Hard Evidence Found of Match-Fixing in Sumo

[Mulboyne]

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Japanese

BBC: Japan's sumo hit by match-fixing claims‎
Japan's Sumo Association has called an emergency board meeting after media allegations of match-fixing. Reports quoting unnamed police sources said suspicious text messages had been found on senior wrestlers' phones. The devices were seized last year as part of an investigation into illegal gambling by wrestlers, which badly damaged sumo's reputation. For many Japanese, sumo is not just a sport but a bastion of tradition and culture. Wrestlers are expected to observe the highest standards of public behaviour. So the media reports alleging bout-fixing are front page news. The messages are said to include precise plans of how one wrestler would attack and the other fall, in exchange for payments of hundreds of thousands of yen. The claims have come to light as a result of a police investigation last year into allegations of illegal gambling on baseball games by wrestlers using gangster middlemen. The phones were confiscated during raids on sumo training stables and other places...more...‎

Interesting that this news has quickly been picked up overseas. As well as the BBC, reports have already appeared on the wire services, The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal.

[Midwinter]

They can still spin it by saying there's nothing more traditional to the Japanese than corruption and paybacks.

[Taro Toporific]

BBC: Japan's sumo hit by match-fixing claims‎

Interesting that this news has quickly been picked up overseas. As well as the BBC, reports have already appeared on the wire services, The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal.

Foreign news services and Westerners in general are deluded into thinking that sumo ancient, sacred sport of honor rather than just the sleazy pastime of gangsters and crooked elderly businessmen.

[INDENT][floatl][/floatl] G[color="Silver"]h[/color]ETT[color="Silver"]o[/color]Y IMAGES feb 2---Japan Sumo Association chairman Hanaregoma holds a press conference after the association's board meeting at the Kokugikan sumo gymnasium in Tokyo on February 2, 2011.
[/INDENT]

[Ketou]

Foreign news services and Westerners in general are deluded into thinking that sumo ancient, sacred sport of honor rather than just the sleazy pastime of gangsters and crooked elderly businessmen.

That can be directed at most of the Japanese populace too...

[Fullback]

Everybody knows the dice are loaded,
everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfS8LyeUyM

[Mulboyne]

One of the main questions being asked now is whether the JSA should repay the damages won in court from suing publishers and journalists who have reported claims of match-fixing in the past.

Of course, everyone knows that the JSA has been fully aware of match-fixing. There's no way the practice would just have suddenly appeared in recent years, so all the former wrestlers on the board of the JSA would not only have been aware of it but probably participated actively. The public almost accepted their chutzpah in bringing prosecutions so long as they could maintain deniability, no matter how implausible.

I doubt there's any legal obligation for them to repay - after all the onus was on the publishers to prove their case to a court - but the JSA has now been caught with its trousers down and may bear some moral responsibility. They will likely continue to claim they knew nothing about match-fixing but that will just make them look ignorant and incompetent for not investigating the matter, especially since it seems like getting confirmation of the practice was a very simple matter.

[Doctor Stop]

The messages are said to include precise plans of how one wrestler would attack and the other fall, in exchange for payments of hundreds of thousands of yen.

"Say it ain't so, Akebono."

[Mike Oxlong]

"Say it ain't so, Akebono."

Note how easily sumo adapts to it's new environment...in the past it was just the ex-sumotori adapting to pro-rasslin', but pretty much the entire shebang adapts just as easily.
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[Mulboyne]

Akebono appears in the film version of Freakonomics, which has a chapter demonstrating the statistical evidence for match-fixing. In it. he says that he never saw any such cases. The book's author is understandably happy to see this news confirm his findings

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: Sumo wrestlers admit fixing matches

Sumo wrestling was today plunged into the biggest crisis in its modern history after at least three wrestlers admitted fixing matches in the latest scandal to have tarnished the Japanese sport's reputation. The education minister, Yoshiaki Takaki, who has responsibility for sumo, told a parliamentary panel that the wrestlers had admitted arranging to fix bouts via mobile phone.

The admissions come a day after reports that police had discovered dozens of emails that pointed to rampant match-fixing in a sport steeped in tradition and, until recently, considered a bastion of sportsmanship. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, said the allegations, if true, amounted to a betrayal. ''Sumo has a long history and a great number of fans," he told parliament this morning. "It is certainly the national sport. If matches have been fixed, it is a serious betrayal of the people''...more...

