So Wilson Raj Perumal’s memoirs are out. I had to read it as
soon as the ebook landed in my inbox. I can’t and won’t comment on the factual
content of the book – more on the tone. Wilson portrays himself as a friendly
match-fixer but one with a nasty streak. This is exactly the kind of person I
tried to give an image of with ‘Cedric’ the match-fixer in Off The Chest (Perumal
in mind). This image is hard to buy though. Reading Wilson’s narration of the ‘Hockey
Stick’ incident, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was the victim. In fact he
plays the victim throughout the book – sometimes justified, sometimes not.
I want to write about the topic which was the basis for Off
The Chest. Wilson Raj Perumal is a gambler of the sickest variety. Though the
world was his oyster, fixing matches across the globe, he is quite possibly
net-down from gambling. How is this possible? In the book he admits to placing extortionate
amounts on games it was impossible to fix. Why would anyone bet on games they
cannot fix when they can live comfortably forever off the back of matches they
can fix? The key is in the adrenalin buzz. At first fixing games is a thrill.
Then comes the ego boost of knowing you control a player, a referee, a team or
even a country. But when the dust settles and the winnings are collected, the
thrill begins to subside. If you know the result already, where is the danger? Wilson
began fixing matches for profit. But even if you believe his ‘Robin Hood’
mentality of helping poverty stricken players, in the end, everything was to
feed his gambling. He’d get to work but then blow all the profits. Rinse and
repeat. As he admits himself, a more intelligent man would have spotted the
sharks circling. But a less greedy man would surely have retired years before.
Is this the end of Wilson Raj Perumal? I didn’t read
anything that suggested he was remorseful. It is quite incredible how many matches
he and his superiors, partners and underlings were able to fix. Over a million
fans have watched games in the stadium corrupted by his antics. Tens of
millions at home – and for a while, the majority of them never knew what was
happening.
This book is reasonably well written and there a
considerable number of amusing and interesting stories. My favourite is regarding
the coin toss of Nigeria vs Argentina. Knowing they couldn’t bribe Juan Roman
Riquelme to allow Nigeria to kick-off, one of players told him that the
Nigerians desperately wanted to kick-off due it being a good omen. That way
both angles were covered. Argentina won the toss but Nigeria were allowed to
kick-off – Riquelme was duped!
The saying honour amongst thieves doesn’t seem to apply in
the match-fixing world. There are rip-offs, thefts, framings, ratting, double
crosses, violence and even murder. One thing’s for certain – life is never
dull.
I recommend people buy this book. I read it in nine hours
non-stop.
It’s about time someone made a football film with match-fixing
as the underlying theme. Maybe Wilson can be match-fixer turned consultant or
even an actor.
I would say ‘All hail the Kelong King’. But Perumal gives that
title to another. Maybe he’s a modest man after all.
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