A Cultural Dilemma

Italian football is hit by a new scandal – Calcioscommesse. Gino de Blasio tries to find out why Italian football has been plagued by these scandals

In an interview published in La Repubblica[1], a key figure in the recent Calcio Scommesse investigation has provided details to a match-fixing scandal gripping a nation.

We buy information and then bet. Players call me and say ‘€20,000 on this game or this result.’ And I do it, it’s that simple.” Who are the football players? “30 in total, 90% from Serie B and the rest from Serie A, I’ll never tell you their names though.”

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It seems that whilst the informant is intent on not naming the players, he does indicate this to being an Italian only problem. “The players are the heart of the problem, the English league doesn’t have this kind of issue, but in Italy, players talk between themselves, they arrange the results, be it with us, with the Hungarian or Sicilian mafia’s, or even Beppe Signori, who is the head of the Calcio Scommesse in Italy.”

It reads like something straight out of a John Grisham novel, and has all the less palatable elements of a leftover three-day-old takeaway; but the latest Calcio Scommesse scandal in Italy has brought into question not only the actions of the individuals but the sport as a whole in the Italian peninsula.

It seems that this time though, in difference to the 2006 Calciopoli debacle, it is more the figures behind the scandal that is causing the shock. Names such as Stefano Bettarini, Beppe Signori and Cristiano Doni have given way to the gossip and tell-tale nature of Italian journalism, causing the guilty before charged tags in some cases.

In a two-hour interview given to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Cristiano Doni had admitted guilt in his part, reaching out to other players and pleading with them to “never commit the same mistakes as me.” It’s a sad and psychological blow to the game, system, player and fans alike, that someone so loved had succumbed to the criminality that is an undercurrent in the current Italian system, and perhaps even further afield.

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The dossier being created for the prosecution grows daily, with more and more individuals being involved, all from different backgrounds, and fewer it seems for now, actually coming from the world of football; it still doesn’t stop the unfounded accusations of some to name and shame stars such as Gennaro Gattuso, Gigi Buffon and Morgan De Sanctis.

In what has become an even more intriguing twist and turn, former Bari captain and now suspended Atalanta defender Andrea Massiello has become the man that the investigation has turned to following arrest and shock confessions.

Massiello’s actions in the Pugliese Derby last season saw Lecce staying up and Bari going down. His own goal sealed the deal. An own goal, which, when watched over and over, you get to realise just how much one man’s corrupted actions sealed the fate of a team he loved playing for.

Now, under arrest and facing many years in jail for match-fixing, he’s talking. What will come out, and what accusations are made, the intensity and the anger directed to others and their corroborators, only time will tell.

Getting Away with It

When Illievski (the informant) made the point that this is ‘an Italian only problem’ it had me thinking, could he be right? Is there something intrinsic in the nature of Italian culture that makes these actions acceptable in the minds of those committing the crime?

[pullquote]Andrea De Carlo once said, “In Italy corruption is in the blood, even if we don’t like it.[/pullquote]

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One Twitter friend and Serie A enthusiast, Rocco Camisola (@rcammisola) finds the term “corruption”  a bit too harsh to describe such affairs. “Self-Serving” is more appropriate in the way he thinks of it, and I couldn’t agree more.

From stories of blatant copying in school exams, to passing your driving test in the most unconventional of manners, through to tax evasion, these used to be things that weren’t chastised but praised. You’d receive a pat on the back for having done the “right thing”. These have been ingrained into the Italian culture. Slowly changing, but still ingrained; it can’t just change overnight.

Whether or not it’s a far reach to associate a footballing scandal with the “anti-Tuscan hills” imagery of Italian culture in such a way is probably best left with the sociologists; however, it’s hard to not see an association when you look at the country’s ideology as a whole.

It, self-serving, resides in the political class, medical fields and even education boards. And these aren’t just wild accusations that some desk jockey, I, am coming out with, but court cases brought forward and resolved. Is this to mean that it is only in Italy? No, however, it seems they don’t mind not hiding it either.
And whilst a “new” generation of thinking is taking shape, it also holds true, as the great Caesar once famously said, while speaking of his legacy, “If it takes 10 years to create, it will take 100 to destroy.” And maybe this latent acknowledgement of self-serving interest even in Caesar’s day goes to show there is a long way to go when it comes to eradicating it from the culture, and then perhaps from the game.

Is football’s self-serving nature more likely to occur in Italy because of the elements stated? Perhaps, but times change, and with that so does mentality.


[1] Disclaimer: this is an Italian only scam, hence link not in English