There's also mention in the press that wrestlers may have been betting on these rigged matches. You have to think this affair is also an indictment of the press. Given the long-standing rumours of match-fixing, and the willingness of wrestlers in the past to testify, it is surely a "betrayal of the people" that the media failed to chase this story down much earlier, preferring instead to watch while the JSA successfully sued publishers for reporting what was an open secret.

[Greji]

Guardian: Sumo wrestlers admit fixing matches


There's also mention in the press that wrestlers may have been betting on these rigged matches. You have to think this affair is also an indictment of the press. Given the long-standing rumours of match-fixing, and the willingness of wrestlers in the past to testify, it is surely a "betrayal of the people" that the media failed to chase this story down much earlier, preferring instead to watch while the JSA successfully sued publishers for reporting what was an open secret.

There have been cases in the distant past and allegations almost annually of match fixing. They will get a couple two or three to cop out, burn the ones that do and jump all over there oyakatta and after a tournament, or two, it will be back to business as usual.

I have heard the Ministry is thinking about banning the Sumo Kyoukai Executive Committee, but I think that's a long way from seeing the light, unless they get a government demand.....

[BigInJapan]

CNN now has a video up:

[YT]2Ef4yEmXAQY[/YT]

The original CNN page is here, in case the above blog copy gets denied

[Mulboyne]

The Asahi, Mainichi and ZakZak (Sankei) have now all referred directly to the Freakonomics findings from a few years ago. They do so to cast doubt on statements from the JSA that there's no evidence of match-fixing having occurred in the past.

The Mainichi's reference appeared in a front page opinion column which is also in English here. It concludes:

It's a sad state of affairs when the scholar of another country is the one who manages to see through the background dealings tainting Japan's national sport.

[sublight]

David Benjamin did the same analysis and reached the same conclusions in 1992 in his book, The Joy of Sumo.

[Yokohammer]

Damn ... Japan is rapidly running out of bastions of honor and respectability.

I've been a sumo fan for years. Been to the Kokugikan countless times. Been to asa-geiko and had chanko with the wrestlers on numerous occasions. Of course hanging with the "in crowd" you hear rumors, but all the time I've been holding on to the hope that, basically, the sport is an honorable one. This time my faith has been seriously shaken. Very sad.

[dimwit]

There's also mention in the press that wrestlers may have been betting on these rigged matches. You have to think this affair is also an indictment of the press. Given the long-standing rumours of match-fixing, and the willingness of wrestlers in the past to testify, it is surely a "betrayal of the people" that the media failed to chase this story down much earlier, preferring instead to watch while the JSA successfully sued publishers for reporting what was an open secret.

Holy Ore Ore. Who bets on Sumo? And more importantly where can I get their telephone numbers and addresses so I can tell them all about a really sincere land development scheme that is bound to make millions.

[Yokohammer]

And so, the haru basho in Osaka has been cancelled. Apparently this is the first time that a basho has been cancelled due to a scandal. The only other time was in 1946, and that was due to a delay in rebuilding the Kokugikan after the war. The haru basho might not be the only one, either. The chairman of the Sumo Association has stated that no tournaments will be held until "corruption in the sport is completely rooted out". But I'm pretty sure it'll be "rooted out" (read: "swept under the carpet") in time for the summer basho. There's too much at stake.

JT article: Sumo idled over fans' betrayal, long probe

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: 57% 'not hopeful' for sumo reform

Even before the sumo match-fixing scandal started making waves, 57 percent of people in a recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey said they did not think the Japan Sumo Association's reform efforts would do any good. Only 35 percent said they had faith the JSA would be able to achieve its reform goals, according to the survey. The general sports survey was conducted on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 and covered 3,000 people nationwide, just a few days before the latest match-throwing allegations broke, with 1,234 people giving valid responses.

With a majority of the public expressing little hope the scandal-prone sumo community can get back on track, it is highly likely the recent fracas over thrown bouts has made the public even more critical toward the sumo world. Asked what they would like to see from grand sumo, 64 percent of respondents said they want "Japanese wrestlers to succeed," and 40 percent said "criminal gangs should be eradicated and bad tendencies should be corrected." Thirty-six percent wanted "wrestlers to have more dignity," and 31 percent hoped "the quality of the instructors can be improved." Multiple answers were allowed.

