SO, another match-fixing case has been raked up by the police, raising questions - yet again - whether this one will lead to an unprecedented conviction in local football.
Raising the questions is the arrest and court appearance in Cape Town last week of former Bafana Bafana assistant coach Phil "Mr Jones" Setshedi on allegations of match-fixing.
Long a matter of public conjecture but yet to be proved true, match-fixing rumours have dogged local soccer for decades without avail and still remain one the most unsolved mysteries in soccer.
Even Operation Dribble, which was punted amid much fanfare as the project aimed to unravel the mystery, failed to lift the lid on the scam in 2004 despite promising the arrest of dozens of top officials.
It yielded one arrest during its two-year tenure - that of referee Enoch Hadebe, who was found guilty and fined.
So there will be a lot of public interest in the outcome of Setshedi's case and in whether the court proceedings will shed some light into the underbelly of local soccer.
Notably, the arrest of Mvela Golden League side City Pillars chief executive Peter Koutroulis and head coach Jacob "Cellular" Sakala, who were arrested for allegedly paying a referee a R1000 bribe in 2007, attracted as much public interest only for the case to founder in court and the two officials discharged.
Without presuming Setshedi's guilt as he still has to be proven so or otherwise in court, the imperative for local football to keep a clean sheet in terms of clean corporate governance, transparency and fair play is sacrosanct.
Let's keep our soccer clean
SO, another match-fixing case has been raked up by the police, raising questions - yet again - whether this one will lead to an unprecedented conviction in local football.
Raising the questions is the arrest and court appearance in Cape Town last week of former Bafana Bafana assistant coach Phil "Mr Jones" Setshedi on allegations of match-fixing.
Long a matter of public conjecture but yet to be proved true, match-fixing rumours have dogged local soccer for decades without avail and still remain one the most unsolved mysteries in soccer.
Even Operation Dribble, which was punted amid much fanfare as the project aimed to unravel the mystery, failed to lift the lid on the scam in 2004 despite promising the arrest of dozens of top officials.
It yielded one arrest during its two-year tenure - that of referee Enoch Hadebe, who was found guilty and fined.
So there will be a lot of public interest in the outcome of Setshedi's case and in whether the court proceedings will shed some light into the underbelly of local soccer.
Notably, the arrest of Mvela Golden League side City Pillars chief executive Peter Koutroulis and head coach Jacob "Cellular" Sakala, who were arrested for allegedly paying a referee a R1000 bribe in 2007, attracted as much public interest only for the case to founder in court and the two officials discharged.
Without presuming Setshedi's guilt as he still has to be proven so or otherwise in court, the imperative for local football to keep a clean sheet in terms of clean corporate governance, transparency and fair play is sacrosanct.
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