I assume the palace V Posh game had already finished.? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Opu9ohET4&feature=player_embedded
Good spot Hoppers. I'm sure there are laws against this. They should both be given a points deduction and relegated with four coming up and Posh given a reprieve.
From what I can make out the ball was in play with the Barnsley goalie dribbling it in his area, the Huddersfield players chose not to close him down, so no rule broken, just not played "in the spirit of the game"..
25 Misconduct in Pre-Arranging the Result of Matches 25.1 Any Club, Official or Player offering or receiving a payment or any form of inducement to or from any Club or the Official or Player of any Club or any Club, Official or Player receiving or seeking to receive any payment or other form of inducement from any other person or organisation to win, lose or draw a Match under the jurisdiction of The League or in which the Club participates by reason of membership of The League shall be deemed guilty of misconduct.
In other words, if the player did this himself and the other players chose not to challenge and made the decision themselves then the interpretation would seem to be that it was legal. If he was told to do it by his captain or by his manager or club then it would be illegal. Given that Huddersfield were safe even if they'd lost, it would be hard to argue that the Huddersfield players were acting for themselves.
I don't think there was any hint of a fix involved. They'd both played their socks off to save themselves and had been in and out of the bottom 3 all afternoon. If any wrongdoing is found then rightly they get punished. It was a slightly bizarre scene tho just watching Steele walk around his area unoppossed.
Let's just remember that in the Olympics some teams were disqualified, I think from badminton, for not putting on a match when to lose would put them up against weaker opponents in the next round. There is no difference here.
