KUALA LUMPUR: Asian football tournaments have become the playground for bookmakers out to bribe players and referees while poor crowds at Lacklustre matches are becoming an embarrassment, top official said.

‘An excess of tournaments in the region has placed a strain on players and benefited bookies and gamblers more than the game itself, Peter Velappan, Secretary General of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said.

The Malaysia based AFC is now asking national soccer organizations in Asia to reduce the frequency of tournaments and tighten checks against match fixing.

“There is no smoke without fire. While

the worst is probably over, there is always the suspicion that match fixing is still going on in some tournaments,” he said.

“It’s not easy to prove bribery, unless you catch them red handed.”

Most of the bribery attempts were carried out in regional tournaments in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, but attempts were also reported during Olympic and World Cup qualifying matches in other parts of Asia, he said,

Five Malaysian players who admitted to taking bribes to fix matches in a local Teague were suspended last year,

The biggest football bribery case in Recent years was uncovered in 1984 when an interactional syndicate offered Syrian and Indian players large sums of money to fix matches in the Asian Cup, he said, Velappen said about four players in each team usually the goalkeeper, key strikers or defenders were offered up to $10,000 each to throw away matches while referees were offered up to $5,000 and jewelry.

Asian football is also plagued by too many regional competitions “that have Contributed to a dilution of quality of these tournaments and made them less entertaining to watch,” he said

The soccer craze in Asia traced its roots to the Merdeka Cup International Tournament started by Malaysia in 1957, Other Countries, usually for reasons of national prestige, joined in and there are now 15 annual international competitions in Asia besides national and club tournaments, The hectic rounds of competition has increased incidence of injury and forced many counties to send second rate teams which in turn lowered attendance and affected sponsorships, Only about 1,000 players turned up to watch the final of the 1988 Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur in which HSV (Hamburg) beat an Austrian team 10.

Countries have been asked to tum annual international competitions to biennial affairs,

All Asian countries, except Malaysia and Thailand have agreed, AFC members will meet in July to review the matter.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 12, 1989