Asked what sport they liked to watch, 44 percent chose professional baseball as their favorite--winning first place for the 17th consecutive year. Professional soccer came in second with 36 percent, drastically higher than the ninth spot it held last year, likely due to the achievements of the national team at the recent Asian Cup in Qatar. Sumo came in sixth at 23 percent As for baseball teams, 23 percent said they supported the Yomiuri Giants, winning first place for the 20th year in a row. Ichiro of the U.S. Seattle Mariners was the most popular player.

Only 40% want to see gangsters eradicated?

[FG Lurker]

But I'm pretty sure it'll be "rooted out" (read: "swept under the carpet") in time for the summer basho. There's too much at stake.

Yeah, I can't see them canceling one of the Tokyo tournaments.

[Yokohammer]

The investigating committee has asked all juryo and higher rikishi to surrender their ketai and bankbook for examination. That could be interesting. I assume they'll make sure they have all bankbooks. The smart scammer would have at least two. Same for keitai. Also, no rikishi with something to hide would hand in their keitai without deleting incriminating messages. I believe messages can be reconstructed if they're in the phone's memory (that's how they nabbed the current bunch), but if these guys are smart enough to store all their mail on a removable card the phone itself wouldn't contain any evidence at all. They'd have to get the logs from the carrier.

This is a real mess. All the small businesses that depend on the basho and jungyo for a living are facing a bleak future. There has been an increasing dearth of new recruits at the stables over the past few years too, and this certainly isn't going to help drum up business. A surprising number of Japanese are now saying that sumo can no longer be considered Japan's national sport. When asked what should replace sumo as the national sport a number of people suggested the ekiden* (I assume they were referring to the yearly Hakone ekiden, but maybe ekiden in general).

I think we have a national identity crisis in the making.

[SIZE="1"]* "Ekiden" = long distance relay race.[/SIZE]

[dimwit]

The investigating committee has asked all juryo and higher rikishi to surrender their ketai and bankbook for examination. That could be interesting. I assume they'll make sure they have all bankbooks. The smart scammer would have at least two. Same for keitai. Also, no rikishi with something to hide would hand in their keitai without deleting incriminating messages. I believe messages can be reconstructed if they're in the phone's memory (that's how they nabbed the current bunch), but if these guys are smart enough to store all their mail on a removable card the phone itself wouldn't contain any evidence at all. They'd have to get the logs from the carrier.

I love the ones that are claiming that their wives stepped on them or they lost them to a paper shredder or whatnot. I would assume that they would automatically go for the carrier logs. But this all raises some rather important legal matters. They have not done anything illegal, so does the Sumo Association have the right to receive the logs?

[Kuang_Grade]

I love the ones that are claiming that their wives stepped on them or they lost them to a paper shredder or whatnot. I would assume that they would automatically go for the carrier logs. But this all raises some rather important legal matters. They have not done anything illegal, so does the Sumo Association have the right to receive the logs?

If the Sumo Association was serious, they would require the people under investigation to authorize the release of the records in question to an independent and neutral 3rd party for review. If they don't comply, permanently ban them from the sport. There is no constitutional right to be employed as a sumo wrestler.

[Doctor Stop]

There is no constitutional right to be employed as a sumo wrestler.

Article 22:
Every person shall have freedom to choose and change his residence and to choose his occupation to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare.

Article 27:
1. All people shall have the right and the obligation to work.

[IkemenTommy]

The investigating committee has asked all juryo and higher rikishi to surrender their ketai and bankbook for examination.

Good riddance. These fuckers that use their phones that are issued by the organization and not officially for private use deserve to get the full anal probe interrogation.

Note to self: delete all private mail correspondences on my company keitai.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I was at a shita-machi motsu-yaki shop near Asakusa last night. The general consensus among the oyaji at the counter seemed to be that this shit has been fixed since the Edo Period and anyone claiming to be shocked is either full of shit or a fucking idiot.

[Kuang_Grade]

Article 22:
Every person shall have freedom to choose and change his residence and to choose his occupation to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare.

Article 27:
1. All people shall have the right and the obligation to work.

Alright, everyone can be an astronaut then. I guess no one has written to JAXA to let them know that they need to start up a manned space program.

