CSL; Proposal

CSL; Motives of corruption1

Running head; CSL Motives of corruption

CSL; Motives of corruption: What is the motivation and reasons behind

Partipating in corruption activates

Connor James Diacur

Niagara College


Corruption is not a new topic when it comes to soccer; corruption is littered

through the highest levels and the lowest levels. This being said there has been a

rising case of corruption and match fixing allegations going on in the CSL over the

past 6 seasons. I was said that 42 per cent of this year’s top tier matches “showed

signs of suspicious betting activity, resulting in an estimated 4.5 million pounds”

in potential profits (Rumbsy 2015). These numbers are something that is

extremely alarming for the way soccer is seen in Canada. The CSL has been seen

as a rouge semi pro league almost like an outlaw league seen in hockey. There is

tremendous evidence to support the corruption cases in the CSL. It was stated in

a “31-page document, entitled Canadian Soccer League (CSL) 2015 Season, alleges

that all 12 top-flight teams have played in “suspicious” games this year on at least

three occasions each” (Rumbsy 2015). These numbers listed above are truly

shocking for a semi professional league operating in the boarders of Canada. This

study seeks to understands and determine the reasoning’s why the players of the

CSL participated in these match fixing and corruption.

For the purpose of this study, is the researcher will only be looking at the

CSL over the past 6 seasons (2010-2016) and not the years before/the CPSL. There

are three reasons for this decision, The first being before 2010 the CSL was a

sanctioned league by the CSA and was growing in popularity. The seco nd reason is

because the reseacher wanted to show how poor of a job the CSA has done when it

come to maintain the league and its further development.


The third reason is the accessibility of participants. The researcher being a College

soccer player and growing up in the Niagara Region , the researcher knows the

members of the Niagara United CSL team. These connections will make it possible

for the researcher to access potential participants for the study.

When conducting a study of this nature, the researcher must ask questions to better

help understand and find a way to get to the final answer. Below are some of the

questions the researcher might ask to gain some insight on how to get to the final

answer.

Does money play a big factor in weather a player is willing to fix a game?

Where does the player see their career going, is the CSL just a way to

continuing playing in a “glorified” men’s league?

Do the players want to be apart of something bigger?

Are the players satisfied with their club and their team?

Do the players care about the integrity of the game?

Do players really care about the growth of the sport in Canada?

The main research question is; what motivated CSL players to get involved with

match-fixing and match-betting over the course of 6 seasons?


CSL= Canadian Soccer League CSA= Canadian Soccer Association

Match-Fixing= occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined

result, violating the rules of the game and often the law.

Match-Betting= is a betting technique used by individuals to profit from the free

bets and incentives offered by bookmakers

There are many significant reasons for the research and understanding of this topic at

hand. First off, this study will bring in a new knowledge of how poorly the CSA and

Soccer Canada is doing to keep the game of soccer growing by letting a semi-

professional league fall into corruption. This study will also show how the game of

soccer is perceived and showcased to the country of Canada and around the world.

This study will also show the motives behind players getting involved in match fixing

over the course of six seasons. It will also show the measure or lack there of that the CSL

put into effect to stop this match fixing.

At this time I feel as if it would not be advantageous for me to state any hypothesis for

my research topic due to its exploratory nature. I feel as if I were to hypothesis this early

into my exploratory research, I will be too focused on a specific topic and not be able to

see the phenomena of the bigger picture.


Literature Review

This study seeks to answer the question of: what motivates players in the CSL had

to commit themselves into participating in acts of corruption. To this date, there has

been no prior research done on this phenomenon. However there have been studies

conducted on the motives behind corruption in Eastern Europe and Africa Kyprianou, A. (2015), cases of the integrity of the sport thought doping and

corruption HOWMAN, D. (2013), Also cases of corruption in the AFL (Australian

Football league) and how they have dealt with it ANDERSON, A. (2013, July 27), and

the final two cases I have found both regard the corruption actively going on in the

CSL as of the 2015 season. Madnonik, R. (2015, October 14) , Westhead, R. (2016,

February 2).

A World Against Corruption

This article talks about cases of corruption and match fixing in eastern

Europe and Africa. Gives reasoning why and how teams and players summit to

match fixing and corruption, these reasons being getting paid and receiving

bonuses promised to them before the season. The types of research methods

involved In this article are interviews with players involved with these match fixing

in eastern Europe In addition to the players interviews, several cases of match

fixing from players, officials and coaches. Example, a Ukrainian referee got a lifetime

ban from UEFA for being apart of match fixing. This article is extremely significant

to my topic


due to its nature as being a soccer article and giving the motivation and

reasoning for match fixing in other countries. This will help the researcher analyze

the topic and come up with more questions to ask and try to discover new

information I would have looked over at the beginning.

