MARGAO
More than six months after Goan football was plunged into turmoil after Asian Football Confederation (AFC) red-flagged six matches of the Goa Professional League for having suspicious betting patterns, the Goa Football Association (GFA) is yet to appoint an inquiry committee to look into the alleged match-fixing of matches, raising serious doubts whether the administration of the GFA is serious about tackling the menace.
In March 2019, the AFC shot an email to the All India Football Federation Integrity Officer Javed Siraj enclosing a report from Sportradar which showed suspicious betting patterns in six Goa Professional League matches of the 2019-20 season, indicative of match-fixing. Siraj then forwarded the report to the GFA and asked them to initiate an inquiry.
However, the GFA administration has slept over the matter for three months. It was only in August, after a section of the media reported about the incident, did the GFA put things into motion. What followed was a messed up investigation with GFA blaming its own integrity partner, Genius Sport for the menace.
Following the dismissal of the shoddy report by the AIFF, the GFA convened an Executive Committee meeting and sought the opinion of its members. While some of the members favoured a police investigation into the matter, a majority of the members felt that an Inquiry Committee set up by the GFA would be more appropriate. However, till date, there has been no committee in place.
It is interesting to note that, the new season of the Goa Professional League has commenced but no effort has been made to clean up the system. Somewhere in December, a month before the Goa Professional League could start, a leading club complained to the GFA that one of its officials had been contacted to fix matches. The club also forwarded messages from the alleged bookie and placed on record his phone number which appeared to be from South East Asia.
"Over six months have passed and allegations of such serious nature ought to have been investigated fully before the commencement of the new season. However, it appears that the GFA is not interested in cleaning up Goan football and restoring the faith of the fans," said Jonathan De Souza, the GFA Executive Committee member from Ilhas Zone. "Forget about finishing the inquiry, there is not even an Inquiry Committee in place. I had asked the GFA to transfer this case to the Crime Branch or initiate a police inquiry as they were the competent authorities, but they seem to have other ideas."
