Influence of Corruption in Italian. Italian Soccer League - Research Paper Example

?Influence of Corruption in Italian Influence of Corruption in Italian Introduction Serie A is one of the most interesting soccer leagues not only in Europe but in the whole world. It comprises of some of the major teams, which have witnessed glories by winning major European titles. That notwithstanding, the league has continued to face protracted cases and allegations of corruption that often influence match outcomes in one way or another team (Humphreys and Howard, 2008). According to FIFA; which is the World Football regulation body, match fixing is an offense. In Seriea A, match fixing alongside other cases such as bribing of referees so as to influence a match in a way that benefits some other team have been common. This paper investigates how such actions are likely or have been able to influence the Italian Soccer league. Corruption and the Italian Soccer League In the recent past, Italy has had to deal with a series of match fixing scandals. Several people have been arrested, several club teams both at upper and lower levels have been held for impropriety with several other team officials and coaches being put under serious investigations. In 2006, Juventus suffered a heavy blow after it was temporarily demoted to Serie B and stripped of two Serie A titles, due to a match fixing scandal. It is important to understand how match-fixing scandal often takes place. One, it involves a pre-determined way of playing in a way that benefits some team (Humphreys and Howard, 2008). It is a violation of rules and regulations set aside by FIFA yet it often occurs in football. A game may be deliberately lost against an opponent or a team fails to score goals as many as expected even of the potentials are clearly predictable. The corruption that has consistently faced the Italian soccer league has deformed the performance in both the pitch and almost financially most of the clubs in the leg. According to Forbes magazine for instance, out of 107 clubs in Italian football, only 19 of them have reported profit in the recent study. Besides financial performance, most of the Italian teams have failed to shine consistently at major world champions such as Champion’s League and the Europa League, although teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus, have tried to participate at most of the levels in the European championships. However, one fact needs to be established that corruption has often affected the performance of not only selected clubs but also the Soccer League in general (Deloitte, and Touche, 2003). It has been established that corruption in the Italian soccer league in the Italian Soccer league is not just a current affair. There is a long history of corruption associated problems that has faced the league since its inception. For instance, in 1925 there was a national strike of referees following the suspicion that there was a ploy to mistreat and blacklist some members of the referees’ association (AIA)? It is believed that certain clubs were behind this supposed blacklisting, in order to eliminate some referees had remained reluctant to bow for the pressure and manipulation that these clubs had some times resorted to, in what has been referred to as winning at all cost (Deloitte, and Touche , 2003). To illustrate how this scandal had affected the credibility of the league, a match had to be declared null and Void in 1926 between Torion and Casale following the allegations that the referee had failed to officiate the match with “the correct serenity of spirit”. It was believed that the referee was completely biased awarding one of the teams most of the advantages. The reputation of referees then was put into question following a number of same incidences. The referees went on strike refusing to take any officiating responsibility due to the fact that most of them were victimized for no apparent reasons. In order to respond to these issues the Italian football had to set-up a commission that would identify and recommend reforms so that the once credible profession could regain its credibility (Koning, 2000). The response to these problems had some serious repercussions mostly to the foreign players. For instance, the Viarregio Charter of 1926 instituted to bring reforms into the Italian football, introduced new regulations that saw the revolution of football in the Soccer league. It acknowledged the legalization of professionalism, following the upsurge of footballers who were working in different professions, hence making it difficult to effectively play and work. Second, there was a ban imposed on foreign players. By then Italian Football was one of the most attractive in the world. There was a boom of players from different regions such as Austria and Hungary (Kloek, 1981). The charter then banned foreign players from playing for the league teams and clubs. In the 1925-26 season there were more than 80 foreign players playing for the Italian league. Some of them were forced to seek for other different jobs. The Italian Soccer League has often has scandalous history. Referees for instance have been the target of scandals and corruption. They have been believed to be compromised most especially by powerful clubs. A perfect example includes the chase of a referee who was thought to have mistreated and wrongly warded penalties against Udinese in a match between them and Como. Following the launch of a board game referred to as Akkiappa L’Arbitro in 2003 by a fo0otball chairman and Entrepreneur Enrico Preziosi, in which the referee was being hunted, several fans employed the ‘hit the Referee’ tactic of the board game in order to chase and beat the