Amir was one of three Pakistani cricketers handed jail sentences on Thursday for their part in spot-fixing during a Test match against England at Lord's last year, a scandal that has the reverberated across the cricketing world.
The 19-year-old will spend six months in a young offenders' detention centre, but he sought to excuse his behaviour earlier this week, saying that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not educate him on corruption.
"The PCB never told me just how serious a offence it was to get into these sort of things. They didn't educate me enough about anti-corruption laws," Amir was quoted in Pakistani media as saying.
The PCB strongly rejected the paceman's claims.
"A section of the media has reported a purported statement of Amir in which he has claimed that PCB did not educate him relating to anti-corruption codes that players are to abide on.
"PCB would like it known for the record that this claim is in total contradiction to the facts," said PCB in a press release.
Two months after the scandal, the International Cricket Council (ICC) came down hard on the PCB, sending them directives to curb fixing and discipline problems and threatening suspension if improvements were not seen.
PCB said Amir had signed the players' code of conduct in March 2010 "which clearly states that by signing the same the player commits to abiding by all ICC rules regarding betting, match fixing, corruption, and any matter that could call into question the integrity of the game."
The board said Amir had also attended several courses on how to deal with corruption and warning players on the dangers of associating with strangers.
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@shabs: It's biased decision based on Pakistan ethnicity. PCB did not handle it properly.
We hav
nt seen such a no ball being bowled in the history of cricket as of amirs.@shabs: If you can actually say something like that with a straight face, you should go join them.
Corruption is not new in Cricket teams not just Pakistani team. Media needs to uncover ICC flaws too because ICC is the biggest culprit & anti-corruption squad that just needs money without pointing to other players who does gambling and spot-fixing. We need to understand it that how come videos exactly pointing towards our players everywhere with the bookie being dealing with them. Its a biased decision from the judge to target pakistani bowlers.
I dont blame the cricketers one bit, forget all this crap just look at Pakistan in whole. anything you want cost money.. These boys are not the only ones in cricket that have taken money alot of players from other countrys have also taken money. They just have not got cought.
English media has always been after Pakistan players. It should be Pakistani PCB that should be put in Jail and anyone else who has anything to do with the management side.
They should carry out age tests for Aamir I doubt that he is 19 and will also put an end to his claim of being a naive gullible kid.
Can someone also cover the Akmals on whether they were educated on these laws too? At least that way we know that they know the laws till the investigation findings come through
Amir is right.
This is the real problem: Nobody is responsible in Pakistan. In April 2000, Delhi police reported that South African captain Hansie Cronje made contact with match fixers. In October Cronje was banned for life from playing or coaching. In Pakistan, the life ban on Salim Malik and Ata ur Rehaman was overturned. After all they are our own thieves. Look closely. Thieving is not immoral in Pakistani society. Tax employee insists on stealing taxes. Flouting the rules is a sign of power and status. Now, the cricket board, the arm of government doesn't feel they are responsible either. No wonder. At least the people felt shame this time. A tiny spark in a big, dark jungle.
PCB and its chairman must go. I hope IK comes to power and bring in professional players to run PCB. The Chairman must be elected. The president should not be involved in sports.
that's a stupid execue from even a youngster, so every teeenger in 19 must be told what is good and bad. so someone has to tell this guy that taking money for fixing match is bad???
seriously, i have sympthay for his family and him, but he should have accepted it with brave heart and not make lame execuses now.
What he is saying is 'I did not know that cheating is such a big thing that I will be jailed for it."
Mr Amir, education or not, honesty is an universally true concept. No one need to teach you what is right and wrong. If you don't know that, your value as a human being is lost.
It's not a question of education really. Educated or not educated, an 18 year old has enough sense to know match fixing can really get him into trouble. It isn't like Amir didn't follow cricket when other high profile match fixing incidents took place (Hansie Cronje, Saleem Malik anyone?).
don't you have any common sense in yourself Amir ?
