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Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]

IMAGINE your favourite footballer being banned for betting, not just for placing a bet on any other team, but financially predicting that his own team would lose.

Sounds like a script for a comic movie, but in reality, it’s an unfortunate and regrettable scenario that is playing out in some of the most popular leagues across the globe.

Football authorities are working flat out to stamp out the scourge of footballers betting on matches, which in some instances are in the same leagues that they play in.

Take for instance Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney who was recently banned from football for eight months and fined 50 000 British pounds (US$62,500) for 232 breaches of the Football Association’s (FA) betting rules.

The ban was announced by the English football governing body.

Toney will not be able to play for the club or country until his suspension ends on January 16, 2024.

The 27-year-old has also been warned over his future conduct.

Some soccer analysts argued that instead of punishing the striker, football authorities should have addressed the root cause of the problem, which is addiction to betting, a condition that Toney himself admitted to.

On the local football scene, cases of players betting in Premier Soccer League games are not documented but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening, said veteran football administrator Brain Moyo.

Moyo is a former Zifa Education Officer who acted as the association’s football development manager, information provider and co-ordinator of courses or seminars for all matters related to football development.

“Sports betting is a legitimate business that is governed by various regulations such as the country’s laws on betting as well as international betting companies’ own rules.

“It should also be noted that betting is here to stay, it’s now part of modern society, whether society thinks it’s good or bad. 

Betting is also highly addictive and having said that, the question remains whether as a sporting nation, do we have enough regulations to deal with the adverse effects of sports betting?

“Let’s take for instance the Asiagate scandal that rocked the nation some years ago and the cricket scandal that involved Heath Streak. It shows that we have issues that we are not tackling as a nation,” said Moyo.

Recently news filtered around the globe that China had detained a South Korea footballer in a suspected bribery case.

Son Jun-ho, who plays in the Chinese league, is under investigation for allegedly accepting a bribe, officials told the media after his arrest.

Closer to home, former Warriors captain Knowledge Musona was named in a gambling scandal that hit the Belgian top flight league in 2016.

Musona was one of a number of players cited by several Belgium based media outlets to be suspected of committing the offence of gambling in matches they were involved in.

According to Belgian media the Belgian ProLeague confirmed that “four or five players” were mentioned in the investigations of the committee, two of those players were named as Musona and Waasland-Beveren goalkeeper Laurent Henkinet.

Prosecutors questioned the two players and completed their investigations, which concluded that the two players indeed had gambled on games of their own team.

Musona reportedly admitted and notified his club of his actions and co-operated.

A former Zifa councillor who preferred to remain anonymous said the association at times appears not to have time to advance policies that improve the game.

“Other football associations work hand in glove with their respective country’s legislative arms to deal with modern football problems such as sports betting by footballers.

“But in Zimbabwe we have a very incompetent Zifa whose leaders don’t have the time to implement policies that improve the local game.

“I’m sure if a local player were to be caught betting against their own team, the onus would be on that particular club to deal with the player. I don’t think we have specific rules that deal with betting by footballers, which is a cause for concern,” charged the ex-Zifa councillor.

Zifa

Zifa acting chief executive officer Xolisani Gwesela could not be reached for a comment.

Sports betting is a multi-million-dollar industry in Zimbabwe and multi-billion elsewhere.

Punters can be seen as early as 8am placing bets on football leagues scattered across the globe.

“I would not say for sure if there are players who bet against their own teams but we (footballers) do bet.  Who doesn’t want to win big once in a while when big teams in Europe play?

“But the trick when betting for teams here in Zimbabwe is to ask someone else to place the bet for you and collect the winnings as well.

“Can you imagine if a Highlanders or Dynamos player were to be photographed betting at MWOS? That would be a huge scandal,” said a local footballer  we will not name for obvious reasons.

MWOS stands for Moors World of Sports, a popular betting house. — @Raymond Jaravaza.