referee. The board game was symbolic of the referees’ supposed unfair officiating in the treatment of the teams (Kloek, 1981). Preziosi was known for tongue lashing of the referees whom he thought had always mistreated and unfairly awarded other teams advantage against his favorite club Como, who particularly not good enough during the 2002-3 season. His frequent outburst against the referees made the board game he had launched to be seen as an insult to the referees and was ordered to be removed from shop. The fans employed the tactics of the board game in harassing referees they thought did not officiate in the most serenity of spirit. The violence often led to the cancelling of matches, which is again considered as a major setback in any football league (Deloitte, and Touche, 2003). The corruption that had marred the Italian society in the wake of 1993 negatively affected the soccer leaguer largely. Referees for instance who officiated majorly on the Serie A, found it difficult to officiate the matches. In fact most of them went out of their own discretion to officiate minor matches in the nondescript little towns. This is due to the corruption at the soccer league that had barred prompt payment of the referees. In some cases they were only paid their fuel money back, in case they were fortunate enough. They became among the 1993 virtuous minority. In fact according to a study on the corruption of Italian Soccer league prior to 2006, it has been identified there are certain major clubs that have often mishandled and victimized referees. Those referees who award penalties and critical scores against these major clubs such as the Milans and Juventus have often found themselves relegated to officiate in the lower Serie B. Additionally, these clubs have also been realized to sign referees that they are sure are capable of officiating to their advantage. Franklin Foer of Harper, in 2004 identified that a team like Juve has often won the championship merely on dubious penalties awarded by corrupted. It is also evident that Juventus has had the highest number of fouls of any other club of the league, yet they have received the least number of red cards. He also indicated that the same club has been awarded critical penalties, while the deserved penalties of the opponents have been denied in most circumstance (Deloitte and Touche, 2003). Match fixing scandal has also been another form of corruption in the Italian Soccer. For instance, Lazio and A.C Milan were relegated to the Italian second division following a match fixing scandal in which the two teams were involved. There is enough ground to believe that so many cases of rigged or fixed matches were there prior to 2004 although few are recorded. In 1994, it is established that Juventus hired many the of the league officials including Luciano Moggi and his assistants who ought to always manipulate the matches on the advantage of the club. The data below shows some of the corruption cases in which Juventus has been involved in: Matches likely to have been rigged by Juventus before the Championship 2004/5 according to Garlando and Gilioli 1994/1995 18 Juventus-Brescia 2-1 Last minute irregular penalty 1996/1997 20 Juventus-Perugia 2-1 Perugia was denied penalty 1997/1998 3 Juventus-Brescia 4-0 Brescia was denied penalty 1997/1998 11 Juventus-Lazio 2-1 Penalty for Juventus 1997/1998 19 Juventus-Roma 3-1 Favors to Juventus 1997/1998 21 Juventus-Sampdoria 3-0 Inexistent goal for Juventus 1997/1998 25 Juventus-Napoli 2-2 Favors to Juventus 1997/1998 30 Empoli-Juventus 0-1 Empoli was denied goal 1997/1998 31 Juventus-Inter 1-0 Inter was denied penalty 1999/2000 33 Juventus-Parma 1-0 Parma was denied goal 2001/2002 3 Juventus-Chievo 3-2 Penalty for Juventus 2001/2002 14 A.C.Milan-Juventus 1-1 Penalty for Juventus 2001/2002 15 Inter-Chievo 1-2 Inter was denied penalty 2002/2003 17 Chievo-Juventus 1-4 2 penalties for Juventus 2002/2003 20 Juventus-Empoli 1-0 Penalty for Juventus 2002/2003 29 Juventus-Roma 2-1 Penalty for Juventus 2003/2004 10 Modena-Juventus 0-2 Favors to Juventus 2003/2004 16 Sampdoria-Juventus 1-2 Favors to Juventus 2003/2004 24 Brescia-Juventus 2-3 Favors to Juventus Italian prosecutors tapped phone conversations that involved investigations about Juventus’ use of doping allegations. The investigations revealed that Luciano Moggi, a Turin-based soccer team’s general manager had been min constant conversation and contacts with the football federation officials, referees and journalists. Games had been rigged as a result with several referees who were known to be favorable selected to officiate matches against Juventus. Journalists were also influenced to manipulate news on newspapers and TVs against the referees who were seen to damage the Turin-based team. Moggi has been identified as one of the figures behind serious cases of corruption in in Italian Soccer league, involving Juventus. Several referees selected were expected to influence the game in favor of Juventus as indicated in the above statistic. Studies indicate that 2 games per week of the 20004-05 tournament were rigged. This translates to a total of rigged 78 matches during the whole period of the tournament. Most of the rigged matches were in favor of Juventus although some other teams were also involved. Some .of these other teams include A.C Milan, Reggina, Lazio and Fiorentina. According to the reports, A.C Milan was accused of influencing its match against Chievo Verona during April 2005, in which the assignment of linesmen was influenced in order to award advantages to A.C Milan. Lazio and Fiorentina were also accused of the same mischief. The official documents released by the Judiciary following the 2006 investigations