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The 43-page report released yesterday by the Australian Crime Commission, entitled “Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport” is the prod that the NRL required to finally establish their own Integrity Unit.
This is long overdue and the NRL, along with new main man Dave Smith, should be congratulated for not waiting, although you could not help but sense a feeling that our sports leaders’ knees were jerking as they all made media speeches.
Dave Smith’s predecessor David Gallop was sacked for being “too reactionary”. He put an Integrity Unit in the too hard basket and this is further justification as to why the Commission made the right call to tap him on the shoulder.
The AFL has had an Integrity Unit for years but has a reputation of being a “white elephant” and is not respected by the industry.
There is little point in setting up an Integrity Unit by a respected ex-judge if it does not protect the industry before and after the event.
I am sure The Hon. Tony Whitlam QC is a good man, but the chances of any footy player being linked to illicit substances that involve bookmakers and punters has never happened in my opinion and never will.
I concede that some past players have taken illicit substances in order to gain an advantage, and you would be naïve if you thought everyone was 100 percent clean today, but that is an issue with the ARLC and the players trying to maximise their earnings in a sport that chews you up and spits you out if you miss a few tackles.
Players know that they have a short life span in rugby league and in such a competitive environment some are prepared to minimise their life to maximise their short-term gains.
The real problem for the NRL, and the AFL, FFA, ARU and Cricket Australia is betting.
The good news is that sports wagering will bring in millions of incremental dollars as a product fee, but the bad news is that few individuals in our sports organisations comprehend what this actually means and how to manage it.
Given that the NRL will never deregulate doping, we can always expect to have the odd bad apple, and those desperate guys will have no link with the betting world, which brings us to the soon to be established NRL Integrity Unit.
The black day in Australian sport yesterday has taken the focus off the real and wider problem in the NRL, but at least we now have an Integrity Unit and an ex high court judge to head it up.
Wonder if he has ever had a bet?
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