Betting firms are making money out of our football and making our game dirty – Nii Lante Vanderpuye
A former Minister for Youth and Sports and Member of Parliament for the Odododiodio Constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye has accused betting companies of milking money out of our domestic game whiles denting the integrity of the game.
The Ghana Premier League has been fraught with allegations of match fixing which has dented the sporting integrity of the game.
He says that the proliferation of betting companies in the country coupled with their syndicates has increased match fixing in our game.
Ghana Premier League side Ashantigold and Division One League side Inter Allies have been demoted to the Division Two by the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for their involvement in match fixing.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Nii Lante Vanderpuye disclosed that there has been a lot of incidents of match fixing in the game and that the Ashgold vs Inter Allies one is the only one that got the attention.
“Effects of betting on our game is not something that we can just talk about and let go. In fact, it defeats the principle of fair play as instituted by the whole world or especially football,” he said.
“The advent of betting companies into our world with the demise of our own Ghana football doctrine spell the beginning of the integrity of the game. These betting companies are coming with the disguise of supporting our clubs with their so-called financing but they’re only making money out of our football and making our game very dirty.
“What happened in that match between AshantiGold and Inter Allies is not out of the ordinary. It’s happened in so many instances, it’s just the case that this particular one [got the attention].
“It’s affecting our game and today it’s gotten to the level whereby these people because they use systems that are able to put data together, before the commencement of the match, they know the number of people who have put a bet on a particular club.
“So they have agents at the stadium, influence clubs, match officials, and individual players to take the result around so that they [the betting companies] will make more money and turn round and give some to the clubs as sponsorship. It is very important we take a look at it because this could lead even to influencing the result of our national team matches.”
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