cited a variety of ways employed in influencing matches in different ways. For instance, a stronger player or the one who is considered as more dangerous of a particular team was given red card. For example, in the match between Udinese and Brescia Jankulowski was awarded a red card just before a match against Juventus in which he was considered a threat. Other evidences provided indicate that referees could award penalties or deliberately deny one of the two teams a deserved penalty in order to influence the match in a particular way. TV journalists were also involved in the same fiasco as was revealed by tapped phone conversations that involved team officials and the journalists. The investigations also revealed that referees who were known to possess tainted reputation hardly found it easy to officiate in international and big matches, which are considered as boosters for referees in terms of revenue (Karlis, and Ntzoufras, 2003). As a result, referees who were known to have stronger concerns about their careers were targeted by those who wanted to rig matches. Moggi and the friends who were the major casualties of these investigations were identified to have instructed referees to give red card to those players who considered very strong. It was a ploy to minimize cases of a draw or a loss (Barthold, 2009). Another corruption case involved teams that have very strong media power, which was at the center of manipulating outcome. Managers often choose matches that had high net payoffs from rigging. It is cost minimizing when a choice is made per any given revenue. If there is competition on different media power then there is an increase in the cost of match rigging. In the 2006 investigations, several factors of corruption emanated. One blackmail capital appeared to be more prevalent in the first division (Greene, 2004). There were hard evidences as held with the judiciary that indicated how blackmail capital contributed in entrenching corruption deeper in the Italian Soccer league. Managers exerted a lot of pressures on the referees in order to influence results their way, through tapped phone conversations (Grossman and Helpman, 2001). Based on a simple model of allocation, a study that investigated the serious cases of corruption in the Italian soccer League established through an empirical assessment of the determinants of corruption, to identify the rigged matches. It indicated the prevalence of corruption in the league even before the much hyped 2004-5 championship. It also identified that the major scandalous cases of corruption targeted balanced matches in which there is a minimum deviation from the fair outcome (Garlando, 2005). Career concerned referees were easy targets corruption since they make it well known their intentions to earn promotion. They often make it transparent the pathways and criteria relevant in getting promoted to international competitions. Corruption cases are also high when there is a low competitive lead of a team. For instance, in the case of Juventus, several corruption cases entangled the club during periods which it had very low competitive lead. Preliminary evidence has also indicated that media power has also been a critical factor in advancing the interests of corrupt teams or clubs (Frechette, 2001). Statistics have proven that indeed corruption in the Italian soccer league is a matter of serious concern. Many clubs have participated or at least involved in a corruption scenario of any case at least in as far as football and championships are concerned. Corruption has presented itself in terms of match fixing in which players or clubs agree to predetermine the outcome of a game. One side would either accept to deliberately lose a match or fail to score goals. In other case, referees have been conformed to be the many of the football corruption casualties. They are put under pressure by either the fans or team managers, or some are paid to upset the competition balance by giving red cards to stronger players (Dobson and Goddard, 2001). The effect of these corruption cases is that they may end up killing careers of many talented players. It kills morale for the ambitions and dreams of clubs alongside that of the players in the club. This is due to the fact that small clubs that do not have the financial might to compete with the bigger clubs who are capable of parting with large sums of money and that have amassed enough power to influence the outcome of matches (Butler and Moffitt, 1982). Corruption disgraces the otherwise important and fair game. People consider football to be one of the games in which the outcome should entirely be dependent on the input of the players. By manipulating the outcome it becomes unfair and only serves to satisfy certain individual interests not taking, to account the interests of the fans and that of other stakeholders. Many fans put a lot of hope on their clubs. Hence, it is immoral, to deform such hopes that giver certain levels of satisfaction and relief to many people. Fans would be contented to lose a match in a fair way and manner as opposed to watching their teams lose a match in an unfair way (Ades, and Tella, 1997). In the Italian Soccer League, corruption has affected the credibility of the league in itself. It has become difficult to identify which teams win the tournament fairly or unfairly. It has created a situation in which the careers of professional referees are put on the line. For instance as stated above in this paper, referees who do not officiate to serve the interest of major league clubs such as Juventus, A.C Milan, Fiorentina and many others, often find themselves relegated to lower and non-lucrative divisions. Corruption has created a situation