Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Fix

I was informed by my dad on Saturday that Linfield, having progressed to the Irish Cup semi-final, drew Bangor, the weakest team in the hat, avoiding big rivals Glentoran at the same time. I was delighted with this; I want us to beat them in the final and exorcise a 60-year Irish Cup final hoodoo we have. The draw:
Larne vs Glentoran
Bangor vs Linfield


Only on Monday when I went on Irish League Forums did I realise how badly rigged this 'draw' was. To wit:

1. The balls were transparent, and contained in a feckin glass fruit bowl.
2. No stirring of the balls was conducted on TV before the first 2 balls were drawn (only before the final two!) Glentoran fans watching the room on CCTV before the draw went live on air confirmed that no stirring was done at all beforehand.
3. Adam Coates, radio presenter, told everyone beforehand that the practice draw had yielded Larne vs Glentoran and Bangor vs Linfield. Surprise surprise!!
4. The presenter called out Larne as ball 1, when on the screen it said Glentoran. It turned out that the names in the bowl had no numbers anyway...
5. Allegedly sponsors had said beforehand that they wanted a Linfield - Glentoran final.


Fixed draws are nothing new. That it was done so amateurishly and brazenly live on air - only in Northern Ireland.
I have the download here, but unfortunately you have to be a member of ILF and for that amig@s, you have to pay 10 English pounds. I'll see what I can do later about getting it onto another file, it really is ridiculous.

No comments: