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.
Friday, March 11, 2016
AFL and its betting masters
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.
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