If such a decision of the LFF had been made in 2015, when the LFF had already established a specific committee, one of the main objectives of which is to defend football from any injustice, then considering the openness and whistleblower status of Thunder, one could turn a blind eye to the fact that he received money from unscrupulous persons and may not have been merely an accomplice. Unfortunately, no action followed either in 2015 or later, and the LFF was forced to react only after the agitation created by the football community and the media almost eight years later – in 2023.
Agris Suveizda, the football reviewer and author of the “sportacentrs.com” portal, has similar thoughts, who rightly points to the LFF’s desire to make a decision acceptable to all parties. “Conditional disqualification can perhaps be called a golden middle ground – after a public testimony, it was not possible not to punish, but severely punishing (and him alone) for events of seven and a half years ago, in which, according to what was said, he was an accomplice, not an organizer or executor, would probably also be too harsh . However, there are still many questions, because there are inconsistencies in what E. Pérkonas told, and the biggest of them is whether LFF was informed about what happened at that time. It is clear that the harshest sanctions should be for Mr. X and Y, but if there was a call to the LFF and inaction followed, then an internal investigation is also necessary for the LFF. Be that as it may, betting on one’s own games is taboo – even if you bet only on victories, as in this case, Perkons admitted in the first interview, it was not at all.”
While in the famous Pérkonas interview he mentions persons who organized and also performed unfair actions, LFF has not imposed any sanctions on these, as Suveizda formulates, X and Y characters, at least for now. Instead, it promises to further investigate and determine the degree of blame.
In this regard, a reasonable question arises – how capable or incapable of acting (investigating, researching, analyzing, collecting data, collecting evidence) is the LFF and its Fair Play and Ethics Committee. In connection with the specific Thunder scandal, the names and surnames of at least several football players and officials have come out, but none of them have received any punishment, neither in 2015 nor in 2023. It should be noted that these are not the only surnames, because Latvian football players have been punished even by federations of other countries, but our own football honor holders have been very down-to-earth in this matter.
“The LFF is afraid that the sanctions will result in insufficient evidence and legal basis and will lose the Lausanne Court (International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) – ed.), if there will be influential people on the opposite side who want to litigate. The Federation lacks the capacity, skills or will to conduct or initiate a quality investigation,” concludes A. Suveizda.
Meanwhile, Perkons, who still has not officially regretted his action and, apparently, does not consider betting on winning games or heavily undefeated matches against stronger teams as an obstacle, continues his work with Jelgava’s young footballers.
The Premier League season with several matches will start on March 11, this year 10 clubs are participating in it. FS “Jelgava” will make their debut on March 12, when they will meet FC “Riga” as guests.
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