Graft badly hurts SE Asian soccer

Graft badly hurts SE Asian soccer

HANOI (Reuters): Bribery and match-fixing hamper the
development of soccer in Southeast Asia, and a farcical game in
the recent Tiger Cup championship has further tarnished the
sport's image, coaches and officials said.

The region's most popular sport was being held back by
unscrupulous bookmakers and players seeking personal gain, they
said.

"We already suffer from a lack of credibility in this region
partly because of the problems from match-fixing," Singapore's
English coach, Barry Whitbread, said before the Tiger Cup final
in Hanoi on Saturday night.

"Everyone saw the game between Thailand and Indonesia and that
has dragged the region's reputation down even further."

Thailand and Indonesia have been fined $10,000 and $20,000
respectively by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Football Federation after playing a bizarre match in Ho
Chi Minh City during the group stages of the Tiger Cup last
Monday. Earlier fines of $40,000 each were reduced on appeal.

"If you want to be accepted internationally then the
authorities have to take strong action to curb match-fixing in
the leagues and stop situations like the Thailand and Indonesia
game from occurring again," Whitbread said.

In March, eight Indonesian referees were suspended from the
country's domestic league for accepting bribes to influence
matches.

Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl, an Austrian, said there were also
problems with match-fixing in the communist-ruled country's
national league.

"They have some problems here with match-fixing," said Riedl,
who has been working in the region for four months.

"It's not as bad as Malaysia was a few years ago but it is
still going on and it is ruining the game."

Malaysian soccer was hit in the mid-1990s when dozens of
players and officials were implicated in match-fixing scandals.

Chris Momfort, general secretary of the Philippines Football
Federation and his country's representative on the executive
committee of the ASEAN Football Federation, said the issue was
hobbling the game in the region.