I hope he is banned for life.

String him high! Guilty until proven innocent...
oh wait a minute. Jumping a little to conclusions are we?
 
I dont think they should ban him or even punish him in any way whatsoever. Who does it hurt, nobody but the gamblers.

Had he took some performance enhancing drug then yeah chop off his balls he's screwing the contests and fellow players but i dont give a toss for the mugs betting it's a betting industry problem not snookers.

drsnooker said:
String him high! Guilty until proven innocent...
oh wait a minute. Jumping a little to conclusions are we?
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I had a doubt too till i saw his manager had resigned. Only an absolute idiot would volentarily apply for a punishment. Innocent men stand their ground and defend themselves against their accusers.
 
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mnorwood said:
After watching this I am convinced he took a dive against Steve Davis.
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If you are going to read and believe everything about what a shonky publisher prints, then you really should read all of it... the video was made after the match with Steve Davis.
 
There is no other evidence to be had in a situation like this. Money can be moved easily. I doubt an investigation will render anything. The fact of the matter is there has been a major conspiracy involving the Russian and Eastern Euro mob and match fixing in a variety of sports over the last few years. I will go a step further and say the Steve Davis match was fixed.

Yes they do need to string him high because its this type of behavior that has killed pro mens pool and is killing boxing. This type of thing almost killed pro baseball before Kennesaw Landis cleaned it up.
 
WilliamK said:
If you are going to read and believe everything about what a shonky publisher prints, then you really should read all of it... the video was made after the match with Steve Davis.
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I realize the video had nothing to do with the Davis match. I am saying that the video exposes his character and casts doubt on everything he does. Every time this kind of thing occurs in the major American sports justice is swift and harsh. He needs to be crushed if they want the integrity of the game to be maintained.
 
Russian mafia my arse. Think about it a mo, Who are the biggest gamblers in the world? Who has a "mafia" type organisation dating back a thousand years and operates in every country in the world. The same country has in the last few years fallen in love with the game and is betting millions on it.

Yup the chinese. They are the ones in my opinion who are doing the real bribary deals. And they aint so stupid as to meet face to face with a player either. A simple letter to a player sayin £xx,xxx is yours if you miss a shot or two and a mobile phone number to reply to is how it's done surely.
Not a chance in hell of being traced let alone filmed that way.

Higgins and his manager i reckon are newbies to it, the rest of the players never meet their private pension fund managers.

... its this type of behavior that has killed pro mens pool and is killing boxing. This type of thing almost killed pro baseball before Kennesaw Landis cleaned it up.
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How does defrauding a bookmaker kill a sport? A Barry Hearns put it "!it's hurting the integrotory of the sport" Snooker like all cue games have always been prone to match fixing as it's the simplist thing to fix and unless a player confesses it's 100% unprovable, so it's never had any integrotory and it certainly aint a sport.
 
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mnorwood said:
I realize the video had nothing to do with the Davis match. I am saying that the video exposes his character and casts doubt on everything he does. Every time this kind of thing occurs in the major American sports justice is swift and harsh. He needs to be crushed if they want the integrity of the game to be maintained.
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Higgins was talking about losing single frames in the World Series of Snooker. These events are essentially exhibition matches played across Europe against local players, to small crowds and with little prize money. To make the jump that Higgins would lose a match for a place in the quarter finals of the World Championship is ridiculous. The exact word you used was that you were "convinced." That says it all.

I also think it makes sense to wait for actual evidence before banning Stephen Maguire. But that's just me...
 
Okay here's the last thing I will say about the issue. Match fixing goes on in sports and its impossible to prove. The 1919 White Sox were acquitted of all charges for fixing the world series, but they were banned anyways. Pete Rose was banned from baseball but was never did any jail time. Baseball dealt with it harshly and managed to control the damage to the image of the game.

There have been whispers of match fixing which can't be proved and now you have this video with Higgens talking about how easy it is to throw frames. I doubt any investigation will produce evidence that will hold up in court. However legitimate companies will never touch the sport especially if he is not disciplined.

On the issue of the Davis match many of the chatters kept bringing up the line on Davis winning the match and how big of a pay day it would be for whoever bet on him. At the time the thought crossed my mind about the integrity of the match but I quickly dismissed it, I was really in to the match. Now pretty much all doubt is gone, there is no way that match was legit.
 
