The Lost Boys by Ed Hawkins

Author:Ed Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

14

The Forsythe Saga

‘My policy is not to get into a car that won’t start,’ Christopher Forsythe said as he shielded his eyes from a fierce Accra sun. ‘It’s a very good project and I’m happy to be involved.’ I had been corresponding with Forsythe for almost a year. It was the first, and only time, we met. It was a meeting by chance. One which very nearly didn’t happen. He was one of the first Fifa registered agents who had received Scout Network’s email about looking for partners to bring under-18s to England. In a professional and detailed reply, Forsythe wrote: ‘I would like to have the chance to explain in more detail the project that I have set up initially in Ghana to establish a steady pipeline of top level footballing talent into European clubs.’ His focus was ‘providing young (typically 16–23) players’ to Europe.

Although Hamid, Imari and Lois had revealed how players were moved from continent to continent, I wanted to know more. Specifically, how people within football were ignoring Article 19. I wanted more details from an agent who was not afraid of skullduggery. More tricks, more scams, more cheats. Of course, I didn’t ask Forsythe if he was that man, but I impressed upon him the need for an expert in moving underage players. ‘I assure you that you have come to the right person,’ he told me.

Indeed, I had. Almost two months later to the day he sent that email, Forsythe was the subject of a sting by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and the Channel 4 documentary programme, Dispatches. He had been exposed agreeing to fix Ghana’s international fixtures by using corrupted referees. The investigation cast a shadow over the World Cup, which was taking place in Brazil at the time. The Telegraph labelled it a ‘football match-fixing deal’. Its exclusive read:

Reporters from the Telegraph and a former Fifa investigator claimed they represented an investment company that wanted to ‘sponsor’ games. Christopher Forsythe, a registered Fifa agent, along with Obed Nketiah, a senior figure in the Ghanaian FA, boasted that they could employ corrupt officials who would rig matches played by Ghana.

The president of the country’s football association then met the undercover reporter and investigator, along with Mr Forsythe and Mr Nketiah, and agreed a contract which would see the team play in the rigged matches, in return for payment.

The contract stated that it would cost $170,000 (£100,000) for each match organised by the fixers involving the Ghanaian team, and would allow a bogus investment firm to appoint match officials, in breach of Fifa rules. ‘You [the company] will always have to come to us and say how you want it to go . . . the result,’ said Mr Forsythe. ‘That’s why we will get the officials that we have greased their palms, so they will do it. If we bring in our own officials to do the match . . . You’re making your money.’

Mr Forsythe said that match fixing was ‘everywhere’ in football and that he could even arrange rigged matches between Ghana and British teams.

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