Independent – After a season when the game lost its innocence on the back of former Longford Town midfielder Colly James being found guilty of trying to influence a fixture, the League of Ireland director is flashing red lights in front of every player, alerting them to the severe sanctions they face if caught cheating.
“If we hear of anything untoward, we’re going to go after that player and if guilty, they’ll get a life ban,” said Gavin.
“We aren’t naive enough to think negative things won’t go on in the future, so we’re getting the message out there – that if a player bets on a match he is involved in, he’s asking for trouble.”
In some respects, Gavin is bringing trouble onto himself by diving straight into the murky world of match-fixing and the dark presence gangland Europe plays in luring players into their web.
Yet he feels he has no other choice – and as arguably the second most important administrator in Irish soccer, his words carry weight, which was how he found himself at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night, chairing a seminar which outlined specific guidelines for League of Ireland players.
Tonight, the Gavin roadshow moves down to Cork, before he braves the weather to travel north to Sligo this weekend, all the while educating League of Ireland players about the storm that he, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are forecasting.
“This is, by some distance, soccer’s biggest problem right now. That’s a reality. Another reality is that players like a bet,” said Gavin. “That’s allowed. What isn’t allowed is when they bet on their own team – or worse, if they get sucked into a sinister conspiracy where they are trying to influence a fixture.”