If Higgins threw the Davis match which i doubt very very much as Steve hasnt played so well in a decade so what I still enjoyed it. Its a game, it's entertainment it aint life or death and i say again the only ones who get hurt are the bookies.

Betfred know better than anyone that games are thrown , that didnt stop them sponsoring snooker and for every company who would back away now from a sponsorship theres another 10 that'd increase their bid as all a sponsor wants is advertisment of his product and we all know in that respect the saying theres no such thing as bad publicity.
 
mnorwood said:
On the issue of the Davis match many of the chatters kept bringing up the line on Davis winning the match and how big of a pay day it would be for whoever bet on him. At the time the thought crossed my mind about the integrity of the match but I quickly dismissed it, I was really in to the match. Now pretty much all doubt is gone, there is no way that match was legit.
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In bold - not the words of a rational person. As soon as someone says they have no doubts, or that there's "no way", they've shown an unwillingness to consider the actual evidence. Still, I'll make the case one more time. In the video they're talking about non-ranking, insignificant tournaments. Losing ONE FRAME in four different matches. This is not even close to losing a match at the World Championships where:

1. There is far more legitimate money on offer than in any other tournament. £250,000 for the winner.
2. Far more ranking points to play for.
3. The chance to win a 4th World Title.
4. Greater level of scrutiny (if the points above don't sway you)

If you think a willingness to lose a single frame in a glorified exhibition match means that the man does not care about his legacy of titles in the game, you're making leaps you can't justify. I'll say once more that there are no reports of irregular betting on the match, and bookmakers rarely miss an opportunity to avoid paying up.

These unwarranted assumptions are a great disservice to Steve, and to John himself. Things are rarely black and white. Coincidences exist.
 
DangerousDave said:
In bold - not the words of a rational person. As soon as someone says they have no doubts, or that there's "no way", they've shown an unwillingness to consider the actual evidence. Still, I'll make the case one more time. In the video they're talking about non-ranking, insignificant tournaments. Losing ONE FRAME in four different matches. This is not even close to losing a match at the World Championships where:

1. There is far more legitimate money on offer than in any other tournament. £250,000 for the winner.
2. Far more ranking points to play for.
3. The chance to win a 4th World Title.
4. Greater level of scrutiny (if the points above don't sway you)

If you think a willingness to lose a single frame in a glorified exhibition match means that the man does not care about his legacy of titles in the game, you're making leaps you can't justify. I'll say once more that there are no reports of irregular betting on the match, and bookmakers rarely miss an opportunity to avoid paying up.

These unwarranted assumptions are a great disservice to Steve, and to John himself. Things are rarely black and white. Coincidences exist.
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Okay I guess I'm wrong. I retract all previous statements against Higgins. Due to the fact that no hard evidence was ever found to incriminate Barry Bonds, Mark Macguire, Pete Rose, the 1919 white sox and dozens more. Play on guys pay no attention to me. Oh yeah it took tax evasion charges to finally bust Al Capone because there was no evidence to get him on other charges but alas I am not a rational person.
 
mnorwood said:
Okay I guess I'm wrong. I retract all previous statements against Higgins. Due to the fact that no hard evidence was ever found to incriminate Barry Bonds, Mark Macguire, Pete Rose, the 1919 white sox and dozens more. Play on guys pay no attention to me. Oh yeah it took tax evasion charges to finally bust Al Capone because there was no evidence to get him on other charges but alas I am not a rational person.
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So because there are other completely unrelated cases where people were found guilty of completely different things, Higgins must therefore be guilty of throwing the Davis match? That is your argument in this post, it seems. And if you'll look at what I've posted, it's only the Davis match that I'm talking about. In any case, you fail to mention any instances when someone was accused but later proved innocent...because that's never happened in history right? Again, I'm not arguing with the tape, just the claim that he dumped against Davis.

As soon as you say you're convinced and that there is no way, you have left the reasoned debate and jumped to a conclusion based on pretty sparse evidence. You've also neglected to address a single point I've made against this conclusion. I'm not responding by saying "there is no way" he didn't throw the match, or that I have no doubts. I do think it's very unlikely and that there would need to be much better evidence than what you've already deemed sufficient to send Higgins to the chair...
 
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