Minerva FC flag match-fixing attempt; AIFF assures 'zero tolerance'

Acting on I-League leaders Minerva Punjab FC owner Ranjit Bajaj's tweet that bribes were offered to two of his players in an alleged match-fixing attempt, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday underlined its zero tolerance policy towards such allegations.

The AIFF's Integrity Officer Javed Siraj stressed that the need of the hour is to "jointly combat any threats which can bring disrepute to the sport."

"We have been conducting regular educative and awareness workshops with the various Clubs and even various age-group National Teams on a regular basis. This time too prior to the kick-off of the Hero I-League we met majority of the Clubs making them aware as what needs to be done in case of any crisis," he said in a statement.

"We always pay emphasis on the Three R-s - Recognise, Reject and Report. Our aim is to protect the players and the officials and protect from the malice of manipulation," he added.

"I need to applaud the two Footballers who Recognised, Rejected and Reported the incident. We await an official complaint from the Club and will leave no stone unturned to protect the integrity of Football," Siraj said.

"Very recently, the Asian Football Confederation has launched an app on integrity wherein any team member can directly pass on information regarding approach," he added.

Bajaj had tweeted on Wednesday that the menace of match-fixing has hit India and there are people who are trying to singe the reputation of the game.

"We need to be ultra careful now/ the cat's out of the bag/ it has arrived in our country/ the curse of horrible people trying to ruin our beautiful game with the immediate lure of easy big money/ really hope NO MATCH OFFICIALS or PLAYERS fall in this trap," Bajaj wrote on his Twitter handle.

When quizzed further about the club's next course of action, Bajaj told IANS: "I am writing a detailed report to AIFF. I have sent all the evidence to AFC (Asian Football Confederation) integrity team as well. I will also be filing an FIR with the police this evening."

Two of his players, one Indian and a foreigner, were offered bribes of up to Rs 30 lakh each, Bajaj said.

Not wanting to name the players, he added that one of his players got a phone call on Tuesday while another was approached through Facebook on Wednesday.

Minerva Punjab have been enjoying a dream campaign in this season's I-League and are at the top of the league table with 22 points from nine outings.

They have a three-point lead over second-placed East Bengal and have a match in hand.

--IANS

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