Allegations of “blatant” match fixing in England Hockey East Division fixture
Leak of documents shine light on troubling conduct in grassroots hockey

A cache of hundreds of documents and personal WhatsApp messages on Saturday have revealed a constructive and deliberate attempt to influence a match result for monetary gain, it can be revealed.

The fixture under scrutiny took place at 13:00 on Saturday 15th October, between EH East Division 3NW Mens’ sides March Town 1 versus Cambridge South 4. The final scoreline was 14-0, described by one astute observer as “unusually high-scoring”.

A key document is a betting stub from a local bookmaker, detailing a £25 initial outlay on an accumulator bet on the match in question. Odds of 250,000/1 were offered on the following conditions being met: 12 or more goals against Cambridge South; at least one injury to a Cambridge South player; three or more goals conceded by Cambridge South from short corners. It is understood that all these conditions were met.

Accompanying WhatsApp messages in the leaked cache implicate several individuals in the Cambridge South 4 Mens’ team. Whilst the full membership of the WhatsApp group, titled “March Mega Dolla$ - 4 South Boyz” did not accompany the leak, messages from several individuals revealed motive behind the audacious scheme. These include:

• M Grove, indicating: “Can’t wait for the payout.. Can’t let him go to an NHS hospital. I want one of those spenny [sic] BUPA ones with three-course meals and servants and that”; “a new extension […] would be nice too”
• A Waddell, who indicated his intention to use funds as seed capital for a hockey stick line with tartan styling, and disturbingly, an apparent scheme to arrange the kidnapping of Dutch national Jeroen Hertzberger to “come live in my hockey dungeon”
• M Need, whose sole contribution to the thread was “Of course, I’m a teacher lol”
• J Whittaker, to pay for asbestos removal and “pay for Georgey to wire my new house”

If the stub had been successfully redeemed, the individuals involved would have stood to have made in excess of £6 million. Having contacted the local bookmakers, it was confirmed that the bet would not be honoured given evidence of impropriety. The staff member we spoke to indicated that an internal investigation would take place to understand how such a specific bet was allowed to be placed.

Since the details of this leak have been made public, the individual that placed the bet has come forward, on condition of anonymity. They claim that a man in “purple sports kit” made an approach in a Costa Coffee establishment less than an hour prior to the game, offering to pay for a pumpkin spiced latte in exchange for laying a £25 bet with conditions which appear to match the leaked stub. The individual claimed that the man introduced himself as “Mr Amos”. Attempts to verify the identity of this individual directly with members of Cambridge South 4 were met with denial, with one player responding: “I literally have no idea who that is”.

Experts we spoke to were taken aback by both the brazenness and lack of sophistication in the attempted fraud. “These lads are clearly a bit thick”, speculated one. They explained that most match fixing rings they have investigated look to spread their risk across a suite of games rather than in a single fixture, to avoid arousing suspicion. Correspondents attending the game indicated that M Grove spent the first half “desperately throwing himself at the March 1 centre-forward” to manufacture an injury, before successfully accruing a contusion in the second half of play, satisfying one of the key conditions of the fraudulent bet.

There was no evidence linking the South scheme to March 1s. A number of March players approached for comment were incensed at the suggestion that the emphatic scoreline was solely the result of match-fixing: “We completely battered them”, exclaimed one. “We could have scored 10 more if we wanted”. Match and league statistics do not appear to refute this claim.

Cambridge South Hockey Club did not respond to repeated requests for comment.