FC Porto fans in full voice (picture: senalbuquerque, flickr)
The ugly sceptres of match fixing and corruption in football have reared their heads in Portugal over the past week as former referee Jacinto Paixão accused FC Porto of trying to influence the results of games over the course of 2002-04. Paixão was the referee in charge of several games in this time which were proven to be tampered through evidence from recorded phone calls. The former referee recorded a video of himself talking about his accusations, which was posted to YouTube on 10th May.
This scandal has rumbled on in Portugal for several years now, with a police operation in April 2004 being the start of what became known as the “Golden Whistle” affair. Sixteen people were arrested initially, with Porto’s president Pinto da Costa and Paixão added to that in December of the same year. Pinto da Costa’s former wife, Carolina Salgado, published a book in 2006 with detailed allegations regarding her former husband’s alleged activity in match fixing and influencing referees, but she has since been accused of perjury in the case.
If people felt that the outcome of each match was already decided by a murky deal before the game kicked off, why would they bother going to the games anymore?
Jacinto Paixão’s statements included details about how FC Porto tried to influence him and other match officials. He claims in his video that Porto regularly offered the services of prostitutes as well as a holiday to Morocco in 1998. The three specific matches mentioned in Paixão’s statement as having been influenced by Porto are their home games against Académica (2002/03) and Estrela da Amadora (2003/04), as well as Benfica’s home game against Moreirense in the same season. It is important to note that while these matches all took place during José Mourinho’s time in charge of Porto, and that one of the accusations in the “Golden Whistle” scandal was regarding Pinto da Costa’s influence on a punishment for Mourinho; there is no suggestion or evidence as yet that the current Real Madrid manager was involved in these matters or even knew of them.
The “Golden Whistle” investigations and initial trials were wrapped up in 2008, with Porto being deducted six points for attempted bribery, Boavista being relegated, and the two clubs’ chairmen being suspended for two and four years respectively. As with most large cases such as this though, there have been numerous appeals, and some of the cases were still rumbling on this month, with Pinto da Costa winning his appeal on the same day that Jacinto Paixão’s video confession was uploaded to YouTube.
Alleged corruption dates are from Mourinho's time at Porto. He's not implicated (Picture: americanistadechiapas)
Porto have denied the fresh allegations, accusing Paixão of “lying through his teeth” and of being desperate. The Portuguese Judiciary has also been very quick to react, saying that the former referee’s new evidence is not enough to reopen the old cases against Porto, which was the stated aim of publishing his video on the internet – as well as having a record of what he claims happened “in case anything happens to him or his family”. Valid questions are being asked about the timing of this video’s release; on the day Porto’s former president was acquitted of the charges against him. Paixão retired as a referee in March 2006, leaving a parting shot at his former colleagues for a perceived lack of solidarity. Why has it taken him five further years to make these allegations known? Why were they not shared with the investigation surrounding the “Golden Whistle” when Paixão was still an active referee?
Football is a game with more money and emotional attachment involved in it than ever before, and as such, players, managers and entire clubs seek any advantage possible for their side. Yet people pay ever larger amounts of their hard-earned money on supporting their team, believing they have as fair a chance as every other club. The game, and its reputation, rely not only the actual impartiality of its match officials, but also on the public perception of their impartiality. If people felt that the outcome of each match was already decided by a murky deal before the game kicked off, why would they bother going to the games anymore? That is why it is important not only for these allegations of match fixing to be investigated, but also for them to be seen to be investigated. Cricket has been damaged by its own spot fixing scandal, cycling and athletics have never fully recovered from the endless doping stories. The drip-drip effect of cases such as this and others in Germany, Brazil and China threaten to start doing the same to football.
By Jon Allison
Related article – Porto’s Andre Villas Boas: The Heir to Arsene Wenger at Arsenal?
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