Jogia Keeps His Promise

February 24, 2013

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— snookerbacker @ 7:31 am

He’s not so quiet now.

When our old pal Joe ‘My Name is Gold’ Jogia got kicked out of snooker recently he promised to lift the lid on what he called the widespread corruption in the sport and today is the day that he has done just that.

Joe has come out fighting and claims that lots of snooker players have in the past lost matches deliberately to line their own pockets. Though The Sunday Mirror stops short of naming the players that Joe has told them about they do give some fairly strong hints at who it is he is pointing the finger at.

He claims that a player once ranked in the top 10 and whose tournament earnings topped £1million deliberately lost against him. And he reveals he was approached to join a Far East-based match-fixing gang containing a dozen professionals.

The paper names the event PTC4 in Germany last season as the place where a meeting took place:

“I heard some players messing about in the next room. They were a bit sheepish when I walked in but they brought me into the conversation. There were three players and they said they would get £9,000 each for all three losing but if I came in it would work out to £15,000 each. They were trying to persuade me to do it for half an hour. They said if I got the train to London the following week and met one of the players he would hand over £15,000 in an envelope.”

Joe said bets would have been spread around bookmakers online and on the high street to avoid suspicion. The paper states that two of the players are ranked and one was once in the world top 40. The paper says that they are not naming them ‘today’.

He said: “I said ‘no’ to them, left and won my game. I don’t think it was a coincidence that all those three lost. I didn’t approach the authorities. I just thought, ‘Leave it’. I didn’t want to get involved.”

Joe beat Daniel Wells, Mark Allen and Aditya Mehta in that event before losing to Stephen Lee.

He then recounts another episode in 2010 where he became suspicious playing a player who according to the paper had been in the world top 10 (though Joe actually says top 20 in the interview). He said: “He was hitting safety shots a bit thick, losing the cue ball and missing pots by a long way. It was getting quite bad… it was embarrassing, like playing against Stevie Wonder. At the interval I went to the toilet when I was 3-1 in front. I smiled at him and said, ‘I take it you are not going to win this game’. He just smiled at me and walked away.”

A look at Joe’s results in the season rather than the year 2010 and the fact that he mentions there was an interval makes the match that he is talking about fairly easy to identify. Though on closer inspection he was never 3-1 up in that match so there are a number of holes in his account there.

Joe is also convinced that another top player, now retired, deliberately lost as he watched at the side of the table. He said: “It was his last game as a professional. He lost on purpose and there was about £80,000 worth of bets on him to lose.”

If it’s the match I think he’s talking about he’s probably spot on with that one.

The WPBSA has responded with the following statement from Jason Ferguson:

“World Snooker confirms that Joe Jogia has had his WPBSA membership terminated and is currently serving a two-year ban from competition, following an investigation into one of his matches which produced suspicious betting patterns.

“Joe has been informed that he will not be permitted to re-apply for membership to the association until he has repaid both the costs charged in relation to his initial hearing and the costs incurred by the association regarding his spurious appeal.

“The WPBSA takes the issue of match-fixing extremely seriously and we have pioneered methods of dealing with an issue which affects virtually every sport. We have updated our rules on betting and made it clear to all players they could potentially face lifetime bans if any rules are breached. We work closely alongside the Gambling Commission and bookmakers to investigate any suspicious betting patterns, or any allegations with substance behind them.

“At no time has Joe Jogia informed the WPBSA of these allegations or any concerns that he may have regarding the integrity of the sport as he is obliged to do under the WPBSA members rules and regulations.”

You can see what Joe has to say by clicking here.

Comments (11)

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11 Comments »

@kirja: Could have been Jammy mickey but he was never top 40(I think). Thats a made up pplayer SB, for legal purposes

Comment by kildare cueman — February 24, 2013 @ 4:58 pm Reply
@kirja – none of those matches had a mid-session interval. In terms of the last person he speaks of, I am not going to throw any names into the mix but I think a lot of people will know who he is referring to, it is a match that was highlighted at the time by the governing body. Let’s just say it was not in an event with standard rules which is why Joe throwing in that the player was messing about asking about the rules seriously narrows it down.

