Sport

Moses Swaibu: From Crystal Palace youth team star to match-fixer

Published

3 hours ago

September 20, 2024

Moses Swaibu: From Crystal Palace youth team star to match-fixer

Bookmakers, usually protected and in profit thanks to margins and finely-tuned odds, were losing on National League South.

They were seeing floods of money on certain teams’ games from newly-opened accounts located all over the world – tipsters who would bet exclusively on the English sixth tier and with unerring accuracy.

More money was reportedly placed on the total goals in one November 2012 National League South game than on the equivalent market for a Champions League match involving Barcelona.

Bookmakers started refusing to take wagers on some teams, scrubbing them off the coupon. The Football Association launched an investigation into betting patterns in the division.

As the season came to a close, the fixing was an open secret in some dressing rooms. Fans were suspecting their own players, accusing them from the stands.

The situation couldn’t last. The net was closing in. Swaibu’s final Bromley fix – ensuring they lost an April 2013 fixture away to Maidenhead by two clear goals – bordered on farce.

Swaibu gave their striker a clear run on goal to score the game’s first. Into the second half, he stayed rooted to the ground as they scored again to lead 3-1. A team-mate scored in the 82nd minute to make it 3-2. Two minutes later, Swaibu held a needlessly high line, chased back aimlessly and allowed Maidenhead to make it 4-2.

An incensed team-mate who wasn’t in on the fix was sitting on the bench, telling the manager that something suspicious was unfolding in front of them.

“It was the first time it had been that blatant and obvious and I didn’t want to face the dressing room,” Swaibu says.

“I was a mouse. The bubble had popped in that moment.

“When I walked into the dressing room I couldn’t look up. It was silent, everyone looking at me.

“The only thing I could hear was the gaffer – a grown man in his fifties – weeping.

“I didn’t get in the shower, I just went straight to my car.”

Swaibu left the club two games later, at the end of the season.

He wasn’t the only fixer who realised the National League South had come under too much scrutiny.

A clutch of players left Hornchurch – another team in the league – and travelled around the world to play for Southern Stars, a lower-league team based on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.

Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed. Sportradar – a company hired to monitor and maintain the integrity of sports events – had suspicions. The players’ social media posts from Australia, featuring extravagant holidays in Bali and high-end nightclubs, only heightened them.

The Australian police were tipped off and the Southern Stars’ dressing room, clubhouse and even goalposts were rigged with hidden microphones.

Undercover officers posed as fans, phone calls were intercepted and bank transfers examined.

It led to a string of convictions, a clutch of leads and, ultimately, a sting operation by the National Crime Agency in south London.

By then, Swaibu could well have been out of the game, both legal and illegal.

He says he had saved up around £200,000 from fixing football.

And, at 24, playing football seemed to be over. Two short-term deals with Sutton and Whitehawk led nowhere.

“But I was addicted at this point, something was pulling me back in.”

One of Swaibu’s contacts had been tapped up by a new group of fixers – a gang trying to break into match-rigging and put together a network of players to pull it off.

Swaibu had his suspicions. The new fixers didn’t seem to know the rules. They seemed naive and inexperienced, with little idea of what was possible.

They dropped names of other match-fixers they had worked with, when discretion and secrecy were key to Swaibu’s previous bosses.

Some were also white, British and middle-aged, an unlikely profile for hi-tech gambling conspiracies, invariably leveraged from Asia.

Swaibu wanted to believe though. Because if they were new to fixing, they could be fleeced.

Swaibu says he took a photo of his local five-a-side team and told the fixers they were players in his pocket. He invited his new contacts to a League Two match between AFC Wimbledon and Dagenham and Redbridge and told them it was rigged. It would end, Swaibu said, in a 1-0 win for Wimbledon.

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Sport

NFL: Aaron Rodgers helps New York Jets beat New England Patriots

Published

4 mins ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

NFL: Aaron Rodgers helps New York Jets beat New England Patriots

Aaron Rodgers starred for the New York Jets in their dominant 24-3 home victory against the New England Patriots.

The 40-year-old threw for two touchdowns in his first start at the Jets’ MetLife Stadium since he suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon on his debut one year ago.

Rodgers, named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player four times during his long career with the Green Bay Packers, was given a warm reception in the Jets’ first home game of the season.

“I felt pretty good. I was doing some things I did as a younger man,” Rodgers said.

“I feel great to be able to play an entire game in front of our amazing fans.”

In their opening two games of the new season the Jets lost at the San Francisco 49ers before winning at the Tennessee Titans.

Rodgers, who made his return to action in the opening-weekend loss in San Francisco, completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards on Thursday.

He had a stellar career with Green Bay, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2011, before a surprise trade was agreed with the Jets last year.

