by Declan Hill
There was a sudden bang on the door and screams in the alleyway.
A young man dressed in a blue shirt staggered in with an inch and a half cut on the back of his head. It looked as if it had been sliced open with a machete. There was blood trickling down the back of his neck and soaking his short hair. Everyone rushed to close the wooden door. Over the top of the door, I could see another young man screaming and trying to push his way in. It felt like there were others outside. Our guys pushed him away. There was a smash on the window. A stick with a knife actually came through the mud wall. Everyone was screaming.
I figured it was over. The Mungiki or the Taliban had come to get us. They must have heard the rich foreigners were there. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. We were trapped. There was no help we could call on.
The guys ran outside and there was a fight in the alleyway. I gripped the pepper spray in my hand and stood by door. Only later did I wonder: if I were a real man would I have run outside and fought beside the others? But frankly, I didn’t think too much about it. I was ready to fight. I expected at any moment a horde of gangsters to set upon me and do worse to Gunhild.
The guys come back in. One of them, still smiling, nodded at me.
“Time for us to go?” I asked.
“Time for you to go,” he replied.
On the side of the main Juja Road, one of the other guys, Julius, invited us back to his place. I refused, saying, “I’m a coward. I feel scared. I want to go home …” There was relief in Julius’s and the other guys’ eyes, but shame in our former host. He hunched over as he walked along beside me. “I was happy. Now I am sad. My heart does not feel good … I will find those boys and I will break their necks.” He did not meet my eyes for the rest of my stay in Mathare. As we left, they were planning to roam the streets to find the men who attacked the house and kill them.
In May 2007, just as the final practices for the Norwegian tournament began, the area exploded again. This time it wasn’t the Mungiki versus the Taliban. It was another group of criminal extortionists, the Kenyan police. The Mungiki killed a police officer. That was a really bad move for the entire Mathare slum. The police moved into the area and declared open war on pretty much everyone. They beat up hundreds of men, women, and children. They killed at least thirty people and every corpse, they declared, was a Mungiki killer. It is hard to believe when one of the people they shot was a ten-year-old boy. Throughout all this violence, Rosemary, Joyce, Mary, and Pablo all kept practising and kept dreaming about their possible trip to Norway.
It would be relatively easy to stop the violence in Mathare. But each of the mafia groups is connected with top politicians. They provide the politician with votes at election times: the politicians provide them with protection when their violence provokes too many headlines. And some of those politicians really didn’t like Bob Munro.
Munro’s problem was that after he helped establish MYSA, he had been asked by MYSA to turn his attention to the problem of corruption in Kenyan soccer as a whole. MYSA had launched an adult professional team made up from its best youth players. It was a success, quickly gaining promotion to the Kenyan Premier League. As it climbed, Munro began to be aware of the corruption in the league: the unpaid referees, the theft of gate receipts, the mismanagement of schedules, the pocketing of fees from illegal transfer deals.
Kenyan Football Federation (KFF) politics can be very dirty. Two recent soccer executives of the KFF were beaten up by thugs, purportedly hired by their rivals. Two other executives are facing court trials for embezzling tens of millions of Kenyan shillings. Part of the problem is that a post in the Kenyan Football Federation is regarded as an excellent step toward political prominence: of the last seven Kenyan Football Federation presidents, six have gone on to become national politicians. So after one powerful team refused to be relegated, Munro helped found another rival Premier League backed by a number of corporate sponsors. It was an immediate success and it was stepping on all the wrong toes. When I visited Kenya in January 2007, things looked really bad for Munro, MYSA, and Kenyan soccer. The Kenyan minister of sport had threatened to deport Munro claiming that he was bad for the game. The Com missioner for Sport, Gordon Oluch, had been attacked after he brought riot police to close down a match of Munro’s Premier League. And FIFA, tired of the whole mess, had stopped Kenya from competing in international soccer.
