Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-03-14-Speech-4-050-000"
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"en.20130314.5.4-050-000"2
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"Mr President, this issue is close to my heart, as a lover of sport and a football season-ticket holder and sponsor of football at all levels, including grassroots. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Some people like to call it the beautiful game. Clearly, we are learning that football is becoming noticeably more grubby and sullied. According to experts, as many as ten matches a week in Europe are now affected by match-fixing. The numbers of games affected worldwide is astonishing.
However, it is not enough to look at this issue from a purely European perspective. Can we trust the EU Commission, with its history of corruption, to clear up sport? Maybe it is a ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’.
Match-fixing is an endemic problem across the world. Until nations and football authorities get their houses in order, how can we expect anything to change? Take a look at FIFA, for example, a body that has been dogged by accusations of corruption; or the FA back in my own country that fails to implement a working fit-and-proper-persons test, which allows vulnerable clubs to fall into the wrong hands.
Many of the players that get caught up in match-fixing accusations are often poorly paid, poorly educated and poorly protected. It is not enough for Europol to investigate this problem. UEFA has far more member countries than the EU, so proposed EU action would be an irrelevance. It is about time that we had transparent football authorities and legislation from national governments to stamp out this organised crime in football once and for all. I believe football can be beautiful again."@en1
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