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Sport

Australia head coach Graham Arnold resigns

Published

25 mins ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

Australia head coach Graham Arnold resigns

Australia head coach Graham Arnold has resigned as it is the “best for the nation” after a poor start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying.

The 61-year-old ends his six-year second stint in the job, following a shock 1-0 defeat by Bahrain at home before drawing 0-0 against Indonesia.

The Socceroos are now looking to appoint a permanent replacement before their next World Cup qualifier at home to China on 10 October.

“I said after our game against Indonesia that I had some decisions to make, and after deep reflection, my gut has told me it’s time for change,” Arnold said in a statement.

“I’ve made the decision to resign based upon what’s best for the nation, the players and Football Australia.

“I’ve given absolutely everything I can to the role, and I am immensely proud of what has been achieved during my tenure.”

Arnold led Australia to the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar where they were knocked out of the tournament by winners Argentina, with Football Australia chief executive James Johnson recently backing the Australian to get back on track.

The former Socceroos striker was appointed assistant coach of Australia in 2000 and then served as interim boss for a year after Dutchman Guus Hiddink left in 2006.

He returned to the national side in 2018 as coach after a disappointing World Cup campaign in Russia saw Australia finish bottom of Group C.

Despite initially backing Arnold, Johnson thought he had “run out of gas” and hopes the replacement can still guide Australia to the World Cup.

The Socceroos sit fifth in their Asian qualifying group, with only the top two teams from each group heading directly to the World Cup staged across Canada, Mexico and the United States.

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Football

Dave King challenges Rangers to meeting over chairmanship – Scottish gossip

Published

33 mins ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

Dave King challenges Rangers to meeting over chairmanship - Scottish gossip

Dave King, Rangers’ largest shareholder, has challenged the current board to call an emergency meeting to let shareholders decide who should succeed John Bennett as chairman after the South Africa-based businessman’s offer to return to the role was given short shrift by fellow directors. (Record), external

Former manager Steven Gerrard did not want to leave Rangers to join Aston Villa when the Premier League club approached him in November 2021, King, has claimed. (Herald – subscription), external

Rangers’ commercial revenue could increase to around £30m next season after agreeing two new deals, an extension with the Kindred Group for the Unibet brand to continue as the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor in addition to Elior becoming their new food and beverage partner. (Football Insider), external

Meanwhile, Rangers’ biggest-ever shirt sponsorship deal, which will enjoy an increase of £1.5m per year to nearly £3m if all targets are met, was more than matched by city rivals Celtic in one game this week in the Champions League. (Record), external

Former Rangers and Scotland Under-21 striker Dapo Mebude will be given the chance to impress in Dunfermline Athletic’s reserve game against Falkirk next week as the 23-year-old continues to train with the Scottish Championship club after leaving Oostende. (Courier – subscription), external

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Sport

Rory Gallagher: Former Derry GAA manager intends to return

Published

46 mins ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

Rory Gallagher: Former Derry GAA manager intends to return

Former Derry GAA manager Rory Gallagher has said he “fully intends” to return to inter-county management in a statement issued by his solicitors.

Gallagher was “temporarily debarred” from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in September 2023 after Ulster GAA asked an independent panel to investigate claims of abuse made by Gallagher’s estranged wife Nicola Gallagher.

Gallagher, who stepped back as Derry boss in May 2023, challenged his ban and the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA), an independent arbitration body, found in Gallagher’s favour following a hearing on 1 February.

“There is no legal impediment to our client undertaking or accepting a role as a GAA Senior Football manager,” a statement from Gallagher’s solicitors Phoenix Law read.

“Our client fully intends to return to inter county management in the near future.

“Two separate investigations have led – rightly – to decisions by the PPS not to prosecute. Mr Gallagher has not been charged with a single offence,” the statement continued.

More to follow

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Sport

Sir Alex Ferguson on helping families affected by dementia

Published

1 hour ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

Sir Alex Ferguson on helping families affected by dementia

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Sport

Women’s Super League predictions: Can anyone stop Chelsea?

Published

1 hour ago

September 20, 2024

NewsAdmin

Women's Super League predictions: Can anyone stop Chelsea?

The Women’s Super League returns this weekend and Chelsea are aiming to win a sixth title in a row – but can anyone stop them?

New manager Sonia Bompastor is hoping to pick up her first WSL title but Manchester City, who lost out on goal difference last season, will want revenge.

With Crystal Palace joining the top flight and others spending big money in the summer transfer window, it promises to be another rollercoaster campaign.

Some of BBC Sport’s pundits have predicted their top three for the 2024-25 campaign, along with who they think will be relegated, while Emma Sanders tries to predict where each team will finish this season.

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