What actions PCB will take against the 'security officer' and 'Manager' to let all that happened; bookies and criminals were all around the players despite of several warnings and past reported incidents. Either the PCB officials are involved too or under pressure by the star players by ignoring the very important ignorance factor. In both cased these officials did not do the job and should suffer consequences like these players.
Aamir probably signed the document without reading it as all semi literate people do.It is the job of the PCB to make sure that all the players understand in detail what is acceptable and what is not.
PCB should also be culpable and ijaz butt should be fined
Criminal sentences were harsh. It is not as if they physically harmed someone. I bet if it was english players involved they would have gone to jail.
I feel very sad for Aamir. He was sorrounded by cheats and PCB did not check their activites. PCB is full of useless people. They never help to build careers..
@Pakistani Canadian:
A fellow Canuck!
If you're principled, these decisions aren't even that painful and doing the ethical thing would be easy and not such a dilemma where you give into short-term emotional relief.
The reason Pakistan's corruption flourishes at all levels of society is because we are simply unprincipled, undisciplined and unaccountable.
Qayyum himself should honestly face charges for skirting the law.
I am surprised that why did people not make it a case of personal responsibility to the govt? Pakistani govt is responsible for all my criminal actions everywhere in the world is not a logic that would win him many educated friends. The players are still innocent even after proven guilty and it is all PCB and its chairman's fault. After the jail term is announced Amir's remorse is gone and he is back on attack with arrogance. They should have been put away for much longer to make them humble and take the responsiblity of all their crimes. This one match is only the tip of the iceberg.
While I blame the PCB for the entire environment, still you've got to be a complete idiot of making the excuse you were ignorant of it being illegal. Just because they don't prosecute corruption in Pakistan, doesn't excuse you breaking the law.
What's difficult to understand about accepting third party financial money to fix an outcome of a ball or your match to the detriment of your national team? It is clearly unethical and immoral, and just screams illegal.
Very good Amir bhai....With such statements your defaming everyone. Keep Quiet and go to jail.
Only signing the code of conduct does not help any longer, considering that he can not understand the medium of expression and the age factor also. Most of the well educated people do sign these kind of contracts and papers without thoroughly reading it. One of the most common example is we do push the button "yes, I Agreed" or "Yes, I've read all the terms and conditions and fully agree" while installing many computer related programs, soft wares and applications. We seriously need to coach these young buds, keeping in view their back grounds and their future responsibilities.
Actually, its all a great global conspiracy by US & the west to defame pakistan. This is because Pakistan is winning and US is losing in its war against pakistan.
they told him about the icc rules, but did they tell him about it being a criminal offence in the uk? because it's not one in pakistan. not justifying what they did, but while i'm sure they knew they'd get bans if they got caught, i'm not as certain they knew they might also get jail.
Assuming Amir actually said this, how is it relevant if PCB educated him or not? Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Neither is the fact that these guys are uneducated. In fact by bringing that up constantly, are we essentially admitting that our illiterate kids/adults are prone to illegal activities? Fact of the matter is, Amir knew what he was doing was wrong. So the PCB doesn't need to tell him how serious his offense was? Spot fixing vs. outright match fixing is not the issue here. The issue is more simply, accepting money to influence events in the game.
We must learn to make painful decisions as a nation. By his own admission, Justice Qayuum had a soft corner for Wasim Akram. As a result, Akram escaped stronger punishment. The PCB would be setting a great example if it were to ban all three cricketers for life, instead of attempting to rush them back into the game once their ICC imposed bans are over. It shouldn't matter how great a talent Amir could be. Guys like Wahab Riaz and Kamran Akmal also warrant a thorough investigation.
For anybody who differs from the above opinion; stop sympathizing with criminals!!. You're not helping.
PCB should understand that when young players come in, they dont need documents to sign but actually trainers who keep on reminding them of the character aspects of playing a game (in this case cricket) and when it is good to play well even if they don't win.........signing a document is not education...........but then, what can you expect from an organisation such as PCB, whose previous chairman was none other than an incompetent trader who got in just because his brother in law is the defence minister of the country..........when the tone from the top is like that, can players be really expected to get any education or training on finer aspects of the game?