Game fixing in the AFL?

[DJ75]

I'm not sure if something like this has been posted previously, so mods please feel free to merge if it has.

On ESPN today is an article based on an investigation in to an ex-NBA referee and his actions in match fixing/gambling whilst umpiring. It might pay to have a read of the article to fully understand how it relates, http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

In reading the article it made me wonder if an AFL umpire may have the ability to manipulate results or cover the over/unders in an AFL game for gambling syndicates? I know many will say it is impossible for one umpire to fix a match given there are 3 umpires, but could they attempt to manipulate margins etc??

I know the AFL would 100% cover this up rather than expose it, so I wonder if they even investigate or check for this? I can recall a game a few years ago in which one umpire (note - I am not making an allegation of of any wrong doing by the umpire here) paid 17 free kicks for one team and 1 to the other. It was highlighted in the media at the time. I remember wondering if there was anything dubious about it and I wonder if the AFL would have investigated to see if there were any gambling anomalies at the time?

No chance or something the AFL should be actively aware of?

 

[GROTTO]

I'm not sure if something like this has been posted previously, so mods please feel free to merge if it has.

On ESPN today is an article based on an investigation in to an ex-NBA referee and his actions in match fixing/gambling whilst umpiring. It might pay to have a read of the article to fully understand how it relates, http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

In reading the article it made me wonder if an AFL umpire may have the ability to manipulate results or cover the over/unders in an AFL game for gambling syndicates? I know many will say it is impossible for one umpire to fix a match given there are 3 umpires, but could they attempt to manipulate margins etc??

I know the AFL would 100% cover this up rather than expose it, so I wonder if they even investigate or check for this? I can recall a game a few years ago in which one umpire (note - I am not making an allegation of of any wrong doing by the umpire here) paid 17 free kicks for one team and 1 to the other. It was highlighted in the media at the time. I remember wondering if there was anything dubious about it and I wonder if the AFL would have investigated to see if there were any gambling anomalies at the time?

No chance or something the AFL should be actively aware of?

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...s/news-story/6a4ef8cadc88794765a2de63a4ccf19c

THE free-kick count that favoured the Western Bulldogs 28 to 12 in their win over Adelaide will be reviewed by the AFL, the league’s football operations manager Mark Evans says.

Evans said the key issue was not whether the count was lopsided but whether the free kicks were there or not.

Umpire Troy Pannell gave 17 frees to the Bulldogs and one to Adelaide.

 

[Quivorir]

 

[Quivorir]

Whoa shit. Good to see the image size feature works.

 

[GROTTO]

Whoa shit. Good to see the image size feature works.

Size of the pic is proportional to his bias.

 

[TigerTime_89]

When was that game?

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I'm not sure if something like this has been posted previously, so mods please feel free to merge if it has.

On ESPN today is an article based on an investigation in to an ex-NBA referee and his actions in match fixing/gambling whilst umpiring. It might pay to have a read of the article to fully understand how it relates, http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

In reading the article it made me wonder if an AFL umpire may have the ability to manipulate results or cover the over/unders in an AFL game for gambling syndicates? I know many will say it is impossible for one umpire to fix a match given there are 3 umpires, but could they attempt to manipulate margins etc??

I know the AFL would 100% cover this up rather than expose it, so I wonder if they even investigate or check for this? I can recall a game a few years ago in which one umpire (note - I am not making an allegation of of any wrong doing by the umpire here) paid 17 free kicks for one team and 1 to the other. It was highlighted in the media at the time. I remember wondering if there was anything dubious about it and I wonder if the AFL would have investigated to see if there were any gambling anomalies at the time?

No chance or something the AFL should be actively aware of?

Most sports have had fixing scandals. As recently as last year with "spot" fixing in the NRL.

I dont accept the AFL would necessarily try and sweep it under the carpet. Hopefully some lessons have been learnt from the doping saga how that's likely to end.

I recall the great and numerous cricket fixing scandals when something didn't smell right but most including me, pooh poohed the notion.

I think constant vigilance and awareness of the risk by the AFL is essential.

The difficulty is you cant just cry rigged everytime there's a lopsided free kick count. Absolutely forensic examination of betting. It must be hard with a plethora of online gambing options in muptiple jurisdictions, but I'm not the expert on that.

