Research Match fixing

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royals1922

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On this Board we tend to look at the good side of football to some degree but in the early 1900s the accusations of match fixing were not uncommon across the leagues.

Some would have heard of Alex Lang at Carlton but there were also examples in WA where 5 year plus suspensions were handed out.

The expression for match fixing in those days were "playing dead" and on Trove prior to 1920, there were 65 references to "playing dead" in a football context with the accusation being made semi regularly.

Let's not get into trolling as much because the allegation was one commonly made but it might prove to be a fruitful topic.

Remember footy and betting and booze were as much a powerful mix last century as it is now.

PS there are places to troll, this Board should not be one of them.
 

royals1922

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Here's a starter- The Sunday Times 14 May 1911 at page 4.
 

royals1922

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Found the story I was looking for.

3 East Fremantle players were banned for 3 years in WA for playing stiff ( see 31 October 1906 in the Western Australian at page 7). There is a succinct reference to it in the register of 1 November 1906 at page 9 where the facts were set out.

"playing stiff" was another of the phrases used at the time and is also referred to in trove semi regularly.
 

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royals1922

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More examples:

J Merriton captain of Solomontown football club of the Port Pirie League was suspended for the balance of his season for asking an opposition player to
"play dead" (Port Pirie Recorder 3 July 1915 at page 2.

Numurkah Football Club disqualified two players for 2 years for taking money to "play dead" (The Bathurst Times 6 August 1913 at page 1)

Allegations of playing dead in a bunbury League game (Bunbury Herald 4 June 1910 at page 3)

Tasmanian players investigated for playing stiff (North Western Advocate at page 3 of the the 13 September 1912 edition)

A player of Ports football club was charged with assault of a supporter who accused him of playing stiff (Record page 2 of 7 October 1893)

1 member of the Latrobe club were expelled for playing stiff ( North Western Advocate at page 2 of the 23 July 1908 version)

EL Renfrey was investigated on the possibility of playing stiff in SA (Kadina and Wallaroo Times at page 3 of the 20 August 1913 edition)

An allegation of playing stiff in the WAFL ( West Australian at page 6 of 5 May 1905)

A further allegation of playing stiff in a game between Mersey and Burnie in Tasmania (North West Advocate at page 3 of 14 June 1907 edition).

The above isn't even scientific but they are there.
 

royals1922

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Focussing on Victorian teams :

(1) In 1910 a Brunswick player was reported to have approached a NM player and offered him 10 pounds to play dead ( The Mildura Cultivator at page 3 of 28 September 1910) and 2 players being Hopkins of North Melbourne and Kyme of Brunswick were disqualified for life ( there is an excellent report on page 6 of the Horsham Times of 4 October 1910)
(2) A leading Richmond player was apparently offered 50 pounds to play dead in a game against South Melbourne in 1938 and the approach was reported to his club (the Mercury at page 6 of 22 June 1938). That player was named as Jack Titus ( cf The Argus page 20 of 23 June 1938 and the Examiner at page 14 of 24 June 1938)
(3) There was an allegation 4 Port Melbourne players were offered 100 pounds to play dead in their final against Footscray in 1922 ( Western Age page 1 of 6 October 1922). There is a very good report of the hearing in relation to these charges ( 7 October 1922 - Singleton Argus page 21 where the Port players were offered money to let Footscray win and an excellent report in the Western Argus of 3 October 1922 at page 31 which set out what was required of the players to earn their money)
(4) A brunswick player was reportedly offered 60 pounds if he and 2 others played stiff in 1911( Western Argus at page 43 on 3 October 1911)
(5) There was further concern about a University- St Kilda game ( The Referee of 17 June 1908 at page 9)

The biggest scandal was the Carlton scandal of 1910 which will be the subject o a separate post.
 
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I played Ammos in the 80s
Essendon 1924 Final v Richmond. (there was no Grand Final in 1924, finals were played on a Round Robin system)
Essendon 1924 Limbless Soldiers Appeal game v Footscray.

Supposedly some players came home to find new cars in their driveways, and the registration in their name.
It was reported at the time that there were fist fights amongst players at the premiership celebrations.
Tom Fitzmaurice, their best player, and #10 ranked Essendon player of all time left the club over it and demanded a transfer to Geelong.
Richmond had to beat Essendon by 6 goals to win the 1924 final, and force a Grand Final (because Essendon had finished on top after H&A)
Essendon were down by 3 goals at Half Time, got within five points at Three Quarter time, then took the foot off the accelerator.
Fitzmaurice, who was backed up in his report by Charlie Hardy, reported years later that Essendon threw both games deliberately.
The first because they were offered money to lose, but not by too much that it would actually stop them winning the ultimate goal, the premiership, and the second because the game was an exhibition, so players treated it like it wasn't a proper game.
Fitzmaurice claimed to have not been offered money, but was sure others had been.
 

