Many regulars at Play the Game conferences have been left amazed and outraged in equal measure by the research carried out by Canadian investigative journalist and academic Declan Hill, who has devoted years to researching the dangerous underworld that lies behind much of professional sport. Now, Hill has compiled his latest research into one book – The Fix.

Many regulars at Play the Game conferences have been left amazed and outraged in equal measure by the research carried out by Canadian investigative journalist and academic Declan Hill, who has devoted years to researching the dangerous underworld that lies behind much of professional sport. Now, Hill has compiled his latest research into one book – The Fix.

Long-held suspicions were confirmed in late March this year, when Chinese badminton coach Li Yongbo admitted to fixing one of the women’s singles semi-finals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Match-fixing and corruption are nothing new in Asian Handball according to Bahraini Olympic Committee member Mohammed Abul. Abul provided documents to Bahrain newspaper, The Gulf Daily News, which suggests that Kuwait bought referees to ensure ‘success’.

Earlier this month, one hundred South Korean handball players and officials protested outside the Kuwaiti embassy, alleging undue political and economic influence in Asian handball after a controversial defeat to Kuwait for the men’s team. For the Koreans, it is not the first time though they have been the victims of contentious decisions in Asian handball.

For Franco Carraro, 2006 was a rollercoaster. He resigned as president of the Italian Football Federation because of the match fixing scandal in Italian football last summer. Then Carraro , an IOC member and member of UEFA and FIFA. was banned from sport leadership for 4.5 years. But appeal after appeal diminished the punishment and now the IOC Ethics Commission has also given him a clean bill of health.

Knowledge bank: Chinese football has become a showcase of what happens when match fixing is allowed to continue for too long. Fans and sponsors have almost given up on the sport, and in a new attempt to turn the tide, the China Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese police set up a task force in October 2006 to stamp out football corruption.

Knowledge bank: Sepp Blatter suggests that professional referees could put an end to match fixing. In England, the FA has a group of paid referees and so far no instances of match fixing. But a refereeing career is short and may not pay enough.