Before I explain why there were no big surprises, let us step back for a moment, and explain how we got to this situation.
Fixing and corruption in sport has a long history. If you were to go to the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece you would find, outside the ruins of the stadium, remains of statues to their Gods. The statues were paid for by athletes and coaches who were caught cheating. Sports corruption goes back at least 2,800 years and some type of corruption will be with us for as long we continue to hold competitive sports. It is simply a part of human nature.
However, we of this generation are facing something almost entirely new. It is a contemporary form of match-fixing – as if someone had taken fixing and injected it with steroids.
It is an utterly modern phenomenon and if we do not fight it properly, it will destroy many sports as we know them and this is what is actually ailing Sierra Leone football .This new form of corruption will, like a tsunami, sweep aside all other issues and leave some football dead and destroyed in the beautiful country.
The key to the new form of fixing is globalisation. In the last ten years, the sports gambling market has – like the music and travel industry – been utterly transformed. Now, gamblers in any part of the world can place a bet on almost any professional sports event in almost any country of the world.
There are about 30 to 40 fixers who travel the world fixing sporting events. They regard themselves as “brokers” rather than fixers. They form alliances with local criminals mostly gambling syndicates , who in turn are able to form connections with corrupt players, referees, unscrupulous journalists and team officials.
We have all heard the news of the shocking news in Sierra Leone on how match fixing is destroying the beautiful game this is done through gambling proxies that are hell bent in ensuring they join the football ranks to ensure their business flourishes nowander they keep on fighting the federation day in day out as they seek relevance.
When FIFA clearly stated that integrity checks had to be done the gambling masters went gaga crying from corner to corner getting out their guns for hire to try and unravel cheap articles to rubbish this especially from some journalist illegally residing in the UK after absconding from National duties covering Leone Stars.The Michael’s are a great example both born in Sierra Leone their intentions were noble until they discovered football was a good place to play dirty.
Rodney Michael’s brother, Martin Michael(Managing director of Mercury International) are case study their father was an Irish Legal practitioner who sailed into Sierra Leone why?No one knows, but there are controversial tales of dubious dealings with local businessmen especially diamond dealers,his mother was a Lebanese Syrian.
The Michaels were born in Sierra Leone then we come to the real dodgy dealer simply known as Max,A Russian Jew whose dark shady past and present is a great case file for any crime-buster investigative story.
Another sinister master-mind by the destruction of the country and Sierra Leone football is Lebanese chairman Samir Hassaniey who also doubles up as chairman of Mercury.He boasts of very close links at the highest political seat of power.
So you can clearly see how this whole Mercury gambling syndication has become a mafia syndication aimed at controlling and supressing an entire country and destroying Sierra Leone football through traffic and match fixing which has become a huge monster in the country.
The big gambling honchos have ensured there are two camps of journalists in Sierra Leone who have been bought by the Mercury gambling firm they now have mercury machines this is to ensure nothing bad appears in the press about them,and they can use the press to assassinate or ridicule anyone who tries to question their dealings as they plot to continue destroying football for personal gains.
Sierra Leone football fans do not regard their beloved sport with any degree of serious credibility because of this match fixers who must be stopped from their aim of infiltrating SLFA to have a haven for their corrupt deals.
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