- Oct 25, 2001
- 13,149
- 10,157
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- IOM Gyms, Preston Nth End
The volume of money will grow. You're right Cricket is a joke too in some forms of the game: looking at old newspapers Isee this was the case back in the 18th century too, the county game was very corrupt.There are some Big Bash games that have more money wagered on them than the entire AFL season. Criminals can't bet huge money on AFL because it stands out too much and attracts too much attention. Also AFL is extremely complicated, trying to reliably orchestrate a certain player to kick the first goal for example is near to impossible.
As for the complications, its a numbers game, you just have to skew the odds. The Heath Shaw incident (yes it was Goldie to kick the first) that long odds can be drastically shortened by tactical decisions: I doubt MM could be bought but there are coaches who could be, or assistants, or players.
A swingman being played at fullback would scrap the first goal and leading goalscorer bets on them for that game, be very handy for an over-exposed bookie for that to happen. You know as well as I do there are many ways to corrupt a game, and with gambling involved the money will motivate more people to do so.
Gambling firms openly make demands of the sports they parasitise off. I recall a bookmaker twenty years ago on a sports panel jeering at the AFL saying he wouldn't lay odds on a game (quite dishonestly, most of those cockroaches would take a bet on your grandmother dying, or theirs) until the clubs guaranteed the side selected on a Thursday was the side that would run out on the Saturday. Basically he was demanding we change the rules to suit his book.
We already have the AFL openly favouring some clubs like the Giants with massively unfair benefits. they tried to recruit buddy for them, on top of the oceans of money poured in. Its just one more step to favour a club to please a major sponsor. Imagine the beating the bookies would take if the Pies won a flag.