.
Most spoke anecdotally about seeing cocaine use both on the terraces but mostly in the toilets at the grounds in recent months.
However, multiple security sources have told this publication that there is expected to be a âserious clampdownâ on the use of drugs at these games in the coming weeks.
There has been a significant increase in crowds at the League of Ireland this season, even compared to pre-pandemic attendances.
One security source explained: âIt is something gardaĂ are seeing a lot more often and it seems to be the case that people think they can get away with it. Officers are seeing a lot of people leaving games who are high off their heads on coke. Itâs a real problem they are trying to solve. Itâs rampant.â
Club bosses want to keep match days as family friendly as possible to attract more fans as well as lucrative sponsors.
However, there are fears that continued drug use and other anti-social behaviour could deter people from paying to attend games.
The Journal has contacted the FAI as well as Dublin-based Premier Division clubs. We had received no reply to our queres by yesterday evening.
The problem is not just an Irish one.
The UK has faced this issue for over a decade and has strict banning order legislation for people caught in possession or doing drugs at games.
In a statement to this publication, a garda spokesman said: âAn Garda SĂochĂĄnaâs policing of these events involves an individual risk assessment in respect of each event .
âThe implementation of policing plans in respect of all events and games involves a graduated police response to incidents of a criminal nature and in respect of anti-social behaviour involving overt, covert and specialist trained personnel.
âAs part of An Garda SĂochĂĄnaâs policing of these events and games its focus is on preventing and detecting crime, including those involving illegal substances.â
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Spurs fans were openly doing cocaine on the White Hart Lane pitch a few years ago mate
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