IN a country where gambling is rife, Scottish football is yet to suffer the sort of major betting scandal that has cast a shadow on the game elsewhere.
Players here regularly and willingly admit on Twitter and elsewhere they are no stranger to a fixed-odds coupon - something that goes against Scottish Football Association guidelines - but if any have bet against their own side over the years then they have decided to keep that to themselves.
Few people have a problem with players betting on the outcome of matches they are not involved in - and even on them backing their own side to win - and the authorities have largely turned a blind eye to both over the years. Players betting on their own team to lose, however, is a different story. For all the question marks over the standard of Scottish football, it has always clung to the notion that it is at least honest and sincere. The latest allegations surrounding Ian Black now call that into question.
The Rangers midfielder has been accused by the SFA of betting on his team to lose three times over the past seven-and-a-half years. It is thought the charges relate to one incident at each of his three senior clubs, Inverness Caledonian Thistle Hearts and Rangers. There has been no suggestion that the player did anything in the matches to directly influence proceedings to ensure he won his bets but, regardless, Black may find this stain on his character - even if he is eventually found not guilty - difficult to shift.
It seems likely that, rather than being the only player to have ever bet against his own team, Black is the only one to have been caught or had his name made public so far. There will surely be others who, upon hearing the news, found their hearts beating that little bit faster.
Online and telephone gambling have removed the need for a player to have to walk into a bookmakers and make a bet in front of prying eyes. Only the bravest or daftest, after all, would fill out a coupon in a shop that states they want their team to lose, then hand over a roll of cash and saunter out. It would then take some amount of chutzpah, if the bet came up, to look the bookie in the eye as they collected their winnings. The proliferation of smartphones has made it much easier to place a bet anonymously, whether on a random game, your own team, or the opposition. With a few presses of a button, gamblers can check the odds on their selection and visit the webpage of any number of bookmakers to place a bet.
It is hardly a surprise that many footballers are drawn to gambling, indeed Scottish football's only current title sponsor is a bookmaker: William Hill. Most players earn decent money from a relatively young age, they have more free time than most people in employment and also have sizeable industry knowledge. Crucially, with regards to players betting against their own teams, not only can they influence the outcome of a game once it is underway, they also have access to inside information before it reaches the public domain and, most importantly, the bookmakers. And so a player learning at training that the majority of his team-mates have been laid low by a vomiting bug, may elect to bet on the opposition before the news leaks out and the price subsequently falls. Means, motive and opportunity.
Proving something untoward has taken place, however, is often difficult for the authorities. Online accounts, which take away the need for a face-to-face transaction with a bookmaker, leave a trace. Phone bets may have been recorded "for the purposes of training". But in the instances that a player looking to gain financially from his team losing has been more careful, it reduces the case largely to circumstantial evidence and a lot of hearsay.
The most recent high-profile Scottish case of this nature centred on Steve Jennings. The former Motherwell midfielder was one of nine people arrested following an investigation into "suspicious betting activity" in a match between the Fir Park side and Hearts in December 2010. Jennings, who was sent off in the match, always denied any wrongdoing and his case was later dropped by Merseyside Police.
The Morton squad who blew a 14-point lead at the top of the second division in 2004 have been tainted by the accusation that their collapse was influenced by a number of their players betting on Airdrie United to pip them to the title. Striker Alex Williams was one of those accused, and despite no concrete evidence ever being produced, later admitted he had been dogged by the stigma afterwards. "I've always felt that other clubs wouldn't look at me because of the rumours that went around," he admitted. "My view is it was some guy on the internet wanting to cause trouble."
Scottish football has therefore been fortunate, or perhaps just sloppy, to have not yet found anyone guilty of betting against their own team. It has not been the same on the continent. Italian football has been blighted by a number of match-fixing scandals over the years, many relating to gambling. The so-called Scommessopoli scandal of 2011 and 2012, in which a number of players, managers and other officials, were implicated in games being rigged led to widespread fines, bans and even some clubs being relegated. German football was rocked by a scandal in 2005 when referee Robert Hoyzer confessed to betting and fixing a number of lower league matches and cup ties for personal gain. It later emerged he had ties to Croatian organised crime syndicates who had bet substantial sums on the matches he was officiating.
The charges against Black, of course, are relatively insignificant in comparison. He has until Monday to provide evidence and he will then appear in front of an SFA tribunal on September 12. That will be a significant day for the player as he, presumably, pleads his innocence. Depending on the outcome, it could be hugely momentous for Scottish football as well.
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