Football match-fixing: authorities must call in Interpol to confront this global problem These syndicates are ghosts. Any regular match-going football reporter is aware of the interest before kick-off on any sensitive team news from anonymous Twitter followers in the Far East, searching details on who is starting, information that affects betting. As well-intentioned as the FA's Integrity Unit is, it is like taking a peashooter into a gunfight. It needs bigger weapons. It needs Interpol to confront a problem that crosses borders, geographical and digital. This is a global problem requiring an international response. Football also needs the judiciary to play its part in imposing significant punishment on those found guilty. The footballing authorities also need Government to toughen up and speed up the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill currently in the committee stage and considered three years away from becoming law. On the morning of England's Nov 19 friendly with Germany, the Committee of MPs debated the integrity of football and particularly the need for a new Clause 4 to be inserted in the Bill transferring the regulation of all spread betting, domestically and overseas, from the slow-moving Financial Conduct Authority to the Gambling Commission so as to track "suspicious activities"" better. Representatives of the leading British sports have been lobbying Government for a Sport Betting Right, effectively a levy which would generate money from the legitimate bookmakers to be channelled into more efficient early-warning systems into illegal betting activities. Football also wants the right to license which type of bets are allowable, and particularly to get rid of first throw-in and first yellow card, offences which can be manipulated by the corrupt. Again, they are hunting silhouettes in a forest at dusk. As Clive Efford MP said in illustrating his point about the importance of the Bill: "I am not suggesting that in tonight's match an England player will kick the ball out for a corner 10 minutes into the game, but that could happen in a less high-profile match."" Gerry Sutcliffe MP noted: "Unfortunately, younger players or those not at the top level - in the second and third divisions of football or the lower leagues of other sports - are getting involved in match fixing and cheating."" Helen Grant, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, believes that the new legislation will mean that "for the first time, overseas operators will have to inform the Gambling Commission about suspicious betting patterns to help fight illegal betting activity and corruption in sport. That will also ensure that overseas operators contribute fairly to regulatory cost."" The sports bodies crave a Government-approved warning system so that they can react by "changing the referee" or "warning players that their conduct will be watched carefully." Nic Coward, of the Sports Rights Owners Coalition, who warned the Government back in March 2011 of the need to act over spread-betting, told the Committee that it was a "serious anomaly"" that spread-betting was not properly addressed in the Bill. "It is vital that policymakers give sport and the regulatory bodies all the powers that they need to fight match-fixing,"" agreed Efford. "Our failure to apply licence condition 15 to spread betting undermines that."" These politicians should still be applauded for wrestling with an important issue particularly as "gambling legislation is not the flavour of the month for any Government"," according to Sutcliffe. An inquiry is required. An examination by the FA of current revelations is impossible while police investigations are ongoing. There is a more legitimate case for a Government debate on the ramifications of gambling generally. "I confess that I get concerned about the aggressive nature of some of the in-play betting advertisements when I watch football on TV,"" added Efford. "Should children as young as primary-school age be exposed to such adverts when they watch the FA Cup final or an England game with their parents?"" According to the Committee, the Advertising Standards Authority received 154 complaints about gambling adverts in 2011 and 873 last year. The Committee has also been hearing evidence from the Salvation Army detailing the impact of gambling on many in society.