Calls mount for tougher steps against match-fixing

Chun Chang-jin, former Anyang KGC basketball team coach

By Nam Hyun-woo

With the nation’s professional basketball league struggling over an illegal betting and match-fixing scandal, calls are growing that other professional sports should renew their gambling countermeasures.

A number of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League teams have been organizing classes for their players after authorities said Chun Chang-jin, a former Anyang KGC basketball team coach, is the target of match-fixing allegations related to when he was in charge of the KT Sonicboom.

Since a 2012 match-fixing scandal which hit the baseball circuit hard and resulted in two players getting kicked out of the sport permanently, the KBO has been working with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to monitor games. Also, former police officers are dispatched to each stadium to monitor potential rigging schemes.

The K-League, Korea’s professional football league, is also making efforts to prevent a recurrence of a 2011 crisis in which 52 players ended up being indicted for match-fixing. Match analysts monitor each game and report any suspicious moments to the K-League for further investigation. Education classes have been organized for rookie players to teach them how they should manage potential approaches from fixers, and law enforcement officers visit each club before the season to educate players.

The Korean Volleyball Federation also sends “undercover” officials to matches to stay vigilant against possible rigging attempts, as well as conducting video monitoring after games.

However, critics suggest these efforts are not enough, given the Korea Basketball League (KBL) has been operating under similar measures, but faces a massive corruption scandal again just months after Chun’s case which first revealed in May.

Earlier this week, police said they are investigating 11 professional basketball players on suspicion of illegal gambling and match-fixing. After police identified Kim Sun-hyung, a Seoul SK Knights player who recently represented South Korea in the William Jones Cup basketball tournament in Taiwan, were among them, the KBL disclosed other names, including Anyang KGC’s Oh Se-keun, who contributed to South Korea’s golden campaign at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. The KBL also suspended those players for an undetermined period.

On Thursday, two days before its 2015-16 season was set to tip off, members of the KBL bowed before reporters and pledged a clean season, while some suggested delaying the start of the season given the unprecedented controversies.

“Every player and coach will do their best in repentance,” KBL Commissioner Kim Young-ki said. “Many athletes are having no sense of guilt over match-fixing. With the cooperation of the Korea Basketball Association (Korea’s body in charge of non-professional and national team basketball), we will try to educate athletes from the start,” he said, adding the KBL will use all available means to prevent match-fixing.