By the way all, please don’t go throwing accusations around on here, I have already had to delete three comments that did that.

Comment by snookerbacker — February 24, 2013 @ 4:51 pm Reply
2010 Jogia didn’t win a match with an interval against a former top 20 player. Former top 20 players he won that year: King, Bond, Day, Doherty, Knowles and Stevens. With the exception of King, all have been in top 10. Jogia won all of them 4-1 or 4-2.

“Joe’s first experience of corruption was at a Sheffield tournament in 2006. One player had been in the world top 40.”
“He said: “A few of us were having a few drinks and we were all due to play the next day and then one of them suggested, ‘Why don’t we get our heads together and get £2,000 each?’. I walked away. I didn’t know the other results but I certainly won that match.””

Only Sheffield tournament 2006 was the World Championship, Jogia won only Hugh Abernethy (who was ranked 80th at his best) so it must have been a qualifying event. In quals that season he won two top 40 players, Steve James & Shokat Ali.

“Joe was also convinced that another top player, now retired, deliberately lost as he watched at the side of the table. He said: “It was his last game as a professional. He lost on purpose and there was about £80,000 worth of bets on him to lose.”” – No idea who that is. Anyone?

Comment by kirja — February 24, 2013 @ 4:42 pm Reply
Whilst Jogia is obviously wanting to boost his finances, it is very sad that some of what he says may be true.

It does not take much imagination to see players suddenly throw in a total shocker a day or two after playing to their very best. PTCs are obviously an incentive to throw games with the low prize money involved. Despite Mr Hearn’s great attempts to improve prize money there are clearly many players struggling to even cover their expenses let alone make a living. As a professional sport, 128 players is too many to provide an income for, even with 96 around a third are struggling to match the minimum wage. It is unlikely that legitimate bookmakers would not notice substantial bet in PTC events however as they are low key events.

The problem as Jogia says is there are many suspect games and when they are high profile players that is the worry. They earn enough, but there was at least one Premier League game,(not Lee)and a Welsh Open game this season in which a shocking display was turned in.

Comment by Kevin — February 24, 2013 @ 2:50 pm Reply
“Joe was also convinced that another top player, now retired, deliberately lost as he watched at the side of the table. He said: “It was his last game as a professional. He lost on purpose and there was about £80,000 worth of bets on him to lose.””

So they are reporting ex-pro, banned from the game for match fixing, saying that he reckons someone was at it (but doesn’t actually know). I say ex-pro as his name is no longer in the rankings list – so I presume he has resigned from the tour?)

When is the first SBC14 event? Joe’s going to have a few fences to mend when he makes his comeback….

Comment by ANON — February 24, 2013 @ 12:05 pm Reply
If he is telling the truth then I think he’s talking about a toilet break in a PTC rather than an interval, in which case there are a few players, one in particular that fits the bill

Comment by snookerbacker — February 24, 2013 @ 8:39 am Reply
Hes bull throwing. Has to come up with a story to justify his fee from the rag, although We know it has gone on.

Comment by kildare cueman — February 24, 2013 @ 8:38 am Reply
sorry. I meant 10-11 season

Comment by kildare cueman — February 24, 2013 @ 8:30 am Reply
Right. I was lokking at the 11-12 season where he beat Wooly, Wells and Lines. Surely the young uns would’ve been more concerned with points than prizes.

Comment by kildare cueman — February 24, 2013 @ 8:28 am Reply
@kildare Joe’s story on the top 10 player (though in the interview he says top 20) doesn’t stack up. The only player he played in that season though the match was in late 2009 and beat that fits the criteria of a match with an interval is Joe Swail, but that was 2-2 at mid-sesh. If he just means he was 3-1 up and had a toilet break then that brings in PTC’s of course but that isn’t what it says.

Comment by snookerbacker — February 24, 2013 @ 8:25 am Reply
gone through the results and cant see anything definite. Couple of young “W”s and an old stager are possibilities. Any further clues?

Comment by kildare cueman — February 24, 2013 @ 8:20 am Reply