26.6.08

WORLD SNOOKER SILENT OVER 'BRIBE' CLAIM

World Snooker are refusing to confirm or deny claims that a member of the main tour has been fined £2,000 after being found guilty of offering an opponent £1,000 to lose the match they were playing.

This is a very serious allegation. The player would have been in breach of rule 2.8 of section 2.c of the WPBSA handbook, which states “a member shall not directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to solicit or accept any payment or any form of remuneration of benefit in exchange for influencing the outcome of any game of snooker or billiards.”

I should stress that the player said to be involved is not a household name. I shall not name him until further investigations have been completed.

Peter Francisco was banned for five years for losing 10-2 to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1995 World Championship. This was the scoreline on which huge amounts of money had been placed pre-match.

Quinten Hann was banned for eight years and fined £10,000 for agreeing – on tape – to receive £50,000 for losing a match, although the scam was called off because it had been initiated not, as Hann apparently believed, by a betting cartel but by a national newspaper.

In this latest case, it is claimed the player was found guilty by the WPBSA disciplinary committee but will be allowed to continue playing on the circuit.

I have asked World Snooker to clarify this - or deny it if it isn't true - but they are making no comment.

What other sport conducts its disciplinary affairs in such shadowy secrecy?

In tennis, when claims of match-fixing were made an independent report was commissioned, published earlier this week.

Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Sport in the British government, stated he hoped those found guilty of this offence would be jailed for up to two years under new legislation.

Surely if there has been malpractice, a governing body should not only punish those involved but do so in public to prove they are weeding out those players who break the rules?

And if the claims are completely untrue, why not just say so?

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can they be so secretive? Surely they can't keep this stuff from their members or the public - what about the Freedom of Information Act?!

john said...

Could not agree more. The WPBSA need to more open and transparent,the secretive nature with which they conduct their business only lends people to believe that something is not quite right. Far better to be open and deal with things there and then
John

Anonymous said...

The player should be named and shamed. Everyone inside the game knows who it is and what happened.
What sort of message does this send to other players?
If a player can afford to offer a £1000 bribe then a £2000 fine is hardly likely to impact on his life style or attitudes.

Anonymous said...

all the other players should say it wasn't them which would force the full information into the public domain.

Anonymous said...

I think it's really up to the players to start standing up to the authorities more. They do a lot of complaining but take no action. Surely they could force such information into the public domain or demand a change in the rules so that this sort of thing was not allowed to be kept secret. As a more immediate short term measure how about if they all refuse to play this player in any and all matches?

Anonymous said...

maby it is about Molta?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

It shows once more the incompetence of this board. Must be the worst governing body in any sport or organization (together with the darts, BDO). I dont favour break aways in any sport, but think its time in snooker would be the best solution to save it and develop its potential.

Get rid of Walker and his prima ballerinas!

Anonymous said...

Snooker Scene, and/or this blog, must investigate this further. This is serious stuff. It is a must that the the player is publicly named and banned. We cannot tolerate cheaters.

WSA is a joke!

Anonymous said...

Totally agree!

We are not allowed to say who the alleged offender was but I will say the match in question took place in the final 2006-07 PIOS.

That means WSA took well over a year to make a decision which it then chooses to not make public!

Anonymous said...

Quinten Hann gets publicly shamed and hounded out of the game for admitting to the possibliity of "throwing" a match if the conditions were favourable (but not actually agreeing to "throw" a specific match, or actually even "throwing" a match)- yet this person is shrouded in secrecy?

I don't know who it is, but I wish someone would tell me! It seems, judging by the "deleted posts", that the player was named and shamed right here- albeit temporarily.

This would not be tolerated in any other sport.

Anonymous said...

also tarnished their win of the said event didn't it......

Anonymous said...

The player was indeed named on a deleted comment. I feel WSA should make a public statement on the matter.

In reply to the previous comment, the player concerned did not win the event in question but did sufficient to qualify for the main tour...

Anonymous said...

I think I've worked out who it is now. It can only be one of 2 players, and the post above points directly to 1 of them in particular. Only 2 players who finished in the top 8 of the 2006-7 PIOS, actually needed the points (in event 8) to get there, and one of them won the event to finish comfortably in the top 8. The other just about scraped in....

Anonymous said...

got knocked out in last 16........

Anonymous said...

Surely we need ALL the facts before we reach a conclusion?
It certainly looks very bad for snooker and WPBSA but all the facts have to be released.
Has the player appealed against the decision?
Did the player admit the offence?
What mitigating circumstances led to the "paltry" fine?
There are more questions than answers so far and that is the fault of World Snooker.
The thing that staggers belief is that the players except this mismanagement with hardly any complaints.Snooker has had many exemplary players over the years and they are continually let down by successive boards.
I'm hoping that this is the straw which breaks the camels back but fear it is just another episode in the continued mismanagement of our great sport.
Des

Anonymous said...

So was it the player who won this event or the one who got knocked out in the last 16?

Anonymous said...

last 16

Anonymous said...

Pretty Gutting for Ashley Wright

Anonymous said...

Especially when this player survived off the one year list. Maybe Drago/Henry haven't gone yet...

Anonymous said...

If these allegations are correct the player in question should be banned for life from the professional game- the only reason I can imagine that this has not happened is fear of opening a can of worms.

Unknown said...

WSA have now issued a statement confirming that the player in question was Matthew Selt and that, contrary to rumours of a £2000 fine, the case was dismissed through lack of evidence. They say no further statements will be issed on this matter!.