A number of first division and premier soccer club referees and club officials were arrested early on Friday morning in police raids following allegations of soccer match fixing, police said on Friday.
Police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said the operation, codenamed Dribble, kicked off at 2am on Friday morning.
”Arrests have been made countrywide,” she said but refused to divulge further details until the conclusion of the operation — expected to be by the end of the weekend.
”We won’t say who or how many people have been arrested until hopefully on Sunday night,” she said.
The task team headed by Gauteng’s deputy provincial commissioner, Afrika Khumalo, and consisting of a number of detectives, began the investigation two months ago at the request of SA Football Association (Safa) president Molefi Olifant.
Oliphant had admitted on Sunday that he was ”disappointed” that local soccer was blighted by match fixing. ”One would always expect that the outcome of a match should be decided by the two clubs and not by any official influencing the result,” said Olifant.
He also confirmed that unlike the incidents of cricket match fixing, gambling was not the cause of result tampering: ”In this case it is about club officials paying off referees to ensure their team wins.”
Earlier this week, Premier Soccer League CEO Trevor Phillips said of the recent allegations of match fixing and bribery: ”Let’s chuck these cheats in the dustbin.”
He was talking during a live interview on SuperSport on Wednesday evening.
”Sometimes it is too difficult to decide between competence and cheating. But something needs to be done about the standard of refereeing,” he said.
It was speculated that the meagre pay earned by referees could be the reason for their alleged cheating, but Phillips said that ”refereeing should be an after hours job”.
It was reported last Sunday that the SA Police Service had completed their investigations and were ready to pounce on anyone found to have been involved in a scam.
”This is the only way these allegations can be investigated. Police will gather evidence and take action, whatever it is. If there are cheats then let’s get rid of this rubbish once and for all. Chuck it in the dustbin,” he said.
”Look, it is going to be a rocky road, but the positive side of it is that we will then have a chance to give the SA soccer public something that they can trust and be proud of.”
Phillips said: ”Give Oliphant credit for going to the police.”
The PSL called for an inquiry in 1998 which was chaired by Advocate McCaps Motimele but the findings were never made public. – Sapa