Cricket, AFL bid to control sporting bets
Jason Dowling
December 24, 2007
CRICKET Australia and the AFL have rushed to take control of all gambling associated with their sport in Victoria to ensure the integrity of their games is not damaged by suspicious bets.
Melbourne's two major sporting codes applied last week to the state's gambling regulator to be the controlling bodies for all bets placed on their sport.
This means Cricket Australia and the AFL would be able to determine what type of bets are placed on their matches and how much of the gambling money is returned to the game.
It would also allow them to demand greater transparency on who is placing bets.
On Friday, Tennis Australia announced it had introduced an anti-corruption policy for January's Australian Open to deal with match fixing in the sport.
Cricket Australia said ensuring the integrity of the game was one of its highest priorities.
"Integrity is the biggest concern for us; without public faith in the integrity of the outcomes of what they are watching, the sport's very existence is at risk," said Peter Young, Cricket Australia public affairs manager.
"We are keen to control what bets are offered. There has been a concern about integrity ... of sporting results.
"We are keen to ensure that those wagers that are offered are offered in a way that doesn't allow for any opportunity for the outcome of games to be influenced, or for there to be a perception that the outcome of games might be influenced," he said.
He said that without integrity the public lost faith in what they were watching. "We don't want to see things like, 'Which batsman will walk through the gate first?' or 'Will the bowler bowl a no-ball second ball of the over?'" he said.
"We are comfortable with wagers on broad outcomes like 'will Australia win, lose or draw?' because it's not possible for an individual to corrupt that outcome, but it is possible for an individual to corrupt micro outcomes.
"And there has been a problem in world sport - not just in cricket, but all sorts of sports - where there has been that sort of corruption and it can poison the public faith in what they're watching."
Mr Young said it was also important that gambling bodies returned money to the sports they were profiting from.
AFL spokesman Brian Walsh said the AFL supported closer regulation of gambling on games.
"The AFL has the view that it's vital that public confidence in the integrity of our sport is paramount and also that sporting bodies have control over the type of betting on their sports," he said.
He agreed that sport should benefit from some of the money bet on games.
"It is also important that some of the money generated by betting on sport is returned to the game to help support the growth of Australian Football at all levels," he said.
Copyright (c) 2007. The Age Company Ltd.
World-class fixture puts Hong Kong centre stage
Sean Magee reports from the ex-colony on the huge boom in the sport ahead of Sunday's major meeting
Friday December 7, 2007
The Guardian
Before the Chinese takeover in 1997, it was said by those in the know that the three most powerful people in Hong Kong were the chairman of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, the chairman of HSBC and the governor - in that order.
Ten years on, while the 'Royal' prefix may lie in the dustbin of imperial history, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has been steadily consolidating its impact on the life, and especially on the coffers, of the former colony.
For the 2006-7 season which ended in June, duty from betting on racing, football and the lottery, all of which come under HKJC jurisdiction, accounted for HK$13bn - around £1bn and roughly a tenth of total tax revenue of the Special Administrative Region (as Hong Kong is now formally designated), making the Jockey Club the SAR's largest tax-payer.
Most of this money, and the sizeable amount the HKJC donates to charitable and community projects, is generated from betting into pools - strictly a tote monopoly here - on races at Hong Kong's two tracks.
Happy Valley, whose floodlit evening fixtures produce an extraordinary swathe of luminescent green among high-rise office buildings and apartment blocks, regularly attracts attendances of over 17,000, a figure which would send any British racecourse manager a similar shade of green.
Until the building of the similarly impressive Sha Tin on reclaimed land in 1978, all Hong Kong's racehorses were trained at Happy Valley and resided in their own apartment block, where walking exercise took place on the roof.
One of Hong Kong's quaintest sights was surely the string of racehorses being led through the streets in the wee small hours on their way to the racecourse gallops, wearing felt horseshoes in order not to disturb the neighbours.
With racing such a huge generator of funds and so deeply woven into Hong Kong life, integrity has long been a core issue, as Winfried Engelbert-Bresges, CEO of the Jockey Club, stresses: "The importance of racing to Hong Kong society is so huge that the people betting must know that they are having a fair chance. Racing in Hong Kong is all about competitiveness, and we have to preserve that."
They don't mess about here. Transgress and you're out - or worse, as Australian jockey Chris Munce discovered in March when receiving a 30-month jail sentence for selling tips.
The increasing emphasis on quality on the track will get its reward on Sunday with the classiest renewal yet of the Cathay Pacific-sponsored international race day at Sha Tin, where the average daily attendance of 30,000 will swell to around six figures.
Over the last decade this fixture has established itself as the kiln in which the reputations of some of the world's finest horses have been glazed - among them Fantastic Light, Falbrav and the great mares Sunline and Ouija Board - and with the Breeders' Cup giving off the whiff of decline even before this year's Monmouth Park disaster, the Hong Kong extravaganza is increasingly irresistible to connections of the top horses.
