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Beer and bets: saviours or devils in Australian sports?

Roar Guru
26th May, 2011
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State against state, mate against mate, crate against crate. Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium was as much a battleground for brewers as footballers this week, when rival State of Origin brands VB and XXXX went head to head just like the Blues and Maroons.

The AFL, meanwhile, was investigating whether suspect “exotic” betting plunges were the result of information on teams and strategies being leaked from clubs.

Both developments underlined the ethical minefield the games are trying to tiptoe through as they seek money to grow.

Because alcohol and gambling, two of their biggest problems, are also two of their biggest sponsors.

The codes do not want to bite the hands that feed them.

Yet they must somehow manage the issues that seem to come with them.

The stakes are high; the codes can be enriched on one hand, yet corroded or even destroyed on the other.

This week’s developments came days after CEOs of all four football codes attended a seminar in Sydney and said they were concerned about “in your face” betting advertising, but powerless to stop it.

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“I think I speak for all of us when I say some of that more aggressive ‘bet now’ advertising is concerning us,” NRL chief executive David Gallop said.

“But the difficulty is the media outlets are going to take that advertising anyway, so the sports need to be in control of it.”

“I agree with David,” said AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.

“If it’s in your face at the football, it can be really off-putting.

“But let’s not delude ourselves; don’t just concentrate this on the sports.”

“The newspapers are littered with advertising about sports betting,” he said, adding the issue had to be tackled “across the board”.

Rugby’s John O’Neill said once a sport sold its broadcast rights, broadcasters then earned their revenue by selling advertising.

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Sports were content providers, he said.

The AFL and NRL both take any hint of gambling-related match-fixing or tampering extremely seriously.

Yet both are heavily in the pay of betting agencies.

Half of the 16 NRL clubs are sponsored by the gambling industry – Melbourne Storm, South Sydney, Manly, Cronulla, Gold Coast, Brisbane, St George Illawarra and Penrith, many wearing the sponsorship evidence on their jerseys.

The Storm and the Rabbitohs have signed deals with their city’s big casinos, Crown and Star City respectively.

The Panthers play home games at Centrebet Stadium.

The NRL has a major three-year deal with TAB Sportsbet; the AFL is in league with Betfair.

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The latest betting odds can be found on their websites and on scoreboards during matches.

Poker machine revenue has long been a mainstay of rugby league funding, and is increasingly doing the same for AFL clubs.

Anti-gambling senator Nick Xenophon says codes chasing short-term cash are doing long-term damage.

“You would have thought the NRL would discourage clubs from associating with the gambling industry,” he said.

“The NRL needs to decide whether it wants to be a sports code and a loved Australian pastime, or just another thing people can gamble on.”

NRL boss Gallop says many fans enjoy the gambling aspect of following sport, but “all of us are concerned about exotic betting”.

That’s when punters take odds on incidents within a match, such as who kicks the first goal or how the first points are scored.

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Bulldogs prop Ryan Tandy was sacked pending a case currently before the courts involving last year’s Bulldogs-North Queensland match.

He is vigorously defending the charge against him, as are former player John Elias and player manager Sam Ayoub.

But the latest exotic bet probe concerns AFL.

In the past month at least three players who are normally defenders have been solidly backed from $101 in to $26 and in one case $15 to kick the first goal.

All three started in the forward line, against expectations.

There is no suggestion any of the players – Hawthorn’s Brent Guerra and Brisbane Lions Daniel Merrett and Matt Maguire – were involved in the failed betting plunges.

But the league is concerned that despite the threat of heavy fines, sensitive information about team selections and strategies might have been leaked from clubs, perhaps via innocent conversations.

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Both the AFL and NRL insist on bookmakers informing them of any unusual betting trends, which would not happen if sports gambling was driven underground.

Gallop says that’s what helped the NRL to deal “so readily” with the Bulldogs-Cowboys case.

Victoria is the only state which currently has such legislation.

The AFL and NRL both want it enacted nationally, and so does federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib, who will take it up with his state counterparts in June.

The AFL has a tough record of cracking down on betting scandals, having fined 12 players and officials over the past five years, mostly over minor bets of under $100.

Sports administrators know the heavy price paid if fans ever question whether they are watching what cricket boss James Sutherland calls “the real thing”.

“It’s a long way back to win that trust again,” Demetriou said.

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Sports are also coming under fire for accepting alcohol sponsorships at a time when many elite players in the grip of the grog are embarrassing themselves, their clubs and their codes.

Alcohol, like gambling, is a legal product but sports find it difficult to occupy the moral high ground when their top-line stars fail to drink responsibly.

Rugby league has been the worst offender, though off-field behaviour has improved dramatically since the nightmare year of 2009 when the NRL shame file extended to 38 names – around 10 per cent of the entire first grade playing roster.

Most of their indiscretions involved alcohol, and the game’s public standing took a serious hit.

Yet league’s great showcase event this week, Origin I, fielded NSW players wearing the Foster’s VB logo on their chests and shoulders against Queenslanders with Lion Nathan’s XXXX on their biceps, buttocks and backs.

The rivalry has prompted some Queenslanders to taunt VB by calling it “Visitors’ Beer” rather than Victoria Bitter.

Another beer feud brewed off-field after grass signage rights at this year’s Origin games were reportedly sold to VB despite the host venue for game two, Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, having an exclusive agreement with Lion Nathan.

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Beer plus football equals big bucks; it’s a combination you can bet on.

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