By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – Malaysian football authorities have pledged to investigate new claims of match-fixing and have urged police to protect players amid death threats from bookies, according to local reports.
The reports followed the second tier Malaysian Premier League match between Kuala Lumpur and Sime Darby which came under suspicion. Angry fans waved banners with slogans such as “Bookie detected” and “Bookie 5 – Fans 0”, at the start of the match which ended by that very same score in favour of Sime Darby.
Some players are said to be living in fear after receiving death threats from bookies for ignoring their instructions. “We have to look into this allegation of match-fixing seriously,” Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah told The Star newspaper Wednesday. “The police need to keep a close eye regarding the (death) threats.”
Allegations of match-fixing have long enveloped football in Malaysia, which in February hosted an international summit on the problem. Last year 18 youth players were suspended and a coach banned for life but as far back as 1994, 21 players and coaches were sacked, 58 players were suspended and 126 players questioned over corruption, according to AFP.
Asian football leaders have promised to target match-fixing with renewed vigour following revelations that hundreds of games have been rigged globally, most of them linked to criminal gangs based in south-east Asia, notably Singapore.
Newly appointed Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has personally promised to tackle the issue which has blighted the development of the game in his Continent, including in Lebanon, China and South Korea.
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