Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The AFL and the Australian media are caught up in a story about 4 players
accused of betting on AFL matches or some aspect thereof. All of the
players, to the extent public comment has been made, deny betting on their
own club and claim that the bets were small potatoes stuff, as little as
A$10. Perhaps that will prove to be the case. But no one, not the AFL,
the AFLPA, the Aussie media, or sports fans should be surprised. For the
record, I am not an anti-gambling crusader and while I think most gambling,
particularly by non-professionals, is money wasted and you would be better
off putting it in a bank, I don't believe that we should completely outlaw
it. However, past incidences in other leagues and professional sports
should have long ago told the AFL that it's open embrace of organized
betting in Australia and it's endorsement of gambling on it's matches was at
odds with it's warning to young, wealthy footy players not to be bet on
their own sport. If mother AFL can reap the rewards why shouldn't some 19
year old sitting on an AFL bench with cash in his pocket? It is blatantly
hypocritical of the AFL to endorse organized gambling on its matches, pocket
reams of cash therefrom, but then tell everyone else "naughty, naughty".
The mixed message here undermines the need to prevent it from infiltrating
the game itself. As has happened in many other major sports around the
world including soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. it was only a matter of
time until player betting occurred. It is likely only a matter of time
until a much more serious scandal occurs under the current rules.