I spoke this morning in the debate on match fixing. I also made a point of talking about the Bosman ruling which has affected football, in my opinion, in a negative way.
Mr President,
This issue is close to my heart as a sport lover, a football season ticket holder and a sponsor of football at all levels including grass-roots.
It is a problem to be addressed.
Some people like to call it the beautiful game. Clearly, we are learning that football is becoming noticeably more grubby and sullied.
According to experts, as many as 10 matches a week in Europe are now affected by match fixing. The numbers of games affected worldwide is astonishing.
However, it is not enough to look at this issue from a purely European perspective.
Can we trust the EU Commission with its history of Corruption to clear up sport? Maybe it is poacher turned gamekeeper.Match fixing is an endemic problem across the world.
Until nations and football authorities get their houses in order, how can we expect anything to change?
Take a look at FIFA for example, a body that has been dogged by accusations of corruption. Or the FA back in my own country, that fails to implement a working fit and proper persons test, which allows vulnerable clubs to fall into the wrong hands.
Many players that get caught up in match fixing accusations are often poorly paid, poorly educated and poorly protected.
It is not enough for Europol to investigate this problem.
UEFA has far more member countries than the EU so proposed EU action would be an irrelevance.
It is about time we had transparent football authorities and legislation from Government to stamp out this organised crime in football once and for all.
