Callies interrogating players over match fixing allegations

Pretoria Callies boss Moses Malada has confirmed that there has been an interrogation of the club’s players over allegations of match-fixing this season.

Callies has made headlines since their last match of the Motsepe Foundation Championship season against Polokwane City.

This comes after head coach Kwanele Kopo raised an eyebrow during his post-match television interview with SuperSport.

“I don’t want to implicate people in things but for the first time I see a first half like this from a team I coach when we go 4-0 down,” he said.

Kopo was referring to the score and players’ performances during one of the three promotion deciders this season. The win for Rise and Shine saw them return to the PSL top flight over closest rivals Cape Town Spurs and Casric Stars.

Both Kopo and Malada have since come out via various platforms to refute any suggestions of unethical conduct on their side. But it turns out the club has had an interrogation with players prior to the Polokwane City match.

PRETORIA CALLIES INTERROGATE MATCH-FIXING

Malada revealed this during an interview with SABC Radio Station PhalaPhala FM on Thursday. The interrogation apparently took place after their 2-1 loss against La Masia last month.

“We played and lost against La Masia. At that time they were still looking for points to be safe,” he explained.

“I was not pleased with those results as the chairman because the way the club was performing in the second round, they didn’t deserve to lose against La Masia.

“So we made the players sign declaration forms. To commit that they would never find themselves under pressure to commit any improper conduct. Another form was for anyone who hears, sees or has been informed about any improper conduct to anonymously inform the club, without revealing their details,” he said.

CLUB CHECK PLAYERS’ BANK STATEMENTS

“We also took bank statements from the players for almost three months checking if there was anything irregular.

“But we never discovered anything untoward. But that doesn’t also mean we won’t stop interrogating because sometimes when you are ‘dumb’, you might renew contracts if players that are unfaithful.”

“Our players had also committed to going for the Polygraph test to prove that there was nothing unethical they did. The players admitted that they just had a bad day in the office, nothing else and were were outplayed.

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