Three British footballers playing in Singapore's league have been arrested in connection with a match-fixing scandal, officials said yesterday.
Billy Bone, from Newcastle upon Tyne, and Scottish-born Brian Bothwell, who play for Geylang United in the Asian country's S-league, were questioned by the Corrupt Practices and Investigation Bureau (CPIB) before being released on 15,000 Singapore dollars (#5800) bail.
Fellow Englishman Max Nicholson, a Woodlands Wellington midfielder, and three other players were also arrested but none of the six have been charged, said an official of the Football Association of Singapore.
The arrests come after an anonymous letter was sent to the CPIB before Geylang beat Marine Castle 1-0 last week, claiming the outcome had been pre-arranged and Geylang would not win by more than one goal. Another Woodlands player, Croatian Ivica Raguz was unable to play against Geylang earlier in the month after he was assaulted by a man armed with a hockey stick on the eve of the game.
That incident fuelled concerns about match-fixing, despite the tightly regulated environment in the fledgling league which was set up in 1996 after Singapore withdrew from the Malaysian league.
Mr Patrick Ang, Geylang chairman, told sports.com: ''We hope they are innocent. ''But if the authorities find that they are guilty then we will not hesitate to take action against them. We will leave it to the authorities to do what they must.''
Mr Bone, 28, who played as a trainee for Sunderland between 1988 and 1991, has since played in both Hong Kong and Singapore and now captains Geylang, who are fourth in the 12-team league with three games remaining in the season. Mr Bothwell, 29, born in Scotland, is a striker for Geylang. On the club's website he describes himself as resident in Australia and claims he has played for the Brunei national team.
Mr Bone, who joined Geylang last year, told the Straits Times newspaper that he and Mr Bothwell were out on bail and added: ''Obviously, everybody already knows what is going on at the moment. In due course, you will get a statement from Brian and myself. But at this moment, let us just say that we're helping the authorities with the investigations.
''We've already given our statements and let us leave it at that.'' Mr Bothwell, who joined this season, declined to comment.
An official at Woodlands told the newspaper that Mr Nicholson, a 28-year-old who went to Singapore four years ago, had been released on bail.
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