By James Montague and Jaime Flocruz for CNN
Beijing and London, England (CNN) -- No one thought anything was particularly amiss when Happy Valley lost 2-0 to Fourway Rangers in the Hong Kong First Division last October.
After all, Happy Valley was enduring a miserable season, which would end in a humiliating relegation. The match would have remained an obscure result in one of soccer's most obscure backwaters, watched by just 442 people at the Sham Shui Po Sports Ground, had it not been revealed that there was something far more sinister than Happy Valley's ineptitude at work.
Earlier this month five soccer players were arrested on suspicion of taking bribes from gambling syndicates to throw the match. Four have since been released on bail but one, Yu Yang, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for attempted bribery on 20 May according to the official Chinese press agency, Xinhua.
This was not an isolated incident either. Soccer on the Chinese mainland is in crisis, mired in seemingly endless corruption scandals off the pitch, and dogged by woeful performances on it. Link
