adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DOMESTIC football chiefs have resolved to approach the new Parliament with a view to have the Auguste House enact legislation that will help Zimbabwe fight the threat posed to the fabric of the game by match-fixing and illegal betting. It emerged during the just ended Cosafa, Interpol integrity and train the trainer workshop on match-fixing those local football authorities’ hopes to act decisively with illegal betting and match manipulation could remain a pipe dream as long as the country did not have legislation that would punish offenders.
The workshop, which drew participants from such Southern African countries like Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and hosts Zimbabwe, ended in Victoria Falls on Monday afternoon with the Premier Soccer League’s chief executive Kenny Ndebele describing it as both revealing and empowering.
Ndebele, a Fifa administrators’ instructor, is one of the participants who will now be expected to go back to their constituencies and educate the players, clubs, referees and coaches on the dangers of match-fixing and the threat it has to their careers.
Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, the association’s communications manager Xolisani Gwesela, Footballers Union of Zimbabwe president Desmond Maringwa, and referees committee member Brighton Mudzamiri were among the local crew of participants. Ndebele yesterday said there had been extensive discussion on the need for all the countries to ensure they have legislation that puts match-fixing in order for the combined efforts of Fifa, Interpol and member associations to bear fruit.
“The issue of legislation was very topical during the workshop and some countries like Angola and Lesotho indicated that their governments had now enacted laws that make match-fixing an offence.
“We will soon approach our parliamentarians and lobby for legislation against match-fixing and we will take a cue from Lesotho and Angola in terms of the way they went about it but really the fight against match fixing needs the backing of the law enforcement agents.
“Match-fixing is something that will not stop overnight because people do it for two major reasons which is for a sporting advantage where teams will be fighting against relegation or fighting for promotion and they engage in match fixing to achieve their desired results.
“Age-cheating is also a form of match-fixing because you are using older players in order to have a sporting advantage over a team with younger players in the age group competitions.
“As long as we have television and internet we will have match fixing continuing as well because it helps those who engage in match-fixing for financial gain.
“You can see the players’ life styles changing and even their attitudes when they are engaged in match fixing for financial gain,’’ Ndebele said.
Ndebele said the PSL would now hold workshops where the likes of Maringwa and Mudzamiri would join the league in educating the clubs on match-fixing, its risks and how to identify signs of potential match manipulation acts and possibly take preventive measures.
“The purpose of the workshop was for those trained to deliver to the players, clubs and referees the education on match-fixing. Fortunately we had the referees, FUZ and administrators do we are now going to come up with some programmes to hold the workshops here,’’ Ndebele said.
“There were some examples of match-fixing which we also went through, including our own case.
We looked at the global context of match-fixing, the illegal betting as well as proper betting by registered betting operators and in fact the registered betting operators have now joined hands with Fifa and Interpol to fight the scourge.
“If a match is fixed, it means the registered betting operators lose revenue. So after this workshop we now have to train players, coaches and referees to resist match-fixing. They need to identify who the match-fixers are as it could be a relative, a coach or a referee.
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