Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent has swapped the pitch for the stage, addressing a conference in Melbourne about match-fixing.
Just over ten years ago, Vincent was banned for life for his involvement in attempting to manipulate multiple matches around the world, including in England, South Africa, India and Bangladesh.
Ahead of a Victoria Police symposium on Tuesday that will look at a range of integrity-related issues in sport, Vincent told AAP it’s not just international cricket that is susceptible to match-fixing, but any sport that is live-streamed.
“It’s not so much just cricket, it’s all sports – you’ve got third grade soccer in New Zealand that nobody knows and you’ve got ten people watching but because it’s live-streamed on internet, it can be bet on,” Vincent said. “Anything that’s filmed and is live on the internet, they find a way to underground betting sites and anything can be bet on so it’s not so much just the professional sport, it’s the amateur sport.
“That’s why we’ve got to do everything possible to protect corruption in all sports at all levels.”
While sport governing bodies are doing their bit to educate their athletes, Vincent said nothing beat a first-person warning.
“I’ve got a powerful message to the next generation and the future generation of sports players where they can easily be manipulated or corrupted into this dark underworld, which I’ve lived first-hand,” he said. “I pretty much destroyed my life, destroyed my career, destroyed my future in sport, but this is a small part of giving back, to help educate.
“The biggest influence I can have and we can have in the sports integrity world is purely education and the more young athletes know about it, the more they’ll be aware of the signs and the people to avoid.”
Having played 23 Tests – he scored a century against Australia on debut – and more than 100 ODIs, Vincent became involved in spot-fixing back in 2008 when he had lost his New Zealand contract.
“In a strange way, by owning what I did and being given an opportunity to use my story as a massive educational lesson for the next generation, it’s kind of been worth it”Lou Vincent
Signing up to play in the short-lived Indian Cricket League, he initially rebuffed offers from a bookmaker in a hotel room as a “down payment” and reported it. But the then 28-year-old then decided to take the next opportunity when approached by a team-mate, admitting greed as well as wanting a sense of belonging were motivating factors.
“I wasa prime target to be dragged in; a brotherhood who will look after you,” he said. “The league that we were playing in wasn’t sanctioned by the ICC, so how it was sold to me was like, these games we’re playing in, it’s not real cricket… so you’re not doing anything wrong and everybody’s doing it.”
Vincent said a simple example of how he would spot-fix during a T20 match was to score between 10 and 15 runs off 20 balls, and then get out.
With threats to his safety or that of his family, he described it as a “noose around his neck”, which only disappeared when he retired and came clean.
Two years ago, the global life ban was partially relaxed and Vincent has been able to “participate” at the professional domestic level or below.
Working as a builder in New Zealand, he said he would continue to make amends and share his story. “I’ve had to start life again and missed out on a career in a sport I love,” he said. “In a strange way, by owning what I did and being given an opportunity to use my story as a massive educational lesson for the next generation, it’s kind of been worth it.”
[Cricinfo]