Integrity of sport

This article explains the integrity of sports through doping and corruption. This

article also speaks about how we can learn and provoke thought through WADA’s

anti doping model and how it can be used for corruption in sport. The author of this

articles looks at several cases of lying and cheating in the world. These cases range

from Harvard students plagiarizing on open book tests to police officers taking

substances to improve his work related athletic tests. The signicance of this article

is

very transferable to the topic as it speaks to the integrity to the sport in question. Its

gives insight to the question of how accepting lying and cheating is in the sports

world.

Enough of talk, Its time government walked the walk on corruption

This news article is a look into the corruption happening in the AFL (Australian

Football league). This article also sheds light on the lack of commitment from the

Australian government on its part of cracking down on corruption and keeping th e

integrity of the game. There were not a lot of research methods uses in this article

due to the nature of the article(Newspaper). There is some insight into pervious


events and real life scenarios where the corruption has occurred. This article is

somewhat useful in the research as it speaks to the integrity of the game through

corruption. This will help the researcher look into the integrity and legitimacy of

sports leagues after it is know they participate in unfavourable activities.

So far we have three studies/article about “match fixing” in eastern

European countries and Africa Kyprianou, A. (2015), and an article explaining the

integrity of sport through doping and corruption HOWMAN, D. (2013), and last one

so far is about corruption in the AFL (Australian football league) ANDERSON, A.

(2013, July 27). The next two articles give direct insight into the corruption case

going on in the CSL.

Canadian Soccer League rife with match fixing

This article puts the CSL on the spot light by talking about the 31 page document

filed on the CSL with regards to match fixing and corruption. It also states that it is

not the league taking part in the shady acts, its strictly teams that are apart of this.

The author uses content from qualitative and Quantitative research from

representatives from this other content. The author also has referenced the money

amount (4.5Million pounds) and the amount of suspicious games. This article will

aid the researcher as the in-depth nature of the article. Giving the researcher actual

numbers and facts to further research, allowing the researcher to understand the

phenomenon going on.


RCMP opens investigation into Canadian Soccer

This article directly speaks about the on going investigation of the CSL and the

shady practices going on. It also sheds light on some games that are of major

suspicion (Niagara vs. Waterloo). The author has direct quotes from both the RCMP

and players that particaped in the event in question. He also goes onto saying what

methods the CSL will be putting into place next season too look out for these

corrupt

games. This article is a useful tool for the researcher as it is a direct link towards my

topic. It gives valuable insight towards the on going investigation and why they are

pressuring these corruption allegations. This article will help the researcher

discover first hand experiences from what is going on .

Common Themes

After reviewing these articles the researcher can pull some interesting common

themes that can help him in finding the motives behind corruption in the CSL. The

common themes are; Money, not caring about the integrity of the game and how

your rep can be tarnish if you are partipating in corruption.

Money

Players that participate in suspicious activity relating to corruption always have a

desire to make more money. As we have learned from the Wu-Tang Clan “Cash

Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M get the money, dollar dollar bills yall”. In the

article from Kyprianou, A. (2015), it states “reasoning why and how teams and


players summit to match fixing and corruption, these reasons being getting paid

and receiving bonuses promised to them before the season.” Players are willing to

cheat to receive more money than originally promised. These players aren’t making

enough to begin with so it is understandable they are willing to do anything to make

more money. The article from Madnonik, R. (2015, October 14) references over

“4.5 Million pounds” has been transferred in CSL through match fixing.

Integrity of the game

Like any pro sports league running all over the world, the main focus of the league

is keeping the integrity there and playing a fair and honest game. But as we have

seen, over the years that is very hard to manage in a league. We have seen doping

allegations in the NFL, MLB and bribery and corruption in FIFA. These tendencies to

not care about integrity are seen in many people. In the one study from HOWMAN,

D. (2013) it shows cases of this. “These cases range from Harvard students

plagiarizing on open book tests to police officers taking substances to improve his

work related athletic tests”. This is very interesting as it shows people are willing

to risk their integrity to see results.

Tarnishing reputations

After finding out about when someone has participated in any kind of unfavourable

activities, such as cheating, lying, substance abuse or corruption. If leagues have

substance abuse problems they are seen as not as reliable or legitimate anymore,


some goes with players. In the study from ANDERSON, A. (2013, July 27), it shows

how governments have let corruption rifle the AFL and the league has lost it

legitimacy. Which is the exact same situation the CSL is in right now, the league has

lost its integrity through corruption allegations.

Methodology

Research Design;

The research design would use to uncover data in the topic would be xxplority

in nature. The reasoning for this is due to the lack of little to none research/studies

on thistopic (Specifically in the CSL). What the researcher wanted to accomplish

with the research is understanding how corruption grows/ motivates people to

cheat and act for a reward. This information will help make a correlation to what

happened in the CSL. How the seed of corruption was planted, and was able to

flourish and grow. Along with my topic being exploratory in nature the researcher

will also be conducting ethnography. Ethnography will go hand in hand with the

expolarity research as; I will be able to conduct interviews, focus groups,

observations and historical cases.

