Match Fixing in Italy

The Jitty Slitter · Jun 17, 2011

We all know match fixing never happens

But this is utterly hilarious

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2KKcxc0a0"]YouTube - ‪episodio Paoloni-Colombo da cui ha origine il 2-2 al 90° in Cremonese-Spezia 17/10/2010‬&rlm;[/ame]

It could never happen in England

The erratic performances of the goalkeeper Marco Paoloni for the Lega Pro Prima Divisione (third tier) side Cremonese had drawn some attention in the early part of last season, but not nearly so much as some of his team-mates would during a win over Paganese. Two-nil up and cruising at half-time, no less than five of Cremonese's players simultaneously became ill during the second half. They somehow clung on to their lead, but the after-effects were so severe that two of the five wound up in hospital, while another – Carlo Gervasoni – crashed his car on the way home.

Blood tests confirmed that the players had been drugged with sleeping medication. The Cremona flying squad mooted that this was most likely to have been administered via drinks the players had at half-time. Suspicions turned to Paoloni, whose dentist, Marco Pirani, had prescribed a batch of Minias (a sleeping medication) in the player's wife's name just a day before the match in question. The allegation is that he wanted his team to lose the game.

Paoloni has flatly denied drugging his team-mates, but whatever the truth of the situation, the suspicions were deemed sufficient for the police to start tracking his movements. Phone taps followed, which in turn opened up entirely unexpected avenues of inquiry.

In the end these phone taps also led police to Signori. The former striker is not himself heard on any of the recordings, though he is referred to by others on a number of occasions by nicknames such as "Mr 200 goals". After tracking him to a meeting with two Bolognese businessmen, investigators were able to recover a document in Signori's handwriting detailing the "conditions" for a bet to be placed. He has insisted that he was simply taking down dictation and had no idea what any of the words meant.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxpmfBhVUm0"]YouTube - ‪Paoloni in Monza-Cremonese 2-2‬&rlm;[/ame]

ChosenReject · Jun 20, 2011

Gotta love Italy!

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