Southern Stars match-fixing scandal: Captain says he did not notice anything suspicious about teammates (ABC)

View Comments ABC Southern Stars captain Ramazan Tavsancioglu outside court for the committal hearing of two British soccer players charged with match-fixing offences.

The captain of a Melbourne soccer team at the centre of match-fixing allegations last year says he did not notice anything suspicious about his teammates.

A committal hearing is underway in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for two British soccer players, David Obaze and Nicholas McKoy, who joined Premier League club the Southern Stars, in Melbourne's south-east last year.

The Victorian Premier League is one level below Australia's coveted A-League and suspicion fell on the club after a record losing streak during last year's season.

Police allege the men engaged in corrupt conduct by influencing betting outcomes, and reaped financial benefits in the form of cash, accommodation and rental vehicles.

They were two of a number of amateur overseas players introduced to the club in 2013, and have been charged with a number of match-fixing offences.

Former Southern Stars coach Zia Younan has also been charged.

Captain says he wore blame for losing streak

The club's captain Ramazan Tavsancioglu told the court that his former teammates and coach appeared as upset as everyone else on the side when the team lost a match.

Under questioning from Mr McKoy's lawyer he said he had not seen any evidence of match fixing.

"No player goes out there to lose a game," Mr Tavsancioglu said.

"Everyone has a bad day in the office ... but it wasn't consistent enough for one player to be singled out from another."

In his police statement tendered to the court, Mr Tavsancioglu said the Southern Stars' poor performance in 2013, his first year with the club, was depressing.

"During the season we only won one game, that was against Northcote," he said.

"I was a bit depressed about the amount of games we lost, as a captain I would wear a lot of the blame for the losses, I felt as though I was letting the team down by us not winning any games."

"We trained really hard week in, week out and everyone was fighting for a position in the team, then come game day it was like the players were hiding."

Mr Tavsancioglu told police he did not suspect his coach of fixing matches.

"He wasn't perfect regarding some decisions to take off players and put in other players, but at the end of the day, that's his decision and I just do as I'm told," he said.

"I never heard anything around the club about the match fixing, nothing about money, nothing about why they are playing certain players, nothing at all.

"It all happened under my nose. If I had heard anything I would have told them to just to get on the next plane and go home."

Mr Tavsancioglu finished his statement by saying he planned to leave the club.

"I'm very frustrated with everything and I don't think I will stay at Southern Stars next season," he said.

Another Southern Stars player last year, Andrew Viola, also gave evidence at the committal hearing.

In his police statement he expressed frustration at selection decisions made by the club.

"I felt that the English players and the European players seemed to be playing all the time towards the end of the season," Mr Viola told police.

"It didn't matter how they were performing, it appeared that they were always picked and always playing... I felt upset when I was being taken off when clearly some of these players were performing to a lower standard than myself, however they remained on the field.

"I felt disheartened and a little disengaged towards soccer."

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