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In an Interview with George Gneill (Geelong) regarding his early football is a great quote about Ron Todd..."And he [Gneill] was no happier when he shook Todd's hand before the bounce. "Believe it or not", said George yesterday.. "I could not get my hand away from his because of the resin and oil he had on it. I wondered how on earth I could punch the ball away from him."

In the Sporting Limelight Former VFL Men to Lead NWFU Grand Finalists. (1949, October 7). Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52698710

....Maybe not substance abuse, but an interesting tactic.

The history of the Tour-de-France is full of stories of drugs and substance use going back to the first race in the early 1900's. I cannot see that football would have been any different.
 

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In 1968 St K beat Geelong by 9 goals in the last H & A round.

The result meant that St K made the finals at the expense of Richmond.

As luck would have it St K and Geel met again the very next week in the semi-final

This time Geel won by 8 goals - a 17 goal turnaround in the space of one week with essentially the same sides

Richmond protested that Cats played dead because they thought it would be easier to beat Saints in the finals than them
 

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In 1968 St K beat Geelong by 9 goals in the last H & A round.

The result meant that St K made the finals at the expense of Richmond.

As luck would have it St K and Geel met again the very next week in the semi-final

This time Geel won by 8 goals - a 17 goal turnaround in the space of one week with essentially the same sides

Richmond protested that Cats played dead because they thought it would be easier to beat Saints in the finals than them
The loss cost Geelong the double-chance in the finals and the new Moorabbin ground had so far proved not to be a happy hunting ground for otherwise well performing Geelong sides. In 1966 they lost there by 43 points and by 52 points in 1967, before losing there again by 51 points in 1968.

Geelong had defeated Richmond in both meetings during the season and a win against St Kilda in the first semi-final meant that they still had to meet Carlton or Essendon in the preliminary final, both of which they had not beaten during the season. Compromising form by purposely playing poorly going into finals for some proposed more advantageous match-up is a very questionable strategy and in 1968 St Kilda had everything to play for in the the last round in front of a home crowd.

Perhaps a more plausible conspiracy theory: In 1963 Essendon supporters believed that Nth Melbourne coach, Alan Killigrew suggested that his charges should maybe not try their best against his old club, St Kilda in the last round.

After round 17, Essendon was 4th ahead of St Kilda 5th by 3.6 percentage points (both on 48 points.)

St Kilda's 17.14-116 vs Nth Melbourne (out of finals contention) 4.8-32 (including 9.4-58 vs 0.1-1 in the last quarter) in the last round raised the Saint's percentage by nearly 7% to nudge Essendon out of a finals berth. At 3/4 time Essendon, ahead of Collingwood by 13 points had a percentage of 136.7 and St Kilda's percentage at 3/4 time vs North was 134.9. Both matches were being played concurrently. Was the Saint's last quarter avalanche all their own doing? I'm not aware of any later admissions by Killigrew.

Those with a propensity to cheat believe that everyone else has same propensity, so conspiracies theories will always be with us.

As for form reversals in finals - conspiracy theorists click here.
 

royals1922

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More examples:

Richmond player Taylor found guilty of offering a bribe to a Dogs player in 1902 and disqualified for life (page 5 of Newcastle Morning Herald of 30 August 1902).

4 Maori players were disqualified by their team for accepting bribes to lose in 1889 ( page 2 of the Bunyip (SA) of 26 July 1889)

There was a league investigation of the South Melbourne Carlton game in 1890 where there was some question marks as to the results (page 10 of the Argus of 13 September 1890 ). I would recommend people read this report because the newspaper report is lengthy and instructive.

There were also rumours in 1889 of betting influencing results ( Markwell at page 37 of the Australasian of 20 April 1889).

Thomas Baxter a footballer in the Bendigo league fought and successfully had a disqualification for playing stiff removed ( page 20 of the Argus of 7 November 1908). This is quite a good report also.
 

Jim Dixon

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Lots of dirty deals done back in the day. Players weren't paid properly, or at all, back then, so were vulnerable to 'offers' too good to refuse- and life was hard, damn hard back then. I don't blame any player back then for succumbing to temptation. It is hard to find out exactly what happened in these cases as bookmakers rarely if ever issued receipts for bribing players.

There were stories going around that the 1926 Ashes series in England was thrown by the Australians for money as well, so it wasn't a 'football only' thing.
 

royals1922

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It was also easier to rig a game in those days because there were no subs or interchange at that time so if you bribed one player it could effect the result of the game more than it would these days.
 