Make what you want of conspiring with illegal gambling rings in regards to interfering with the public welfare, the Sumo Association isn't required to accept into their membership everyone by public mandate or law. People are free to choose their occupation...there isn't any requirement that others have to hire them or associate with them. If these guys don't want to help the Sumo Association clean up the problem they caused, then the Sumo Association should permanently shit can them on general principle.

I should have added in my previous post that banning them should also preclude any other members of the Sumo Association from employing them in any fashion, so no pensioning these guys out to teach/run sumo stables.

[Mulboyne]

It's currently open season on the JSA in the press. It's not easy to see how this one will play out. The association might feel that making an example of a large number of wrestlers will be enough to ride this one out.

There's a risk that it won't be sufficient because the JSA itself is under public suspicion. More importantly, any wrestlers who have their livelihood taken away may feel like scapegoats and start talking about how others are involved. They could also challenge any JSA decision in court.

[IkemenTommy]

I was at a shita-machi motsu-yaki shop near Asakusa last night. The general consensus among the oyaji at the counter seemed to be that this shit has been fixed since the Edo Period and anyone claiming to be shocked is either full of shit or a fucking idiot.

It makes you wonder if other "sports" and entertainment are also fixed.

K-1 and Pride... no way, can't be!

JRA... It's not impossible but making the horses to run across the goal line in a specific order and making it look like a close race can be a little tricky. Greji, I'll need your expertise on this one (or not).

Keirin and Kyotei (boat races)... quite riggable if you'd ask me.

J-league soccer... pussy sport that no one cares to watch anyway.

[Greji]

It makes you wonder if other "sports" and entertainment are also fixed.

K-1 and Pride... no way, can't be!

Agreed!

JRA... It's not impossible but making the horses to run across the goal line in a specific order and making it look like a close race can be a little tricky. Greji, I'll need your expertise on this one (or not).

It is extremely hard, if not impossible to singularly rig a race for one horse to win. You would have to involve other Jockeys/trainers. Once you have more than one involved, it is harder to keep it a secret. This is because it is a major criminal offense in Japan and leverage can be used on any participants to get them to give up their friends i.e. give up the somebody or go to prison, even longer than prescribed for not cooperating.

The major problem is that there are many easy ways to make a favored horse lose a race and by renting a couple of jockeys at the right price. You can then stop a few of the favorites and bring home an outsider fairly easily. This is why the stewards watch this area of the race so closely. Quite common is by use of the whip. The jockey should apply the whip to the hind quarters of the horse, striking in a forward motion to urge the horse on. If he strikes backwards with a rearward pressure on the reins the horse takes this as a lead to slow down. Also, the jockey can "miss" the flank and hit the horse smack in between the legs, to which the horse will say "aw shit, why did you have to go and do that," and will lose all interest in running and for that matter, just about everything else.

Keirin and Kyotei (boat races)... quite riggable if you'd ask me.

Easily done.

J-league soccer... pussy sport that no one cares to watch anyway.

Agreed. That's why it's Mulboyne's favorate

[Mulboyne]

I was at a shita-machi motsu-yaki shop near Asakusa last night. The general consensus among the oyaji at the counter seemed to be that this shit has been fixed since the Edo Period and anyone claiming to be shocked is either full of shit or a fucking idiot.

You hear that a lot but I don't think everyone "knew" in the same way. I suspect some people thought match fixing was common but assumed it was largely benevolent. Perhaps a promising new wrestler, struggling to find his feet after promotion to the top ranks, would be given a helping hand to make sure he stayed up. Likewise a crowd favourite, carrying an injury or running into bad form would be shown the same grace. On top of that, you have the trade-offs where a wrestler with a shot at the title might get some help from a stablemate.

A fan might have seen all that as part and parcel of the sport and never assumed nefarious motives. After all, how could match rigging be so prevalent with so many successful foreign wrestlers? Surely no-one would want to plan that outcome.

However, the recent revelations show match fixing in a more sordid light. It's not simply about favours, it's mainly about money. More than that, It looks as if some wrestlers regularly schemed to earn a decent bonus by throwing bouts. Plenty of people might have suspected that too but I doubt whether all fans realized how deep the fault lines run any more than they expected illegal baseball gambling to be so organized and corrupting. If it's ever shown conclusively that wrestlers were fixing matches to help illegal gambling on sumo, that will be some bombshell.