Match fixing is unthinkable for most sports professionals whose very persons, careers and reputations are built on a single-minded focus on winning.<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0allegations over a number of years, across a range of sports, have suggested that for some the ability to lose convincingly gains the greatest income.<\/p>\n
First there were the match fixing bans given to some cricketers in the early 2000s<\/a>, and again in 2011<\/a>. Now there are allegations<\/a> that officials ignored red flags on as many as 16 tennis players ranked in the top 50 who may have thrown matches \u2013 including at Wimbledon \u2013 accusations they deny.<\/p>\n Throughout most jurisdictions match fixing is a criminal offence, or at least a very serious professional offence which undermines any value a game, or sport, may have. After all, who wants to play against someone who is trying to lose the game. The problem for both police and the sporting bodies is how compelling the evidence is.<\/p>\n Evidence can come from several quarters: confessions and recordings of conversations<\/a>, as in the 2010-2011 set of cricketing scandals, and suspicious betting patterns around particular matches, as is alleged in the tennis case.<\/p>\n Most contentious, however, is evidence from the actual sporting outcomes themselves and whether these can be used to verify an accusation. Is a world-class player losing to another who isn\u2019t considered that good really proof that the former is losing deliberately?<\/p>\n If there was no uncertainty in the outcomes of sporting events then it wouldn\u2019t be much of a game. A certain amount of upset is integral to any sport.<\/p>\n Just last year South Africa suffered a shock defeat to Japan<\/a> in the Rugby World Cup, Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey<\/a> in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 193, and Dustin Brown, ranked 102, beat two-time former champion<\/a> Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n Examples further back include the US ice-hockey team beating the Soviet Union\u2019s Red Army in the 1980 Winter Olympics. All were classic events \u2013 and there is, of course, no suggestion that any of them were fixed.<\/p>\nLosing is part of the game<\/h3>\n