Dylan Thomas, winner of this year's King George and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, will become the highest-rated horse ever to race in Hong Kong when he runs in the Vase while other classy equine performers on the night include stablemate Excellent Art in the Mile and Godolphin inmate Ramonti in the Cup.
Aidan O'Brien, Dylan Thomas's trainer, sounded an optimistic note yesterday. "He's in good shape and did some good work this morning. If the going is good it will suit him. Last time out he struggled in the soft at Monmouth Park," he said.
"Obviously he's had a very long hard season but he seems in good form and he's worked well in the build up. He's got two more days to canter and hopefully it'll stay that way."
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Ben's not coming back: Aker
Western Bulldogs midfielder Jason Akermanis has thrown his hat into the intense debate that surrounds the future of fallen Eagle Ben Cousins.
Speaking at his first pre-season session in preparation for the 2008 season, Akermanis said it would be extremely difficult for Cousins to overcome his debilitating drug addiction and resume his glittering AFL career at some stage in the near future.
"(He's) 29, he's got a pretty bad addiction, I think that's (recovery) more important. If he plays footy again, I think that'd be a pretty big effort to be honest," a forthright Akermanis said.
"You come back after two knees (reconstructions) like Luke Darcy did last year, just imagine the mental side of that ... what he's (Cousins) got, I dunno, I've never had it, I've had depression and stuff like that when I was younger and that was pretty tough, I've got no idea what he's going through."
It was recently revealed that, as opposed to undergoing further rehabilitation in California in late October, Cousins went on a five-day cocaine-fuelled bender, which ended with a two-day stint in hospital.
Cousins will also have to face the AFL commission on Monday to answer the charge of bringing the game into disrepute for a string of off-field misdemeanours.
Akermanis admits he has been fascinated by the dramatic fall from grace that West Coast has suffered as a football club and he will be an interested observer when the full results of an AFL probe into the Eagles are revealed.
"I think it's been interesting to see a club so mighty (with) its culture, it's interesting how it's all happened, even with the Mainwaring stuff," Akermanis said.
"I don't think you can really get a grapple on it because here, and where I was (in Brisbane), it was so different, but it just seems amazing."
"I'd be really interested to see what a report says out of that place, where did it all go wrong?"
Akermanis admits he does have some sympathy for Cousins, but also believes there shouldn't be too much compassion shown.
"With Ben's situation, there's always a choice factor in it that I say 'well, the dude had a choice', he had a choice all those years ago whatever he was doing all those years ago," said the 30-year-old.
"You get sympathy, but you don't get a lot of sympathy from other players because the temptresses are everywhere."
Akermanis laments the fact that there is now a spectre of drug use hanging over the sport in the wake of the Cousins saga and the controversy that has surrounded the AFL's maligned illicit drugs policy.
"Football is a great game but we have human beings in there and if you look at percentages in society they're gonna say that this is no different, we have guys who, the proportion, are gonna make mistakes like that."
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
David Johnson given good behaviour bond
Geelong AFL player David Johnson has escaped conviction after pleading guilty on Monday to charges of being drunk in a public place and resisting arrest.
Geelong Magistrates Court placed Johnson on a good behaviour bond for six months over the incident in Geelong on September 28.
He was ordered to pay $600 to the court fund.
Johnson, who played in the Geelong reserve grade VFL premiership side, had already been fined $2,000 by the club.
"David is very remorseful and regrets any negative impact that this incident may have caused," Geelong general manager of football operations Neil Balme said in a statement.
Police said they used capsicum spray to subdue Johnson, 25, following the incident the day before the club's first grade side played in the AFL grand final.
At the time of his arrest, police said they chased Johnson for 200 metres after two men and a woman were assaulted by a man in Moorabool Street in Geelong at 4.15am
A police spokeswoman said Johnson had come to the attention of police earlier in the night, when he was evicted from a nightclub at 2.30am.
Police drove him home to his Newtown address before they found him again in Moorabool Street.
"The club believes that this incident with David was totally unacceptable but very much out of character," Geelong Football Club said in a statement.
"David understands the very high standards of behaviour required of Geelong Football Club players and the impact any indiscretions can have on the football club and the community."
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Longmuir forced to hang up his boots
A chronic knee injury has prematurely ended the career of Fremantle ruckman Justin Longmuir.
Over the last two seasons, Longmuir has played just 18 games, and was placed on the club's long term injury list in April because of the degenerative condition in his right knee.
In a last ditch bid to play again, the 26 year-old underwent an operation in July to try and save his career.
But on Wednesday, after months of opinions from doctors, Longmuir announced his retirement - news coach Mark Harvey said was a tragedy.
"Justin has shown tremendous bravery to train, prepare and take the field with his knee injury over the past few years," Harvey said.
