Football = Soccer
NEW DELHI (AFP) - Two Indian football teams each competing for promotion to a premier league scored 116 goals between them in separate matches after their opponents had clearly been paid off.
The clubs in western India's Goa state, Curtorim and Wilfred, could be banned for life alongwith their opponnets after notching up basketball-like scores of 61-1 and 55-1 respectively in a bid to sneak past each other, newspapers reported Wednesday.
The Goa Football Asociation (GFA) had ordered simultaneous kick-offs for the two matches played at different venues Tuesday night, as the team scoring the most goals would be promoted to the premier league.
But club officials posted at the two grounds kept in touch with each other by mobile telephones to report progress.
With the matches clearly fixed, play turned into little more than target practice as the two teams showered goals almost every minute-and-a-half, thanks to their respective weaker opponents liberally feeding them loose balls.
Even the goalkeeper of one of the teams joined in the scoring feast, the Indian Express said.
GFA secretary Savio Nessias suspended all four clubs, saying "they made a mockery of football."
"We had anticipated foul play and had sent observers to both matches."
Fans in Goa are mad about football and the state has some of the best football clubs in the country.
Two years ago in Calcutta, another football-crazy city, a team won 114-0 to avoid relegation. But it was not banned since officials "did not find enough evidence" of foul play.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=1&u=/afp/20040218/od_afp/fbl_ind_fixing_040218104826
NEW DELHI (AFP) - Two Indian football teams each competing for promotion to a premier league scored 116 goals between them in separate matches after their opponents had clearly been paid off.
The clubs in western India's Goa state, Curtorim and Wilfred, could be banned for life alongwith their opponnets after notching up basketball-like scores of 61-1 and 55-1 respectively in a bid to sneak past each other, newspapers reported Wednesday.
The Goa Football Asociation (GFA) had ordered simultaneous kick-offs for the two matches played at different venues Tuesday night, as the team scoring the most goals would be promoted to the premier league.
But club officials posted at the two grounds kept in touch with each other by mobile telephones to report progress.
With the matches clearly fixed, play turned into little more than target practice as the two teams showered goals almost every minute-and-a-half, thanks to their respective weaker opponents liberally feeding them loose balls.
Even the goalkeeper of one of the teams joined in the scoring feast, the Indian Express said.
GFA secretary Savio Nessias suspended all four clubs, saying "they made a mockery of football."
"We had anticipated foul play and had sent observers to both matches."
Fans in Goa are mad about football and the state has some of the best football clubs in the country.
Two years ago in Calcutta, another football-crazy city, a team won 114-0 to avoid relegation. But it was not banned since officials "did not find enough evidence" of foul play.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=1&u=/afp/20040218/od_afp/fbl_ind_fixing_040218104826
