What the NRL can learn from cricket’s match-fixing bungles

CRICKET has mishandled match-fixing for 16 years and the NRL has the opportunity to learn from those mistakes.

THE trouble with match-fixing investigations is they often start out chasing a killer whale and end up landing a winter whiting.

This sad truth spells out the massive challenge rugby league must rise to as it tackles the match-fixing claims at Manly.

Since the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption force was formed 16 years ago tens and millions of dollars have been spent on the fight against corruption and despite a massive number of leads they have had barely a handful of convictions.

And most were because of other people’s investigations.

It is a never-ending embarrassment to a game that has been riddled with corruption.

But rugby league can learn from cricket’s failings.

Here are the major lessons from cricket’s stumbles for the police and officials investigating claims that six Manly players took money to throw matches.

FIND A WHISTLE-BLOWER

For all the phone taps and Chinese whispers it is hard to make charges stick unless you have a witness willing to roll over.

When Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta accused a string of high-profile overseas players of taking money for information they stuck together, denied everything and the case collapsed.

THE MONEY TRAIL

Here is the biggest issue of them all. As well as a whistleblower you need a money trail.

The ICC thought they had a foolproof case against New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns when Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum stood up in a London court and claimed his one-time hero Cairns offered him money to throw a game.

But there was no transaction and the case against Cairns, who was later found not guilty, lacked any financial proof of his corruption.

Historically, the trouble with proving cricket corruption is that most of the transactions are done in cash so there are no bank records.

Todd Greenberg faces a massive challenge to stop match-fixing.

NOBODY’S ABOVE SUSPICION

The day Hansie Cronje, the god-faring South African captain, was exposed as a match fixer was the day cricket stopped believing in Santa.

If you nominated 50 players from his era as suspects he would not have made the list. And he was the worst of the lot.

NO MOTIVE REQUIRED

The history of match fixing in cricket shows that those involved were generally needy, greedy and seedy but there is no consistent profile or motive.

Hansie Cronje had money and wanted more. Pakistani players underpaid.

In the Indian Premier League several players tried it because they felt it was easy work for big cash.

But through the years the list of match fixers has included naive youngsters, greedy old sweats and many categories in between.

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POLICE HELP

The NSW police are the key players in this because they have the power to tap phones and attain bank records, which league officials do not.

This case needs strong police support or it will fall apart.

THE HARD ROAD

Everything gets harder from this point because the police cover has been blown.

Tapping phones will be tougher, records will suddenly disappear, people will go underground.

Match fixing investigations are marathons, not sprints and sadly, most don’t end in triumph.