/ 30 April 1999

Swallows coach cries foul

THURSDAY, 11.30AM:

MOROKA Swallows coach Walter Rautmann on Wednesday joined a growing list of people claiming Birds players have been accepting bribes to throw certain matches, and which may have resulted in Swallows losing a crucial league match.

Rautmann said there could be substance to claims that former Swallows directors bribed key players to deliberately lose vital Premier Soccer League matches. “In our last eight games I observed that we played very well, but missed several scoring chances and thus lost games,” he said.

Referring to alleged match fixing as a sham and a disgrace, Rautmann threatened to quit local coaching.

Others, however, blame Swallows’ poor recent performance on management’s constant experiments with unseasoned players.

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