My take on spot fixing scandal

Firstly, I apologize for posting this on the Arsenal board, since what I am about to write has little to do with Arsenal or Football, even though it has a lot to do with sport in general. The cricket board gets around 1 post a day, so there would be no point whatsoever in posting this there. I am certain there will be more people here to discuss than on the cricket board. (If you are against this being posted here, just don't read any further )

As a British Pakistani who loves cricket (not quite as much as football), I have to admit that the whole spot-fixing scandal has hurt. Not only because whatever way you look at it, it is sad for sport to see three talented cricketers going to jail, especially over circumstances which could so easily have been avoided. But also because of the damage it has done to the people of Pakistan, I'm sure a lot of you are aware of the extreme difficulties the country is going through; very rarely does a week go by without at least 2 or 3 terrorist attacks somewhere in the country, many Pakistani people would use cricket as a form of escapism, good performances from the team would almost act as a reminder to everyone that it is not all doom and gloom for Pakistan, therefore when the no-ball scandal initially broke out, it was a very difficult pill to swallow.

Whilst it hurt, something like this didn't come as a huge surprise (well in terms of players involved, yes to a degree). Culture in Pakistan, as in deed many other countries, is a lot different to that in Britain. For example, if you put your father in an elderly person's home, you would be seen as a disgrace. On the other hand, corruption is rife in Pakistan, e.g. if you are caught stealing in someone's house, even £100 would be enough to buy you freedom from prison. Sadly, corruption is such a problem, that a lot people involved are conditioned to believe that what they are doing isn't wrong. At times, Pakistani cricket is a reflection on Pakistani society in general. I'm not justifying what the spot fixers did, but it becomes a lot more understandable when you realise how corrupt Pakistani society is from top to bottom. Fixing has been going along in Pakistani cricket for years, and when new players see what the older ones are doing, naturally they are more tempted to do so themselves.

Everyone always asks me, why is it always Pakistanis who get involved with match fixing. To which I tell them that apart from the high levels of corruption, it is also because of the massive gap in pay between Pakistani cricketers, and other types of cricketers. This is because of many reasons, such as them being paid by a corrupt board, who do not distribute money accordingly, no home matches (for obvious reasons), and no IPL. Just to give you an idea, Mohammad Amir was being paid around £30,000 a year, prior to his ban, whereas most English cricketers earn approximately 15 times as much, add this to the great disparity also paid by sponsors, you can see why they fall into the trap of fixing games.

The final thing I wanted to cover is the Mohammad Amir conundrum. In general, most say that "I knew the difference between right and wrong at his age, so should he." However, I do not agree with that argument. I feel what cost him was his inexperience and very poor upbringing. He's uneducated and very new to cricket. Say if your captain tells you to do a couple of no balls, which in all likelihood won't cost your team the game, is it really that hard to say no? After all, if you do not agree, your place (which you've strived to get for so long) in the side might be jeopardised. This is why I feel that his prison sentence and 5 year ban was not deserved, whilst Butt and Asif's was slightly more so.

What are your opinions, and do you feel corruption exists in football? After all Matt le Tissier confessed that he was very close to doing a similar thing a few years ago