Totalizator urges Belarusian footballers to lose games on purpose?

A well-known Soviet footballer Aliaksandr Bubnau has told in one of his recent interviews that "Dynama" Minsk lost the game to their Moscow club colleagues on purpose in 1980. The two "Dynamas" met in the 27th round of the USSR championship on October 9 1980 in Minsk. The game ended in a victory of Moscow players with the minimal prevailence 0:1. According to Bubnau, only two Belarusian players - Pudyshau and Kurnenin - played in full force.

"I heard about this story, — says the well-known football coach Jury Puntus. — When "Dynama" Moscow was about to get out of the premier league, everything was done to make the team stay there through the directive board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is obvious that "Dynama" Minsk was a subordinate of the Moscow club then".

"Dynama" Moscow finished that Championship two points before getting out of the premier league zone. These two points they obtained for the victory in Minsk. However, Jury Pudyshau, who played in that match, claims the Minskers had not given in the game:

Jury Pudyshau: "We just wanted with Kurnilka [Jury Kurnenin - ERB] to prove that we were good and decent footballers and that they had made a mistake when they had thrown us out of "Dynama" Moscow. However, their goalkeeper Mikalaj Hantar did a great job, and we lost in the end.

Just imagine how painful it was: I only managed to play 4 games for "Dynama" Moscow, and to invite my friends to the famous Metropol Restaurant and treat them to champaign. And then they said, Jura, you are too young to go to restaurants, take your seat at the bench. So I had to transfer to "Dynama" Minsk - we wanted to play so much then..."

Ludas Rumbucis also played for "Dynama" Minsk in 1980.

"I remember this game well. I came out to the field as a subsitute, and they just broke me. I confronted Makhavik and... I was transported from the stadium by an ambulance, with a broken shoulder! I was out of football for three months. So, do you really think someone would do such a thing in a "given in" game? "

Today Mr. Rumbucis is a President of Minsk football team "Partisan". According to him, there's no point in "agreed games" in the modern Belarusian football:

"There is a point in the agreed games when there is big money. We don't have such in our football... Moreover, when it was a big country, like the Soviet Union, it was easier to hide the fact of such agreement. But Belarus is a small country - everything is clearly seen at once!

For example, last year there was a game between BATE and "Homel". BATE were pre-term champions of the country then. "Homel" were facing getting out of the premier league. Nice opportunity to agree on something, isn't it? However, BATE won 3:0 without looking at anyone. And you say, "agreed games"...

Jury Pudyshau, who in his 56 sometimes plays for "Dynama" Brest, has confirmed that "agreed games" in the Belarusian football exist only in the rumours.

"Belarusian football is clean. There's no such filth in it".

To the opinion of the Chief Editor of the newspaper "Pressball" Uladzimir Berazhkou, the quantity of people willing to organize "ordered games" has in fact decreased recently:

"Our football cleaned out after the case of Valery Shantalosau, when the attempts to "buy" the games of Belarusian national team against the Czech Republic and Moldova had been detected with the help of the newspaper "Pressball", and Shantalosau had been accused of that.

However, he managed to avoid court trial in Belarus as he was a Russian citizen by then. The case was transfered to Novosibirsk, where it was closed as the term expired. It's the same as the sentence - closing the case due to non-rehabilitating circumstances. Basing on that, the Belarusian Football Federation took the decision on life-time disqualification of Shantalosau. After such reaction many of those willing to organize agreed games calmed down. So I would say the Belarusian football got much cleaner than it used to be".

According to Mr. Berazhkou, the bad thing is that Belarusian footballers do play totalizator and sometimes gamble against their own teams through intermediaries. Naturally, it's the same as losing the game on purpose. However, it is very difficult, if possible at all, to prove such cases.