How to fix Indian Premier League taking cues from global leagues

By Ravi Teja Sharma, Arka Bhattacharya & Pratik Bhakta
Former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian doesn’t have much faith in the current management system of cricket in the country, but wants the Indian Premier League to fix the sorry state of affairs like some other sports have done globally. “They have basketball, ice-hockey and baseball in America, soccer in England, all of which have a lot of money and some mischief does take place, some fi xing, but it does not take 10 years to identify culprits and throw them out of the game,” he said. “So, generally, the image of these games in the eyes of the average man is very clean. They have done it, why can’t we?”

Such efforts haven’t been very effective in India, especially in cricket which has been rocked by several controversies in the past few years. So how have other sports and leagues handled scandals and fixed their problems?

NBA

The National Basketball Association in 2007 was rocked with a betting scandal wherein a NBA referee Tin Donaghi used his connections to get information that he used while betting, even in his own games. FBI investigated the scandal and Donaghi was jailed, but later it was found out gambling was rampant among league officials.

Solution

NBA overhauled its referee norms, completely banned all offi cials from any forms of sports betting, referees were trained and counselled and it even brought in outside professional Army Maj General Ronald Johnson to manage the referee programme.

GERMAN FOOTBALL

Leagues have dealt strict punishments and fi nes to keep the faith of the followers. A scandal broke out in German soccer just ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Twentyyear-old referee Robert Hoyzer had confessed to betting on and fi xing matches in the second division of Bundesliga, German Cup and Regionalliga and it was reported that the referee had links with three Croatian gamblers who were in touch with organised criminals.

After a criminal investigation, Hoyzer was banned for life from football and was awarded 29 months of imprisonment.

Solution

German Football Association, DFB, put in place measures to prevent such incidents. LIke, Bundesliga team matches in the German Cup would be observed by an arbitrator. Those referees who would be promoted for second division games would be observed in the Regionalliga over a threeyear period. Extensive use of video replays was suggested. Immediate interim suspension of offi cials involved in a problem was suggested. DFB proposed to set up its own sports betting programme.

ITALIAN FOOTBALL

Italian football had a series of match-fi xing scandals in quick succession. The biggest was in 2006 which involved Italy's top professional leagues Serie A and Serie B. The Italian police uncovered the scandal in May 2006 and implicated champions Juventus and teams such as Lazio, Reggina, AC Milan and Fiorentina. This was done after the uncovering of a strong network between referee organisations and team managers. Teams were accused of selecting particular referees to rig games.

Solution

Senator and former head of the Italian stock-market regulator Consob, Guido Rossi, 75, who was a complete outsider, was brought in as “extraordinary commissioner” to lead the cleanup of the league. He brought in a raft of legislations, and also handed out tough fi nes. Juventus was stripped of its Serie A titles that it got in 2005 and 2006 and was kept out of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. It was also demoted to Serie B.

KOREAN FOOTBALL

In the South Korean K League, 50 players were probed in 2011 for their role in match fixing.

Solution

The league was scaled down to 12 teams from 16. It adopted the policy of relegation first and then promotion. As many as 47 footballers were banned for life, two committed suicide.

To salvage its image, it was renamed K League Classic. The 2012 league was cancelled to control the problem of organised gambling rings.

PREMIER LEAGUE

There were concerns about how anyone, despite having a criminal record or being convicted for fraud, could buy into or take over football clubs.

Solution

In 2004, Premier League unveiled a fit-and-proper-persons test that was to ensure that all directors of football clubs have a clean business as well as criminal record. Under the test, directors cannot be on the board of more than one club or own more than 10% in another club. If any individual is declared bankrupt, he cannot join the board of a club.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Owners of Major League Baseball colluded with each other for three years — 1985, 1986, 1987 — on not fi ghting for non-contract players, also called free agents, as it led to bidding wars between teams. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MBPLA) fi led a series of cases and won $10.5 million, $38 million and $280 million in settlements.

Solution

While the tussle between the players and owners might still be on, most of it is managed through negotiation. In 2011, the two parties negotiated a basic agreement that would be on till 2016. That also saw the involvement of 230 players in the process that addressed some important issues.