WATCH: Young Maltese Footballer On Corruption Ban: ‘I Turned Down €5,000 But Was Scared Of Criminal Retaliation’
Staying silent can come back to haunt you. Samir Arab, one of Malta’s most promising young defenders, learned that the hard way just under a year ago when he was slapped with a hefty two-year ban from competitive football for not immediately reporting a match-fixing attempt.
“It was two days before my birthday and Malta’s under-21 team was preparing for a game against Montenegro,” Samir, now 24, told ONE in a heartfelt interview. “Some people tried to fix this game and I was one of those who was approached to take part in this act of criminality.”
Samir recounted how the fixers first offered him €3,000 and then increased it to €5,000 but that he rejected them on the spot.
“I would have rejected any amount of money,” he said. “I’ve been training since I was 7 years old and view football as a passion and a way of life.”
However, he said he was scared to voluntarily report the attempted match-fixing and that he wouldn’t have come clean had the police not called him in.
“We’re not talking about good people here, but about people with criminal backgrounds, gangs and mafia,” he said. “When I appealed my ban, a UEFA board member asked me why I didn’t make use of an app that would have allowed me to file an anonymous report, but nobody in Maltese football knows this app even exists.”
However, the inspector who interrogated the young player told him it wasn’t possible to report attempted match-fixing anonymously as he would then need to testify against the fixer in court.
“It’s not a great experience to go to court and point your finger at a person who you know could retaliate against you.”
Samir’s mother Simone Arab said she fully sympathised with her son’s reluctance, especially when he recounted what his friend, goalkeeper Andrea Cassar, had gone through when he reported two former teammates and club officials for match-fixing.
Simone Arab
“He told me to remember how his friend’s parents used to cry while watching him at the stadium because they were scared someone was going to place a bomb under their car,” she said.
Samir, whose ban runs till 21st December 2019, said his ordeal has left him with a bitter taste in the mouth at UEFA.
“UEFA’s slogan is ‘say no to match-fixing’ and that’s exactly what I did,” he said. “Another of their slogans simply says ‘Respect’ but respect should be reciprocal. Where is their respect towards me?”
What do you make of Samir’s story?
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