The heading of this article is, "The European match-fixing scandal is tragic for soccer fans whose faith in fair play risks being shattered, write German commentators. But corruption can affect any business, and the undercover police operation that exposed it is a positive sign, they add." This article discuses the corruption that was found to be lurking in the world of soccer. On Thursday fifty raids were made in Germany, Switzerland, Britain, and Austria. "Authorities arrested 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland seized over (1.5) million in cash and property." A similar conviction was made five years ago when a German referee decided to receive bribes. These scandals have only been found in the lower levels; luckily the first division has stayed away from such controversy.
I chose this article because the heading caught my attention when I was searching for sports articles. I have played pretty much every sport except soccer, so i don't know much about the sport and its rules. I was surprised to find that an extensive undercover operation was carried out to capture the perpatrators. The fact that this scandal spread across four countries was mind blowing. I have heard of steroid use and many other negative stories about basketball, football, golf, swimming, and baseball; never have I heard anything negative stories about soccer.
I found it interesting that, "The case centers on a Berlin-based betting shop, Cafe King, which featured in a similiar scandal five years ago that led to the conviction of German referee Robert Hoyzer." I have always envisioned this kind of thing happening in the movies but never in real life. I must be naive, but I assumed such scandal would not be so obvious to find. The referee found to have thrown the game was known to have previously done so in years earlier. I would think that the soccer association would be smart enough not to allow the referee to participate in games again.
This article by (David Crossland) can be read at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,662828,00.html
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Very interesting article if I say so myself. There is rarely anything "scandalous" going on in soccer that you typically hear about. I guess in a way, I'm not surprised,there are plenty of people out there who will do anything for the winning of their team, even if that means to cheat. Steroids are one thing, you're only hurting yourself with that one and only you are to blame. However, bribing the ref, and more importantly the ref accepting the bribe, can have more than one person to blame.
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