Thursday, March 31, 2016

The AFL's confidentiality problem

2 comments:
Last week’s story by Mark Robinson on out-of-season hair testing for illicit drug use is, unwittingly, shining the spotlight on the AFL’s confidentiality problem.

Under the agreement struck between the AFL and the AFLPA, the results of the testing are treated as confidential individual health information. As such, the results, and presumably names, are available to club doctors, and, presumably de-identified, to club CEOs. How these officers treat the information within their club is their decision.

Robinson’s story claims that “up to eleven” Collingwood players tested positive to illicit drug use in out-of-season testing.

How would that information have found its way to the Herald-Sun? It’s reasonable to assume that Collingwood didn't pass it on, notwithstanding that they are probably angry at “up to eleven” of their players. It’s also reasonable to assume that Collingwood’s results wouldn't have been passed on to other club CEOs who could then leak them for competitive advantage. So, there are only two possible sources remaining: the organisation doing the actual testing, and the AFL.

Robinson has been copping flak on social media and from clubs, and so he should. Having access to the information doesn’t mean a story has to be written. In yet another indication of mainstream media’s clickbait mentality, Robinson and his editors demonstrate their amoral approach to news. But that’s not where the real blame resides.

This leaking of confidential information from the AFL, or a closely-linked organisation, isn't an isolated case. Anyone who cast a disinterested eye over the Essendon supplements furore will recall consistent, sustained leaking of confidential information to journalists.

This is Gillon McLachlan’s problem.
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Friday, March 11, 2016

AFL and its betting masters

No comments:
We watched the Richmond-Port Adelaide pre-season practice game on Foxtel last night and couldn't believe our ears near the end.

It was a spirited affair throughout, with the Tigers’ abysmal skills — and, it must be said, a mounting in-game injury toll — contributing to their inability to compete with Port.

Halfway through the last quarter, with Port well ahead, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick began ushering his best players from the field. It wasn't immediately clear whether he feared injury or exhaustion, but at the end of the game the Tigers only had about 15 players on the field. Apparently, Richmond asked for the game to be called off during the last quarter.

There's plenty of grist for controversy in what’s been described, but that wasn't what stunned us.

As AFL football operations chief Mark Evans consulted with Richmond officials on the sidelines, Foxtel caller Eddie “Everywhere” Maguire remarked that Hardwick’s actions could have wider implications, including the betting markets.

There was also a question to Carlton coach Brendan Bolton after the Blues fielded an inexperienced line-up against the Bombers. The questioner implied that Bolton should have considered the betting markets in choosing his squad for the game.

We had been aware that online bookmakers were framing markets on the pre-season “challenge” games. Maguire’s comment  brought the issue to our attention again.

People are wagering money on practice games? That’s tragic on so many levels. Despite the hyper-inflated hyperbole of callers like Dwayne Russell, these are practice games. The football public has only the barest idea of what each club’s objectives for each practice game may be. In these circumstances, does the AFL condone betting markets being framed on these “contests”?

AussieRulesBlog can imagine a relatively-sane rationale for gambling on home and away matches, or finals. At the very least, on most occasions, both teams go onto the field with a scoreboard victory as a primary motivation. Particularly down-trodden teams might go into games against more-fancied opponents with the objective of limiting the scoreboard humiliation, but there’s a genuine contest.

As we’ve seen in recent weeks, practice games are quite another matter. West Coast, for instance, fielded a veritable ‘seconds’ team in their first pre-season hitout and were trounced by the Crows — on the scoreboard. In their second game, against the Suns, West Coast fielded a far more experienced lineup, running out three-point ‘winners’ over a similarly experienced Suns group. Even on these basic facts, it’s abundantly clear that West Coast’s objectives in these two games were, at the very least, dissimilar.

The tissue of respectability the gambling industry hides behind is the now-ubiquitous “gamble responsibly” message that accompanies gambling advertising. Do Mike Fitzpatrick, Gill McLachlan and Mark Evans know how many children will go without this week because a parent gambled on an AFL practice game? And to what extent would consideration of betting markets influence a decision to suspend a game?

