Foul!

UPDATE Feb 17, 9.39am: " I am saddened that our participation in Queensland has been put in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Tigers A will play in Queensland to prepare for the Asian Games." - FA of Malaysia general secretary Hamidin Amin. Read more here . ------------ One of the world's foremost authorities on football match fixing has warned the inclusion of a Malaysian side in the upcoming National Premier Leagues Queensland could expose the competition to the influence of Asian betting syndicates. But Football Queensland has dismissed the possibility, saying it was a "long bow" to draw. Harimau Muda A, the Malaysian under-22 side, will play for competition points in the 14-team NPL Queensland competition from next month. However, the side will be ineligible to make the finals and will instead use the competition as preparation for Asian international competitions. International match fix...

Ah, match-fixing...a subject close to my heart. Those who know me well would have read my articles especially those published in The Malay Mail on the subject. There was the Con Deal? between the presumed Zimbabwe team and Malaysia in 2009 which lead to the sacking of Zimbabwe FA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya (who was later arrested ). Then there were several President's Cup players who confessed having been approached by bookies as revealed here . I remember writing about Singaporean KM Rajendran and the infamous Wilson Raj Perumal - who is believed to have a hand in the Zimbabwe-Malaysia match that I exposed. Even a coach of a football team spilled the beans as reported here . So much so, investigative journalist Declan Hill - widely known for his book The Fix - gave me special mention in his blog . However, match-fixing is nothing new in the country. Many still remember the 1994 fiasco that saw the suspension and banning of more than 100 players and coaches in the ...

There is one final issue that has been overlooked by almost all the media in following this story (except the excellent Haresh Deol) – Mr. Eaton’s allegation that there are certain senior Asian sports officials who are helping the match-fixers. The scandals in Turkey, China and Eaton’s own leaving tend to overshadow this matter, but it is the most serious issue of all. That was taken from world renowned investigative journalist Declan Hill's ( pic ) blog as seen here . Declan, author of the book The Fix, wrote that piece on Feb 24 this year. It was almost the same time when the M-League was rocked by another possible match-fixing scandal which saw top officials from the FA of Malaysia, Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission holding joint meetings to tackle the menance. Statements were even made that three clubs were apparently believed to be fixing matches, as seen here. The question remains - what ever happened to the findings of the committee tasked to l...