Why some football referees engage in match-fixing? A sociological explanation of the influence of social structures

ABSTRACT

This article shows how governance failures within sport governing bodies promote opportunity structures for the manipulation of competitions. Based on a triangulation of qualitative methods, including interviews with key sport actors, the paper describes the structural constraints by which football referees may accept to perform their role while favouring one of the teams and, consequently, to apply the regulations with partiality and injustice. Cultural and relational constraints are presented and explained. Among the cultural ones, the work identifies a selective application of formal rules, the normalisation of abnormality, and the subsequent formalisation of abnormality. At the relational level, direct asymmetric relationships, indirect asymmetric relationships, and symmetric relationships are discussed. Since wrongdoing and the manipulation of competitions are understood by some referees as a necessary condition to progress in their career or to keep it ongoing, findings reinforce the importance of paying attention to the theories of social structure, and at the meso level, to explain the phenomenon of match fixing. Empirical and theoretical contributions support the need for developing anti-match fixing policies according to the social contexts in which sports actors are involved. It also opens a line of debate on the need to control externally and independently the Sport Governing Bodies.

KEYWORDS:

• Referees
• match-fixing
• structural constraints
• informal institutions
• football
• corruption

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank all the key informants that were interviewed. Their insight information was crucial for this research. They also want to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on early drafts of this paper. At different stages, Steve Guilbault helped with the English language revising and editing. The contents of this article reflect only the view of the authors.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Research involving Human Participants and/or Animals and Informed consent

Authors have conducted their research in accordance with principles detailed by professional associations and treaties other than the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki such as the International Sociological Association’s (ISA) Code of Ethics.

Notes

1. https://pace.coe.int/en/news/7890/fighting-the-manipulation-of-sports-competitions-must-be-a-political-priority?fbclid = IwAR22FKEMNBI3ZSR3DD9uKC7G4nSkqI165Hsu-_9OmKui_gbBX-5-w8UNebY

2. Calciopoli was a match-fixing scandal revealed in 2006 that directly affected the Italian top professional leagues, Serie A and B. The affair was uncovered when several telephone recordings showed questionable relations between team managers and referee organisations. The investigation discovered the selection of favourable referees.

3. Training to Protected Reporting from Professional and Grassroots Sports (590,593-EPP-1-2017-1-PT-SPO-SCP) and Staying on side: How to Stop Match Fixing (EC Grant agreement: EAC-2012-0568)

4. See RTP (2020a, 2020b)

5. Liga Portugal is the sports body responsible for professional football in Portugal (1st division, 2nd division, League Cup)

6. In Argentina, for instance, there were several scandals after the publication of private conversations between Boca Juniors president, Daniel Angelici, and the president of the Argentinian Football Federation (AFA), Luis Segura. See: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/deportes/futbol/los-audios-en-los-que-angelici-pide-por-dos-jugadores-ante-el-tribunal-de-disciplina-nid1982379 In another case, Marcelo Tinelli, from San Lorenzo de Almagro, discusses with the former president of AFA, Héctor Grondona, about the designation of referees for the club’s games. See: https://www.ovaciondigital.com.uy/futbol/escuchas-tinelli-grondona-pedido-arbitros-guita.html.

7. Público (2006), ‘Apito Dourado: escutas apanharam Luís Filipe Vieira a escolher árbitros para o Benfica’, disponível em: https://www.publico.pt/2006/09/08/desporto/noticia/apito-dourado-escutas-apanharam-luis-filipe-vieira-a-escolher-arbitros-para-o-benfica-1269576; acedido em 11–05-2020.

8. Público (2006), ‘Apito Dourado: escutas apanharam Luís Filipe Vieira a escolher árbitros para o Benfica’, disponível em: https://www.publico.pt/2006/09/08/desporto/noticia/apito-dourado-escutas-apanharam-luis-filipe-vieira-a-escolher-arbitros-para-o-benfica-1269576; acedido em 11–05-2020.

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0iPPYyG9GQ: acedido em 11–05-2020.

10. Tribuna Expresso (2017), ‘Artur Soares Dias ameaçado de morte por adeptos do FC Porto’, disponível em: https://tribunaexpresso.pt/futebol-nacional/2017-01-06-Artur-Soares-Dias-ameacado-de-morte-por-adeptos-do-FC-Porto; acedido em 13–05-2020.

11. See Italian and Argentine cases previously referred.

12. An example that went around the world was Lionel Messi’s criticism of refereeing and particularly of VAR, after the semi-final of the Copa América 2019. See for instance: https://veja.abril.com.br/esporte/messi-desabafa-essa-copa-america-esta-armada-para-o-brasil/

Additional information

Funding

César de Cima research was supported by a grant from the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (SFRH/ BD/143300/2019). This publication was also supported with funding from the strategic programme of the Centro de Estudos Internacionais, Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (with the reference FCT UID/CPO/03122/2019 and UIDB/03122/2020). Preliminary research was developed in the framework of the project T-PREG, funded by European Commission through the Programme Erasmus + Sport (590593-EPP-1-2017-1-PT-SPO-SCP).