PM weighs into Italian match-fixing scandal

Updated May 30, 2012 07:34:55

Prime minister Mario Monti has suggested that professional soccer in Italy should be suspended for two or three years, following a match-fixing scandal that has so far seen 19 people arrested.

The Italian soccer federation and several clubs rejected the idea, which Mr Monti said he was making "as a fan".

The widening scandal has seen a number of top players arrested, and the coach of this season's title-winning club, Juventus, placed under investigation.

In the latest phase of an operation which began last year, police placed Juventus coach Antonio Conte under investigation on Monday over allegations relating to a 2011 match between his previous club Siena, and Novara.

They also arrested Stefano Mauri, captain of Lazio, one of the two big clubs in Rome, and raided the Italian national team's training base at Coverciano after placing Italy defender Domenico Criscito under investigation.

"It's particularly sad when a world which should be an expression of the highest values - sport, youth, competition, fairness - turns out to be a mass of foul play, falsehood and demagoguery," Mr Monti said.

"This isn't a government proposal, but I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to suspend the game for two or three years."

The idea is unlikely to gain much traction in Italy, a country which is both obsessed by soccer and inured to an apparently endless series of financial, political and sexual scandals in recent years.

"I understand and share the bitterness of prime minister Monti," Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete said.

"But to stop the championship would mean humiliating all of football, penalising the majority who work honestly and it would also mean the loss of thousands of jobs.

"It is not the solution."

Mr Monti's suggestion underscores the growing disgust over an affair which has shone a harsh light on the pervasive corruption at many levels of Italian society.

"It's so easy for the great majority of citizens to see the origin of all Italy's problems in politics," Mr Monti said.

"It's a big mistake."

ABC/Reuters

Tags: italy, soccer, sport, crime, world-politics, italy

First posted May 30, 2012 05:59:43

View the original article here

Love, Lust and Scandal in Professional Football [Sports Wives 1] (Siren Publishing Allure)

[Siren Allure: Erotic Contemporary Romance]

Cassie Teller is a woman who appears to live a simple life. But look beyond the surface and discover a complicated lady with very scandalous secrets as two incredibly sexy men bide for her love and everything that goes along with it.

Cassie knows what she wants. She wants Steve in her bed and a PFC football to keep her warm at night when he’s not. That is, until she meets the most eligible bachelor in the Professional Football Confederacy. He runs straight into her life. And plans to stay there.

Steve has had many opportunities with Cassie. She’s been his best friend with sexual benefits but never the woman on his arm. When PFC Superstar Corby Teller meets Cassie, he knows she’s something special. He plans to spend his life making her the happiest woman alive. And she could be. That is, if Steve would stay out of her bed.

"Love, Lust and Scandal in Professional Football was written for those women out there who know what it’s like to spend Sundays with their husbands glued to the television set. It’s also for those, like me, who are right there with them cheering on their favorite teams, or at least, the sexy men who are out there playing the games." ~ Destiny ~

A Siren Erotic Romance

Price: $4.50

Click here to buy from Amazon

FIFA embroiled in new pre-election scandal

ELEANOR HALL: Now to the latest bribery scandal to afflict soccer's governing body, FIFA.

A Qatari man who is a key contender for the top job in world football is being accused of offering bribes for votes.

Mohamed bin Hammam is the head of the Asian Football Confederation, which includes Australia, and is the only challenger to the current president, Sepp Blatter.

The whistleblower is fellow FIFA executive committee member.

Michael Atkin has more.

MICHAEL ATKIN: The battle for the top job in the world game has turned nasty.

With the vote for the FIFA presidency just days away, the only challenger Mohamed bin Hammam has been ordered to face a FIFA ethics hearing over alleged bribery.

Bin Hammam denies the allegations in a statement posted on his website.

EXTRACT FROM STATEMENT BY MOHAMED BIN HAMMAM (voiceover): This has been a difficult and painful day for me today but, if there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind.

This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the FIFA presidential election.

I am confident that there is no charge to answer.

MICHAEL ATKIN: Bin Hammam is in the middle of a contest to stop Sepp Blatter being re-elected president for a fourth consecutive term. But his appearance at the ethics hearing just three days before the presidential vote will have a serious impact on his bid.

Andy Harper is a football commentator with Fox Sports.

He says whether or not the allegations are proven, he believes that the timing is politically motivated.

ANDY HARPER: My first reaction is things must be getting tight for Sepp Blatter who up until this point I think had enough votes tucked away for the upcoming election for the FIFA presidency and I can only assume that his counting is starting to tell him that he is in a bit of trouble and he is looking euthanize his one and only opponent.

MICHAEL ATKIN: So you think the presidential vote might be a real contest and so this is part of the manoeuvring behind the scenes?

ANDY HARPER: I think it is beyond question.

MICHAEL ATKIN: The former head of the England Football Association David Davies believes the investigation into Bin Hammam's actions should be taken out of FIFA's hands. He has also questioned whether the presidential vote can continue.

DAVID DAVIES: It is very difficult to see how allegations or smears as serious as this can be properly investigated and decided upon in a matter of days or hours next Sunday as appears to be the intention.

MICHAEL ATKIN: FIFA is also currently looking into another bribery scandal involving allegations that some of its members sought bribes from the UK to support its bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Sepp Blatter has refused to appear in front of a UK parliamentary inquiry into the 2018 bidding process.

Andy Harper says FIFA is tearing itself apart with close allies becoming enemies.

ANDY HARPER: Unfortunately, there is enormous mud flying around. The family are split. These over time have been very close people.

You know, Bin Hammam was a key organiser for Blatter's election campaigns in '98 and 2002. That relationship has been torched. Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner have been brothers-in-arms for a long time. That seems to have been torn asunder as well.

This is a family at war with itself and I tell you what, as far as sub-diffusion is concerned, you couldn't sit down with a blank piece of paper and come up with a more intriguing story.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Fox Sports football commentator Andy Harper ending that report by Michael Atkin.

View the original article here