In the midst of it all, Munro was unrepentant. He said:
People would come to me and say, “Bob, the problem with you is that you need to learn how to compromise.” And I say, “Look, I’ve spent thirty years in the UN, and compromises I know a lot about. But let’s look at this issue. What do you mean by compromise? Do you mean by compromise is that the previous regimes stole $55 million and they’re in court being charged with stealing $55 million, so should we compromise by saying this existing regime, they can steal $25 [million]? Or, you know, the previous regime, they broke over half the articles in the KFF constitution, so do you mean that we should compromise by saying, “Okay, you’re only allowed to break a quarter of them? Is that what you mean by compromise?”
There are certain things in which compromise is not possible. You steal or you don’t steal. You respect the constitution or you don’t respect the constitution. You have the rule of law or you don’t have the rule of law. So there’s certain things that are absolutes and areas that are not negotiable.
There is a happy ending to this story.
Over the course of 2007, the international soccer authorities like FIFA and the Confederation of African Football stepped in and did what they are supposed to do: help clean up the game. They got people to the table, administratively banged a few heads together, and now finally Munro is safe, Mathare United is back in the league, and the corruption is beginning to leave the game in Kenya.
In July 2007, the Mathare United Under-14 girls team went to Norway. Rosemary, Joyce, and Pablo all made the team. It was their first trip out of Kenya and after six hard-fought matches they won the whole damn tournament. I saw a photo of Rosemary Njiru after the final. She is standing in front of her jubilant teammates, being interviewed by the Norwegian press. She doesn’t have her toothpick, but she has grown so much since I first spoke to her. She looks like a professional: poised, happy, and confident. She looks like a young girl who has come a very long way.
The moral of this story is that if a bunch of little girls from a slum and an unarmed Canadian can take on the mafia, violence, and corruption in soccer and survive and thrive, then so can we all. We can take the game back. We can clean up this sport. We can establish leagues that help their own communities instead of being nesting grounds for hooligans, mobsters, and corruption. We can stop referees from being bribed. We can make sure that the biggest tournaments and leagues in the world are not infested with match-fixers. We can win this fight and the sport deserves us to fight it. I will finish the book with one of my favourite quotes. It was from the great English anti-slavery advocate, William Wilberforce. In 1789, Wilberforce took on the entire English slave-owning class and gave a three-and-a-half hour parliamentary speech that outlined the horrors and atrocities of the slaving ships. He ended his speech with the words, “Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.” The sport, our young people and all who come after, need us not to look the other way.
Robert Hoyzer (left) refereeing a fixed game. A player tries to protest one of the calls.
Café King in central Berlin, where many of the Hoyzer fixes were organized.
The author and Milan Sapina, one of the fixers who helped Robert Hoyzer.
The author and Rajendran “Pal” Kurusamy, the former match-fixer in the Malaysian-Singapore League. Kurusamy served several years in prison and has now retired from any fixing.
The ticket scam in action with German police about to stop any photographs.
Celebrations after Brazil’s first goal against Ghana at the Dortmund Stad
ium.
The reach of soccer: a bar in Accra, Ghana, advertising a match played in Toronto, Canada, between an African and an Asian team, and another Latin American match.
Richard Kingson (holding the ball) during a practice on the beach.
The hard stare of one of the best mid fielders in the world: Sulley Muntari of Portsmouth and Ghana.
The intense Michael Oti Adjei interviewing Asamoah Gyan, the star forward of the Ghana national team.
Luciano Moggi (kicking the ball), the Juventus general manager, in 2005. At the end of the season, Italian police released his incriminating telephone conversations.
Alaattin Çakici, the Turkish gangster who had connections with the Beşiktaş soccer club.
After being interviewed by the Belgian police for match-fixing, Ye Zheyun fled and has never been seen by officials again.
Dmitri Chepel, in his days as president of the Russian team Baltika Kaliningrad.
The girls of the Mathare United Under-14 team handling press interviews in Norway after winning the tournament. Rosemary Njiru is speaking into the microphone.
