A football team reacted with shock after their owner decided to test the players and coach with lie detectors after match-fixing was suspected for a poor run of results.
Czech first division side Brno lie second bottom after a series of bad defeats, leaving the owner Roman Pros at the end of his tether and leading him to slash wages by 23 per cent for December.
He has now taken the bizarre step of asking players and the team’s manager to undergo voluntary lie detector tests.
"We need a proper analysis of the situation," he said. "Then we can say ‘okay, we are playing rotten football because the players are not in shape, the coach did a poor job or the tactics were wrong'.
"But we’ll know for certain that match-rigging was not involved.â€"
The use of polygraph tests will be written into the club’s code of conduct and included in new contracts and extended contracts with the team’s current players.
For the others the test will be voluntary, but the management expects them to comply when asked.
They would be questioned about match-fixing, diet and exercise routines.
The announcement has evoked shock among the players and all of them are said to have rejected the tests.
Defender Jan Trousil says he and his team-mates have not taken the news well:
"When we heard the announcement yesterday we were all taken aback," he said.
"The mood is stormy, the whole team feels very badly about the whole thing and we consider it rather degrading."
Czech first division side Brno lie second bottom after a series of bad defeats, leaving the owner Roman Pros at the end of his tether and leading him to slash wages by 23 per cent for December.
He has now taken the bizarre step of asking players and the team’s manager to undergo voluntary lie detector tests.
"We need a proper analysis of the situation," he said. "Then we can say ‘okay, we are playing rotten football because the players are not in shape, the coach did a poor job or the tactics were wrong'.
"But we’ll know for certain that match-rigging was not involved.â€"
The use of polygraph tests will be written into the club’s code of conduct and included in new contracts and extended contracts with the team’s current players.
For the others the test will be voluntary, but the management expects them to comply when asked.
They would be questioned about match-fixing, diet and exercise routines.
The announcement has evoked shock among the players and all of them are said to have rejected the tests.
Defender Jan Trousil says he and his team-mates have not taken the news well:
"When we heard the announcement yesterday we were all taken aback," he said.
"The mood is stormy, the whole team feels very badly about the whole thing and we consider it rather degrading."