Gov't will not allow CPBL to die: SAC

“We will not allow the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) to disappear or Brother Elephants to be disbanded,” said Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai hsia-ling at an inter-ministerial meeting aimed at figuring out ways and means to keep the CPBL afloat.

General Manager Hung Rei-ho of Brother Elephants, one of Taiwan's four professions baseball teams, is considering disbanding the team after 14 of the Elephants' players and coaches were accused of colluding with gambling syndicates to throw games in the recently concluded CPBL regular season.

After three hours of discussions at the meeting, the representatives of the Sports Affairs Council, National Police Administration, Ministry of Justice and the CPBL's four teams reached consensus on the means towards reforming Taiwan's professional baseball league.

Most importantly, they agreed, there is need for a process by which the district prosecutors' offices in the teams' home cities could “adopt” a team and provide legal counseling for its players and management.

The four CPBL teams are based in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.

In addition, the meeting participants agreed that the management of the baseball teams should be required to take better care of the players and be better informed of their individual situations. Police units should establish links with the teams to better monitor possible game rigging schemes and to protect players from being harassed or threatened by gambling rings, it was also agreed.

Banciao prosecutors on Oct. 26 launched an investigation into allegations of game fixing during the CPBL's 2009 season, dealing another harsh blow to the professional league's already tainted image.

So far, 32 people, including 14 Elephants players and coaches and 18 alleged members of gambling rings, have been listed as defendants, with six of them being detained for their roles in the latest game-fixing case.

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