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I was told that the 1995 Carlton-St Kilda game was dodgy. St Kilda won 11.14.80 to Carlton 3.6.24 It was the second of two losses Carlton had that year, after losing to Sydney in Sydney the week before by 11 goals. Prior to the game Carlton was on top and St Kilda were on bottom of the ladder. Carlton had only 5 behinds by half time.
 

Jim Dixon

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The Carlton 1995 side didn't lose again that year after that game either. That was a damn good side the Blues had that year. Not sure it would pass the salary cap though!
 

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Persistent view the 1919 grand final East Freo v East Perth was iffy
Tom Cain and Trotter McGuiness didn't play to form , Phil Matson was EP coach and a bookie
Phil Matson was also Tom Cains former teammate at Subi

"The personnel of the club was good enough to win most premierships, but the form of some of the sides best players was difficult to understand, while some of the placing's during the game did not escape criticism ' - the Jubilee Book Dolph Heinrichs 1947
 
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killer

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More examples:



EL Renfrey was investigated on the possibility of playing stiff in SA (Kadina and Wallaroo Times at page 3 of the 20 August 1913 edition)

.


This would be a reference to the Great Sturt Fist Fight of 1913?
where Heinrichs and Renfrey fought for an hour after a Sturt - West game
after exchanging accusations of bribery
Nothing in it really more than jealousy over money
Did cost Renfrey ( great servant of the club ) the captaincy
 
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killer

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Found the story I was looking for.

3 East Fremantle players were banned for 3 years in WA for playing stiff ( see 31 October 1906 in the Western Australian at page 7). There is a succinct reference to it in the register of 1 November 1906 at page 9 where the facts were set out.

"playing stiff" was another of the phrases used at the time and is also referred to in trove semi regularly.

if I can summarise

It was East Fremantle players Baxter Hardisty and Lee
accepting money from a South Fremantle person to throw the 1906 grand final (v West Perth )
They took the problem to the captain (Wilson), informing him they weren't going to throw the game.
The money was then held by a East Fremantle official. After the game which East Fremantle won
the league was told and they were banned for 1-3 years as a bookie said there was more money involved

i can find nothing on this in the East Fremantle history book
 

royals1922

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if I can summarise

It was East Fremantle players Baxter Hardisty and Lee
accepting money from a South Fremantle person to throw the 1906 grand final (v West Perth )
They took the problem to the captain (Wilson), informing him they weren't going to throw the game.
The money was then held by a East Fremantle official. After the game which East Fremantle won
the league was told and they were banned for 1-3 years as a bookie said there was more money involved

i can find nothing on this in the East Fremantle history book
That would not surprise me at all.....
 

royals1922

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if I can summarise

It was East Fremantle players Baxter Hardisty and Lee
accepting money from a South Fremantle person to throw the 1906 grand final (v West Perth )
They took the problem to the captain (Wilson), informing him they weren't going to throw the game.
The money was then held by a East Fremantle official. After the game which East Fremantle won
the league was told and they were banned for 1-3 years as a bookie said there was more money involved

i can find nothing on this in the East Fremantle history book
If you are interested there is a verbatim report of the enquiry in a local Fremantle newspaper that has not got onto Trove yet. I have read that report and there is no doubt in my mind that something was crooked.....
 

killer

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absolutely,

It also must be mentioned
that East Fremantle thought there was something "rotten in Denmark" about the umpiring of the 1905 final

also

Westralian worker 17/07/14
Perth supporter attempts to bribe 3 South Fremantle players he said
“ the team was embarking on a trip and wanted to leave the state with as good a record as possible”
 
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killer

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06/09/1890
South Melbourne v Carlton VFA
Rumours of SM playing dead, in league with book makers, missing goals deliberately etc
Eventually squashed by South Melbourne committee inquiry which exonerates themselves, followed by VFA inquiry that does the same, in the belief it was started by disgruntled supporters who lost money. Some mention of 2 simular assertions about Nth Melbourne in the same season

13 September 1890 Argus
 
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royals1922

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Killer if you are interested in the topic, you should look at the verbatim report of the 1906 enquiry. I have the reference somewhere but I recall it is not on trove. You actually see the detail of a match fix.

I am sure more games were fixed as there is a report in a wa newspaper on trove from memory in 1905 where it was stated that a bookie set up his tote outside the player's changerooms
 

killer

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I think you can point to particular teams around the 1890 to 1920
as persistently turning up in these "rumours"
port Melbourne east Fremantle maybe south Melbourne
also factor in (gun) mercenary players moving state to state often not payed by the club itself
maybe a sponsor or supporter
 

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