Boys playing on the pitch where a young Stephen Appiah played in his hometown of Chorkor, Ghana.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Blanche DuBois famously said that she depended on the “kindness of strangers.” In writing this book I have relied on the kindness of just about everybody: colleagues, friends, relatives, acquaintances, and strangers. In particular, I would like to thank all the people who consented to be interviewed, many of whom have asked not to be identified. Because of this reluctance, I will not mention anyone who gave me an interview, to stop guessing games as to identities, but I do want to thank everyone who spoke to me for their time and patience in explaining the sometimes unseemly side of a sport that we all love so much.
The book would never have been written without Marc Carinci, a tireless researcher, who worked on fact checking and research reports. His enthusiasm never waned despite long hours and he was absolutely dedicated to getting facts right: any mistakes in the text are mine. Chris Bucci, the senior editor at McClelland & Stewart, guided me with wonderful calmness throughout the editorial process. And Emma Parry, my agent, is ever ready with a good word, a great smile, and a superb meal!
In the management and processing of information I owe much to Ben Spurr, Noah Bush, and Nolan Little for their work in transcribing the hundreds of hours of tape; Alyn Still and Emma Link for their help with statistical calculations; and Dominic Bown for keeping my computers and various hidden cameras and recording devices working.
At Oxford, there were two great English gentlemen who made my stay there largely a pleasure: Dr. Andrew Markus, my colleague advisor, who gave mostly gentle advice, kept my spirits up, and taught me how to tie a bow-tie; and, of course, Professor Anthony Heath, a supervisor who with wit, grace, and intelligence saw me through to the completion of my thesis. Other colleagues who gave plenty of intellectual contributions to the work and deserve my thanks are Professors Diego Gambetta, Tom Dawson, Uwe Ackerman, Sean David, Keith Frayn, Raman Saggu, Derek Jewell, Steve Fisher, Michael Biggs, Peter Hill, Matthew Bond, Jay Gershuny, and Edmund Chattoe, for their encouragement and ideas.
There were dozens of other people who helped read manuscript drafts, make cups of tea, and generally keep me sane, they include Michael Drolet, Anders Krarup, Lucie Cluver, Jamie Salo, Paddy Coulter, Anne Millard, Allison Gilmore, Jackie Davis, and Nigel, Glen, Darren, Mick, and the rest of the porters at Green College. Thank you as well to the members of the British Council, who were kind enough to give me a Chevening Scholarship that financed some of my studies at the university.
In Malaysia, I was fortunate to be adopted by two mentors: Ian “Mr. Malaysia” Stratton and Gerry Bodeker. Also Sharon Saw, Ngooi Chiu Ing, and the gang at the Oxbridge Society of Malaysia who on occasion would make me forget my research and take me dancing. Thank you as well to my friends and contacts at the Royal Malaysian Police who helped me with great patience and graciousness. Other people who were helpful were Tunku Adnan, Effendi Jagan, Ann Lee, Hilary Chiew, Jahabar Sadiq, Patrick Chalmers, Richard Ryan, and Roshan Jason.
In Singapore, Andrew Leci and the ESPN gang were extremely hospitable. Steve “the wisest man in Asia” Darby, Rafiq Jumabhoy, Jose Raymond, and Jeffrey Lau were all very insightful into the ways of Singapore society.
In Thailand, a couple of people watched my back and have requested not to be named. I know who you are and what you did – thank you.
I have never made a sports bet in my life, so the gambling world was largely unknown territory. A group of people taught me an enormous amount and then patiently helped when I returned to them with all kinds of what must have seemed very silly questions. Those people are, in the English gambling world, Andrew “Bert” Black and Robin Marks (Betfair), Graham Sharpe (William Hill), Alistair Flutter, and Matthew Benham. In the European Lotteries world, Göran Wessberg, Tjeerd Veenstra, Stefan Allmer, and Wolfgang Feldner of the FIFA “early warning system.”
I have a number of contacts at FIFA and UEFA; in particular I would like to thank Andreas Herren of FIFA for helping arrange interviews and getting me access to information.
