1.7.08

WORLD SNOOKER NO LONGER SILENT OVER 'BRIBE' CLAIM

Well, well, well...

World Snooker have put a statement on their website to clarify that Matt Selt has NOT been found guilty of attempting to bribe a player in an event in the 2006/07 Pontin's International Open Series.

They say the statement has been issued to 'avoid any speculation' over the matter.

This is probably a reference to my post of last week.

However, at no point did I name Matt Selt in connection with this. Neither did I provide any clues about who it could be, except to stress it was "not a household name" - done to prevent speculation about top players.

Here's how the story unfolded: Snooker Scene received an anonymous tip-off detailing an alleged bribe in the PIOS. We were informed that the player involved had been found guilty and fined £2,000.

As is customary journalistic practice, I rang World Snooker and asked them whether it was true or not.

Had they said that he had in fact not been found guilty, I would not have suggested he was.

Instead, they chose to say nothing at all.

Even they now seem to have realised that this is simply not good enough for a sporting governing body, hence today's statement.

The only reason there was any speculation was because World Snooker chose to ignore a perfectly legitimate press inquiry about a very serious allegation.

As I asked in my original post: "If the claims are completely untrue, why not just say so?"

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

true you did not name him. However the comments on that post and the replies made it quite obvious who it was. I did guess it, so others probably have too ...

Your question is legitimate but obviously will revive suspicions. But Matt Selt must be considered innocent unless he is actually proved guilty. This is a fundamental right in justice.

Dave H said...

All I reported was that it had been claimed a player had been found guilty of offering a bribe

World Snooker had the chance to say this was not the case but chose not to

Anonymous said...

naming him and claiming that there was 'insufficient evidence' puts a cloud over him- possibly unfairly- if he was fined as your tip off suggested then there suggests there was some breach of the rules- if he was not find they should have stated that.
Hopefully Matt can now be left to play snooker without further bungling from the association and we can have future statement announced swiftly on all hearings- what about a new rule being passed that all disciplinary hearings must take place within 28 days of the alleged accusation?

Anonymous said...

Regardless World Snooker cannot justify taking a year to investigate! After this length of time what other decision could they make?

Imagine if he had been found guilty and you had lost to Selt during the 07-08 Main Tour....? You would certainly feel hard done by....

Anonymous said...

I think Quinten Hann, for all his sins, was hard done by in comparison. Sure he was a loose cannon, but at least he didn't actually go through with an attempt to defraud the public. There were several matches last season that attracted suspicious betting patterns suggesting the result was known beforehand and nothing was done despite WSA being alerted. Meanwhile Hann has an effective life ban for just contemplating such an action.

Anonymous said...

Suspicion does not mean there was actually any fraud.
Matt Selt has not be found guilty and therefore comments like "Selt is a disgrace" are out of order. It would be very unfair if his reputation and carreer were casted by suspicion if he's innocent.
But this situation would NOT exist if the WSA was handling cases in due time and with the appropriate level of openess.

Anonymous said...

Lack of evidence...?

http://globalcuesportscentre.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1201627166/132#132

Anonymous said...

Well that post does not prove anything does it? Just that one person there is convinced there has been foul play from WSA. But that person gives no evidence of it

Dave H said...

I'm going to have to delete any comments that may be libellous

Please do not accuse anyone of anything on here

There will be more - far more - on this story in the August issue of Snooker Scene