The link between the AFL competition and gambling is troubling.
Read More

The AFL's confidentiality problem

Last week’s story by Mark Robinson on out-of-season hair testing for illicit drug use is, unwittingly, shining the spotlight on the AFL’s confidentiality problem.

Under the agreement struck between the AFL and the AFLPA, the results of the testing are treated as confidential individual health information. As such, the results, and presumably names, are available to club doctors, and, presumably de-identified, to club CEOs. How these officers treat the information within their club is their decision.

Robinson’s story claims that “up to eleven” Collingwood players tested positive to illicit drug use in out-of-season testing.

How would that information have found its way to the Herald-Sun? It’s reasonable to assume that Collingwood didn't pass it on, notwithstanding that they are probably angry at “up to eleven” of their players. It’s also reasonable to assume that Collingwood’s results wouldn't have been passed on to other club CEOs who could then leak them for competitive advantage. So, there are only two possible sources remaining: the organisation doing the actual testing, and the AFL.

Robinson has been copping flak on social media and from clubs, and so he should. Having access to the information doesn’t mean a story has to be written. In yet another indication of mainstream media’s clickbait mentality, Robinson and his editors demonstrate their amoral approach to news. But that’s not where the real blame resides.

This leaking of confidential information from the AFL, or a closely-linked organisation, isn't an isolated case. Anyone who cast a disinterested eye over the Essendon supplements furore will recall consistent, sustained leaking of confidential information to journalists.

This is Gillon McLachlan’s problem.

AFL and its betting masters

We watched the Richmond-Port Adelaide pre-season practice game on Foxtel last night and couldn't believe our ears near the end.

It was a spirited affair throughout, with the Tigers’ abysmal skills — and, it must be said, a mounting in-game injury toll — contributing to their inability to compete with Port.

Halfway through the last quarter, with Port well ahead, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick began ushering his best players from the field. It wasn't immediately clear whether he feared injury or exhaustion, but at the end of the game the Tigers only had about 15 players on the field. Apparently, Richmond asked for the game to be called off during the last quarter.

There's plenty of grist for controversy in what’s been described, but that wasn't what stunned us.

As AFL football operations chief Mark Evans consulted with Richmond officials on the sidelines, Foxtel caller Eddie “Everywhere” Maguire remarked that Hardwick’s actions could have wider implications, including the betting markets.

There was also a question to Carlton coach Brendan Bolton after the Blues fielded an inexperienced line-up against the Bombers. The questioner implied that Bolton should have considered the betting markets in choosing his squad for the game.

We had been aware that online bookmakers were framing markets on the pre-season “challenge” games. Maguire’s comment  brought the issue to our attention again.

People are wagering money on practice games? That’s tragic on so many levels. Despite the hyper-inflated hyperbole of callers like Dwayne Russell, these are practice games. The football public has only the barest idea of what each club’s objectives for each practice game may be. In these circumstances, does the AFL condone betting markets being framed on these “contests”?

AussieRulesBlog can imagine a relatively-sane rationale for gambling on home and away matches, or finals. At the very least, on most occasions, both teams go onto the field with a scoreboard victory as a primary motivation. Particularly down-trodden teams might go into games against more-fancied opponents with the objective of limiting the scoreboard humiliation, but there’s a genuine contest.

As we’ve seen in recent weeks, practice games are quite another matter. West Coast, for instance, fielded a veritable ‘seconds’ team in their first pre-season hitout and were trounced by the Crows — on the scoreboard. In their second game, against the Suns, West Coast fielded a far more experienced lineup, running out three-point ‘winners’ over a similarly experienced Suns group. Even on these basic facts, it’s abundantly clear that West Coast’s objectives in these two games were, at the very least, dissimilar.

The tissue of respectability the gambling industry hides behind is the now-ubiquitous “gamble responsibly” message that accompanies gambling advertising. Do Mike Fitzpatrick, Gill McLachlan and Mark Evans know how many children will go without this week because a parent gambled on an AFL practice game? And to what extent would consideration of betting markets influence a decision to suspend a game?

The link between the AFL competition and gambling is troubling.