Variables;

As stated before the research is exploratory/ethnography in nature, saying this

there will be no variables during my research.


Sampling;

The target population for the research would be previous CSL players, Current

CSL players and League officials. The researcher accessible audience would be

Niagara United current CSL players and previous CSL players would be St.

Catharines Roma players. Being a collegiate soccer player with Niagara and growing

up playing soccer in the area, the researcher knows the entire Niagara United team

and coaching this will be how he will reach my target population. The researcher

will use his connections to further meet league officials and past CSL players. The

researcher would use random systematic sampling for when sampling the target

populations. The reasoning this will be advantageous for the research as will create

anequal chance of selecting each unit from within the population when creating the

sample.

My group of samples would be from 15-20 of these past and present players along

withleague officials.

Instrumentation;

The reseacher will be obtaining my data from these groups via one on one

interviews and focus groups with the target population. The target population of

the players will be giving the information as the researcher interviews them.

Interviews;

The interview process will be extremely useful for the information gathering

as it will give the reseacher an in-depth look into more than a survey would. These

one on one


interview will help the researcher gather information from players that he might

not get from a survey, like a story about what has happened in their time in the CSL.

Like stated before the researcher will be a randomly selecting interview participant,

from the 15-20 players he would be taking 5 participants to interview during this

process.

Advantages;

getting to see the body language of the person

Disadvantages;

long process in transcribing the data

Focus groups;

Focus groups will be a mix of our target population, and will be done in two

sessions. This will help the researcher understand more about my target population

and help out create more common themes among the groups.

Advantages;


Disadvantages

CSL; A League of corruption Diacur5

Data Collection;

The data collection will be a simple process for the research. During these

interviews and focus groups, the researcher will be tape recording these sessions.

Also during the sesessions the researcher will be taking notes to help link back to

these tape recording. The researcher will take this tape recording and transcribe it,

code it and make a transcription for each participant to review and confirm what

they have said during these interviews / focus groups. This will aid the researcher

in the search for common themes and will bring me to draw concussions.

Validity/Reliability;

The researcher will be using multiple techniques to re ensure the data and research

is reliable and ensures the validity. The interview process will be lengthy process

with having interviews occurring multiple times during my research. This will allow

the reseacher to verify the validity of the interviewee’s data they have provided to

the researcher . In addition to this having multiple interviews will ensure that the

interviewer is getting the full story about what has happened. The reasecher will

also be taking personal notes during these interviews. These notes will r ange from


Interesting key words used, emotion status of the person, tone of voice and physical

appearance/tone of the person. The researcher will also be looking into an outsider

look at the transcript to ensure there is no researcher bias.

Limitation;

A very obvious threat to insider limitation would be researcher bias while

conducting the study. While the researcher is essentially the instrumentation in this

research, the way the researcher wants to interoperate and use this knowledge he

has gained from this process. Also the target population used does not generalize all

participants in the sport around the world and does not accurately represent them.

Delimitations;

This study does not mean to generalize the public of soccer players around the

world. This focus was to help further understand the motivations of match fixing

going on in the CSL. Wanting to take this data and analyze it to draw and formulate

a

conclusion. The readers of this research will be the ones who will decide to

generalize the findings or not.


ANDERSON, A. (2013, July 27). ENOUGH OF TALK, IT'S TIME GOVERNMENT

WALKED THE WALK ON CORRUPTION. Weekend Australian (National). p. 38.

Kyprianou, A. (2015). A WORLD AGAINST CORRUPTION; MATCH FIXING.

International Sports Law Review Pandektis, 11(1/2), 522-525.

HOWMAN, D. (2013). SUPPORTING THE INTEGRITY OF SPORT AND COMBATING

CORRUPTION. Marquette Sports Law Review, 23(2), 245-248.

KHAN, S. (2014). FIFA's Calling. Harvard International Review, 36(1), 50-52.

CORRUPTION WATCH. (2013). Sport & Law Journal, 21(3), 44-71.

Westhead, R. (2016, February 2). RCMP opens investigation into Canadian Soccer

League. Retrieved March 6, 2016, from http://www.tsn.ca/talent/rcmp-opens-

investigation-into-canadian-soccer-league-1.432095

Madnonik, R. (2015, October 14). Canadian Soccer League rife with match fixing,

according to report. Retrieved March 7, 2016, from

http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2015/10/15/canadian-soccer-league-rife-

with-match-fixing-according-to-report.htm

Smart, D. G. (2013, April 1). Brantford Galaxy leaves CSL to ‘regroup’. Retrieved

March 6, 2016, from http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/04/01/brantford -

galaxy-leaves-csl-to-regroup

Rumsby, B. (n.d.). Revealed: Entire 'rogue league corrupted by match-fixing' Retrieved April 13, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11932437/Revealed-Entire-rogue-league-corrupted-by-match-fixing.html

Documents

CSL; Proposal