in which clubs have aligned and collaborated with journalists and referees in order to award advantage to clubs with powerful ownership and control. These clubs have been able to corrupt even the officials of football federation so that they assume low profiles of inactivity, failing to take serious actions against those clubs who are engaged in match fixing scandals, referee bribery and even more seriously doping (Duggan and Levitt 2002). Most of the professional sports literature links match fixing to sole decisions of the managerial. Club mangers are then architect behind most of the rigging cases. In some cases, even the top management may not be aware of what is transpiring in the club. Managers choose to employ match rigging machineries as has been identified in the case of Moggi. This has been a serious case in Italy. In some cases, the club’s top management and owners often seek for managers who they believe are shrewd enough to involve dirty tactics as long as the desired results can be achieved (Brillinger, 2006). Calciopoli has indicated sufficiently that the use of underhand methods in Italian football has been more prevalent in the recent past. It also then begs an answer what have been the necessary steps towards eliminating this wanton situation of affairs. Corruption has rich roots in the history of Italian Soccer most especially in the Serie A; the first division of the Italian league football. It has seen many teams’ loose matches unfairly leading to loss of a lot of capital by a number of football investors in the soccer league. It can also be said that corruption cases have propagated many of the violence witnessed in the Italian football (Ades, and Tella, 1997). Italy soccer league has been seen through history as marred by violence in most of the cases. Most of these witnessed violence that have earned fair condemnations can be attributed to a majority of unfair officiating that leaves fans raged with anger (Bernheim, and Whinston, 1998). It may be a compelling factor for fans to resort to violence if one of their favorite player upon whom high expectations are vested is sent out through a red card yet there are not enough grounds to award such measures then fans may find it right to cause chaos. If a team is awarded undeserved penalty or another denied a deserved penalty, fans may find enough justifications to resort to violence, which has actually faced the Italian soccer league for decades since the beginning of football in the country (Bliss and Tella, 1997). Betting or gambling could be influenced by corruption. In Italy, betting or gambling are a traditional practice that still exists even today, in as far as football is concerned. A study has indicated that there have been increases on the number of football gambling or betting in the recent past. For instance, between 1998 and 2008 sport wagering has been established to increase at an annual rate of 60% (Ades, and Tella, 1997). In 2008 only, 4 billion euros were spent on sport betting, with which football took the majority. 93% of bets were on events of soccer during the same period. It is therefore only fair that the results come out naturally so that those who win the bets are naturally fortunately not merely beneficiaries of a manipulated outcome. For instance, some of these periods before 2004-5 seasons, Juventus would always be the likely winner and those who placed their bet on it almost definitely win. This gave unlikely advantage to those who preferred Juventus on their bets to those who preferred the opponent (Becker and Stigler 1974). Due to corruption, clubs suffered in different categories. For instance, Juventus which was the major casualty of the measures were stripped off of the “Scudetto”, which they had won, and the title given to Inter Milan. They also suffered relegation from the first division (Serie A) to the second division (Serie B), with nine points deducted from the following season (2006/07). Milan were penalized of 8 points but retained in the first division (serie A). Lazio received a sanction, with a deduction of three points and excluded from participation in the UEFA cup, Fiorentina was slapped by a deduction of 15 points and banned from champions’ League participation. Reggina was deducted 15 points and sanctioned. Following the outcome of the calciopoli, top officers of the football federation and the Italian association of referees faced sanctioned due to their participation in most of the corruption cases (Ades, and Tella, 1997). Conclusion Corruption in the Italian Football has been there at least as early as 1927. It has involved several cases of match fixing scandals, rigging, bribery of top football federation officials and referees. One of the major teams that have been highly implicated in the scandal is Juventus who had a manager coordinating all the activities for match fixing and rigging scandals. Following the investigations of the calciopoli several teams in the Italian First League division suffered severe penalties. Corruption led to several small clubs losing matches unfairly even if they stood better positions to win. Red cards were awarded deliberately to ease the opposition in more critical matches and tournament. Many investors lost finances through unscrupulous manipulation of the outcomes, those who participated in wagering markets lost or gained unfairly as a result of match rigging and fixing. References Ades, A., and R. D. Tella (1997): “National Champions and Corruption: Some Unpleasant Interventionist Arithmetic,” The Economic Journal, 107(5), 1023–1042. Aggregates and Contemporaneous Disturbances Are Equicorrelated,” Econometrica, 49, 1–19. Barthold, D. 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