Match-fixing: a historical perspective

Huggins, Mike ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2789-4756 (2018) Match-fixing: a historical perspective. International Journal of the History of Sport, 35 (2-3). pp. 123-140.

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Abstract

Match-fixing has a long history, but while use of drugs in sport has a substantial secondary literature, match-fixing has only recently begun to attract the attention of historians. This essay begins with a brief overview of its global contemporary contexts, the broad range of sports where it now surfaces, increased recognition of its moral, social, and economic threat, and the varied responses of leading sports organizations, legal gambling operators, police forces, governmental departments, and regulators. The following section explores the challenges of finding any reliable evidence of match-fixing in the past. Such material can include reports of criminal trials and investigations, the decisions of national and international sporting bodies, journalistic investigations, players confessions, suspended investigations, and the many various unsubstantiated allegations of fixing. An overview shows that match-fixing has been a major and substantial long-standing historical continuity in sport usually but not always is linked to gambling and sporting materialism. Examples are brought forward to show that it could be found in Ancient Greece and Egypt, and was widespread across the early modern and modern periods in Britain, America, and Australia. The essay concludes by suggesting some key questions which a future agenda for the historical study of match-fixing might address.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	International Journal of the History of Sport
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
ISSN:	1743-9035
Departments:	Academic Departments > Institute of Arts (IOA) > Humanities
Additional Information:	Mike Huggins is an Emeritus Professor of Cultural History at the University of Cumbria, UK and is also the President of the European Committee for Sports History.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	02 Nov 2018 12:46
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 20:45
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4162

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