Perhaps being purely a national sport has helped so far, but there has been a major scandal involving lower tier soccer and tennis with overseas bookmakers betting on them.That tells me we shouldn't rely on lack if overseas interest. The NRL scandal seemed to be national anyway.

I think it's a huge risk, hopefully one the AFL is aware of and addressing as best it can.

 

[DJ75]

Pump your brakes guys. I used that example as it related to some of the analysis done over the NBA refs work where he deliberately called fouls on one team or on specific players. This is not an attack on the umpire (as bad as I thought that game was umpired).
I know that all supporters from all teams can point to games where they thought they were robbed.

My question is, in a situation like that (and I'm sure many others) with such a massive discrepancy, does the AFL investigate or do they bury their head in the sand and hope no-one else investigates either?

 

[jackster83]

View attachment 622398

Post reported

 

[Coach_Required]

I'm not sure if something like this has been posted previously, so mods please feel free to merge if it has.

On ESPN today is an article based on an investigation in to an ex-NBA referee and his actions in match fixing/gambling whilst umpiring. It might pay to have a read of the article to fully understand how it relates, http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

In reading the article it made me wonder if an AFL umpire may have the ability to manipulate results or cover the over/unders in an AFL game for gambling syndicates? I know many will say it is impossible for one umpire to fix a match given there are 3 umpires, but could they attempt to manipulate margins etc??

I know the AFL would 100% cover this up rather than expose it, so I wonder if they even investigate or check for this? I can recall a game a few years ago in which one umpire (note - I am not making an allegation of of any wrong doing by the umpire here) paid 17 free kicks for one team and 1 to the other. It was highlighted in the media at the time. I remember wondering if there was anything dubious about it and I wonder if the AFL would have investigated to see if there were any gambling anomalies at the time?

No chance or something the AFL should be actively aware of?

Well Richmond had minus 200+ free kicks last year more than any other team, so even if the umpires were trying to fix our games, they badly failed. If we lived in Columbia all those umpires would be shot by now.

 

[Man0gwaR74]

Has anyone ever wondered how NBA refs can make a delicate decision and blow the whistle within a split second? This is why I stopped following the NBA!

 

[gavaniacono]

As a couple of jocks on macquarie sport said the other day, it's sad Australia has to compete against corruption in other countries.

It can and never would happen here, in the land of the egal and the fair-go, of mateship and getting behind your man, of the yeah-nah and the dunno.

 

[master bate]

Gambling revenue is so important to the league that they monitor these things very closely.

Nick Maxwell got fined for telling his dad he was playing forward didn't he? They watch the betting trends very closely.

Not saying it couldn't happen but it's just a lot harder. An umpire only has a third of the field and there's a heap of variables involved.

Spot fixing in cricket with things like bowling a no ball or a wide made a lot of sense because it was so easy to get away with.

 

[Underarm]

Gambling revenue is so important to the league that they monitor these things very closely.

Nick Maxwell got fined for telling his dad he was playing forward didn't he? They watch the betting trends very closely.

Not saying it couldn't happen but it's just a lot harder. An umpire only has a third of the field and there's a heap of variables involved.

Spot fixing in cricket with things like bowling a no ball or a wide made a lot of sense because it was so easy to get away with.

Players have a better chance of gaming the system. Inside scoop of who is playing forward/late withdrawal. Player deliberately tries to pass to Tom Mitchell every chance so he gets to 40 disposals.

 

[Waspy79]

Matt Stevic has fixed multiple Hawthorn finals in their favour.

 

[Marc_Remillard]

The AFL has been manipulating the game for years

 

[The King!]

I presume 2016 was fixed

 

[Dank Academy]

I just don’t think the AFL have the skill to competently execute a conspiracy...


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Nugett]

As a couple of jocks on macquarie sport said the other day, it's sad Australia has to compete against corruption in other countries.

It can and never would happen here, in the land of the egal and the fair-go, of mateship and getting behind your man, of the yeah-nah and the dunno.