Around the world (and all flights were offset by donations to carbon reduction programs), there was a band of brothers: fellow journalists and football lovers who shared their information, stories, or translated with wonderful generosity. In Belgium, Kees t’Hooft, Stefan De Wachter, Frank Van Laeken, Douglas De Coninck, Jan Hauspie, and Peter Verlinden. In Finland, Risto Rumpunen, Tiina Ristikari, and Ari Virtanen. In Croatia, Mislav Ivanišević. In Northern Ireland, Malcolm Brodie. In Italy, Stefania Battistelli, Graziano “Primo” Lolli, and Andrea Patacconi. In Germany, Professor Johann Lambsdorff, Mathias Nell, and my colleagues at ACTC who deserve special thanks for their patience while I was working on the book, also – Julika Erfurt, Thomas Gerken, Franziska Telschow, Anna Zimdars, and Söhnke Vosgerau. In Russia, Pär Gustafsson, Natasha Gorina, Ekaterina Korobtseva, Ekaterina Kravchenko, Svetlana Guzeeva, Eugene Demchenko, Alisa Voznaya, and Maria Semenova.
In Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina, Rafael Maranhao, Mike Ceaser, and Ezequiel Fernandez Moores. In China, Stewart Park. In Turkey, Chris Wade and Emre Ozcan. In the United States, David C. Whelan. In Kenya, the long-suffering Odindo Ayieko and joel kinuthia; Anthony Husher for cold beers and good counsel; and James Njugush, Cosmos, and the guys for fighting so well in a dark alley. In Ghana, Dr. David Abulai, “Paca,” and the numerous informants, particularly in Tamale.
In Canada, Anthony “the great Tony” Blundell, Rachel Vincent, Bruce Livesey, Sharon Klein, Clive Doucet, Tad Homer-Dixon, James Orbinski, Richard McLaren, Alan Guettel, David Nayman, Dick Miller, and, of course, to my long-suffering teammates on the Pangaea Soccer Club who through the seasons had to put up with my constant exhortations, petulant temper tantrums, and over-intensity when playing the beautiful game.
NOTES
In the course of the research for this book, I conducted more than two hundred interviews. Because so many people requested anonymity, in fear either of the police, criminals, or sports officials, I have the following code in the notes to help the reader understand the role of the person giving the interview.
Gambler (G): any bettors, odd compliers, or gambling industry worker from executives to runners
Corruptor (C): any match-fixer or criminal who was involved in the sport
Player (P): former or current soccer player
Referee (R): former or current referee
Sports Official (SO): any league or team administrators, including coaches or managers
Law Enforcement (LE): police officers, anti-corruption agents, or state prosecutors
Journalists (J): journalist who had direct knowledge of fixing
Others (O): miscellaneous roles – diplomats, businessmen, members of the Malaysian Royal Family, academics, politicians, and political dissidents
INTRODUCTION: BIRDS OF PREY
Weather conditi
ons, TV ratings, on day of final:
Notes on the weather that day available at:
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nmmr/public/viewRecord.do?xmlstyle=FGDC&edit=&recuid=1916&recordset=NCDC.
“U.S. Helps World Cup Make Global TV History.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA). July 19, 1994. D1.
Vader, J.E. “All Was Ready, Then the Teams Failed to Deliver.” Oregonian (Portland, OR). July 18, 1994. D1.
Description of VIP section:
Interviews with Chuck Blazer, Alan Rothenberg, Sunil Gulati, Cathy Scanlan, Karen Bybee (all either FIFA, U.S. Soccer, or protocol officials who were present that day), January 2008.
Kikalishvili in the VIP section:
Interview with Anzor Kikalishvili, February 1999.
Also, Fyodorov, Gennady, “Godfather of Sports Denies Mafia Link.” Agence France Presse. November 19, 1996.
Kikalishvili’s reputation:
Hearing before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate: One hundred and fourth Congress, Second Session. May 15, 1996. 86, 88.