"It has meant that he has had to think his way through the game playing with such an injury.
"When he was up and going Justin was up there with the best of them and it is a tragedy when the career of such a talented footballer, who should be at his peak, is cut down by injury.
"Justin is a popular and respected member of the playing group who has always shown the commitment and passion for the club despite his setbacks."
Longmuir, who was contracted until the end of 2009, last played in the round three derby against West Coast - the last of his 139 games for the Dockers.
The most memorable of those was against St Kilda at Subiaco Oval in Round 21, 2005, when his mark and goal after the siren was celebrated by a leap into the crowd, and became an iconic moment for the club.
The Dockers said a contractual agreement had been reached with Longmuir, accounted for in its 2007 Total Player Payments.
Touted as a possible ruck coach at Fremantle, the Dockers said Longmuir would be taking a break from football and will be considering his future career options in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Fremantle confirmed their initial playing list for next season, with Andrew Foster elevated to the senior list - while eight names have disappeared.
Along with Longmuir, Troy Cook and Shane Parker have retired, while Clayton Collard, Ryley Dunn, Robert Haddrill, Calib Mourish and James Walker have been delisted from the primary list.
Harvey promised this week the Dockers would be using their draft picks 7, 24, 40, 56, 72 and 88 to inject the club with young new talent, particularly in the midfield.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Demetriou's plea to Cousins
Ben Cousins' priority must be to return to full health, and a football comeback should be the last thing on his mind according to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou.
Speaking from Paris where he has been meeting with the Gaelic Athletic Association on the future of the International Rules competition, Demetriou said it's difficult to envisage that Cousins will ever play AFL football again.
"The focus in Ben's life cannot be football," Demetriou said.
"Ben Cousins' obligation is to now go and manage his life and get his house in order."
Cousins, who underwent a drug rehabilitation course in the United States earlier this year after admitting to 'substance abuse' was sacked by the Eagles on Wednesday after being charged by the police for possession of drugs and refusing a blood test.
Demetriou said that if Cousins wanted to return to the AFL his application would need to be approved by the AFL Commission.
While not wanting to pre-empt the Commission he reiterated that "the furthest thing from our mind and from Ben Cousins' family's mind is playing football".
Demetriou said one of the key lessons of the events of this week is that no AFL player is above the law.
"We expect all players to co-operate with police and with any police investigation," he said.
Asked whether in retrospect, Cousins, who returned to action for the Eagles in Round 16 this year, was rushed back by the club for the wrong reasons, Demetriou stressed that Cousins' rehab was based on the advice of the AFL's medical commissioners.
"The medical advice was that Ben Cousins, in order to minimise the possibility of relapsing, had to have a goal and that goal that he set himself was to play football again," Demetriou said.
"So the further away from him playing football increased the chance of him relapsing and the closer he got to playing football certainly would minimise the chance of him relapsing.
"I'm sure there will be discussion in hindsight about whether that was correct or whether he should have spent more time out of the game."
Demetriou said he didn't see any contradiction in suggesting now that football should be Cousins' last rather than first priority.
He also rejected the argument that Cousins may become a symbol of flaws in the AFL's drug code.
"There isn't a policy in the world that guarantees a 100 per cent success rate, otherwise we wouldn't have any people with substance abuse problems," he said.
"All we have is a policy that endeavours to rehabilitate and educate and change people's behaviour and in the main it's been successful, but we've never deluded ourselves that we're going to have some people that fall through the cracks.
"We can't help every person."
Demetriou agreed with the proposition that Cousins' appreciation of right and wrong and his understanding of the consequences of his actions may have been affected by his use of drugs.
"You would think that his capacity to make sense of things would have been diminished, but that's me speaking as a lay person, not as a doctor," he said.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Harte hits out at Australian 'poaching'
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has called on the GAA to sever all links with the Australian Football League, after Armagh's rising star Kevin Dyas became the latest young Gaelic footballer to go on trial with a AFL club.
Dyas has travelled down under to begin a month-long trial with Collingwood.
Harte, a fervent critic of the International Rules series, says the remaining links between the two associations should be brought to an end in order to stem the flow of GAA talent to Australia.
'It's time for the GAA to focus on our own game. Get the Railway Cup back in that slot were that hybrid game, which I have no time for, used to happen,' said the Red Hand boss.
'We in the GAA should be doing nothing to encourage that. We should be encouraging people that Gaelic games is the one to play and if people do decide, of their own volition, to go elsewhere, that's fine.
'But we should have no connection with the AFL and then if people go of their own accord, so be it.'
Harte also suggested that the high profile given to the International Rules series has created an awareness of Aussie Rules football among young people in Ireland that would not otherwise have been so high.
'There was in no way such an awareness of this AFL and anyone belonging to it or pertaining to it until the Compromise Rules was reinstigated,' he said.
@ RTE 2007
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