It has happened here. A cricket match involving Pakistan in a test, has dubious result. An Australian snooker player was banned for agreeing to match fix. To think australia is immune is naive.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Pump your brakes guys. I used that example as it related to some of the analysis done over the NBA refs work where he deliberately called fouls on one team or on specific players. This is not an attack on the umpire (as bad as I thought that game was umpired).
I know that all supporters from all teams can point to games where they thought they were robbed.

My question is, in a situation like that (and I'm sure many others) with such a massive discrepancy, does the AFL investigate or do they bury their head in the sand and hope no-one else investigates either?

I suspect the AFL "investigates" so that if somebody else investigates, and something untoward did happen, they can release the results of their investigation showing all was above board.
An offending umpire might slowly start getting less games over time, and gradually removed from the system in a way that does not draw more attention. People would start asking awkward questions if a senior umpire was dumped never to be seen again; the exit would be carefully stage managed.

 

[Aussie in exile]

I'm not sure if something like this has been posted previously, so mods please feel free to merge if it has.

On ESPN today is an article based on an investigation in to an ex-NBA referee and his actions in match fixing/gambling whilst umpiring. It might pay to have a read of the article to fully understand how it relates, http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

In reading the article it made me wonder if an AFL umpire may have the ability to manipulate results or cover the over/unders in an AFL game for gambling syndicates? I know many will say it is impossible for one umpire to fix a match given there are 3 umpires, but could they attempt to manipulate margins etc??

I know the AFL would 100% cover this up rather than expose it, so I wonder if they even investigate or check for this? I can recall a game a few years ago in which one umpire (note - I am not making an allegation of of any wrong doing by the umpire here) paid 17 free kicks for one team and 1 to the other. It was highlighted in the media at the time. I remember wondering if there was anything dubious about it and I wonder if the AFL would have investigated to see if there were any gambling anomalies at the time?

No chance or something the AFL should be actively aware of?

I wouldn't rule anything in or anything out with the AFL with its history of cover ups.
Remember for them its all about protecting the AFL brand at all costs

 

[Macpotata]

Bontempelli kicks a goal at the end to put his side into the grand final. Here's the real theme though. Jack Riewoldt kicks the winning goal, then as captain giving a speech talks about '' Maddy's Vision ''



rigged. All the bonus money from goals or whatever was raised like the 30k mentioned goes to her foundation.

AFLX GF and winner was set up. Yes it's just a nonsense game that means nothing. But the outcome was already set.

 

[NYRB]

Going to say it here, but I reckon with the advent of more betting companies getting marketing especially at AFL games and tv screens, betting is part of the psyche of games.

Wherever there is money involved, anything can happen. One thing I am noticing now with the advent of 'disposal betting' and the criticism Mitch Robinson and his reply on social media, indicates that players may be under the pressure to perform for stats and numbers to keep fans and punters happy. I personally think the AFL need to be really careful, especially with the amount of money bet on matches on these so-called novelty markets such as : handballs, kicks, disposals . I think the game is in dangerous territory when a fan/punter says "_________ didn't get his 15 disposals/possies", when we should talking about, whether a team should have won or lost.

Just a bit of food for thought.

 

[David Bondo]

2016 GF was fixed by the umpires whether because of money or simply spite for Sydney.

 

[blitzer]

All sports and games that can be bet on have some level of inherent match fixing risk. Logically solo sports and games are much easier to fix than large team sports because the influence of one person is much larger. If you take a solo sport or game like Tennis or even say Chess - if you want to fix the result you only need to convince one single person and you can pretty much guarantee a loss. Chess would actually be even better than Tennis because your opponent isn't going to pull out midgame due to injury. Chess players also don't get paid that much outside the top 10-20 in the world so the money would be a stronger motivator. The more highly paid the athletes are the harder it would be to buy them out.

With that being said - AFL is at the other end of the spectrum. 22 players on the team and 18 on a field from each side at one time. Convincing multiple players carries a lot more risk. I know people will think that they might go after the coaches or assistant coaches but its not easy. Firstly head coaches are generally pretty well off so its hard to incentivise them to risk their careers after many years of playing as an AFL player (very few AFL coaches didn't play many years of AFL) and secondly its arguable how much you can force a loss even as head coach. Its far from the near sure-bet of a solo player sport.

I don't know if I really trust the AFL to manage any type of risk effectively but they naturally have an easier time of match fixing risk compared to other activities.