NRL match fixing: Allegations go to heart of sports we once loved and trusted

THE now notorious, and at the time bumbling media conference of ­February 2013 has today struck a raw chord with anyone who values the ­integrity of sport.

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THE now notorious, and at the time bumbling media conference of ­February 2013 has today struck a raw chord with anyone who values the ­integrity of sport.

When then Minister for Home ­Affairs Jason Clare and then Sports Minister Kate Lundy fronted a media throng at Parliament House three years ago, most of the commentators watching claimed the Labor senators had thrown accusations of corruption in sport out there to take the heat off a troubled PM Julia Gillard.

Australians were livid at them for daring to suggest there are drug cheats and match fixers dictating the terms in our favourite team sports.

Round 16, 2015 Manly v Souths / Picture: Brett Costello (There is no suggestion that anyone in this photo is involved with match fixing)

But yesterday’s allegations suggest that match fixing could be a much deeper issue that implicates more than just one bloke getting a big earn for a stray plunge on an in-the-run bet.

Lawyers with red pens clamour to put lines through the copy. Heavy hitters besmirch anyone who dares to suggest it. But it now seems that the uneasy relationship between big ­betting and football is set to come to a screaming head, with the NRL ­chasing its tail to find the culprits.

Two matches last year form the nexus of the investigation — Manly/Souths and Manly/Parramatta.

There is no doubt, however that the issues which surfaced last week about players being handed consorting warnings over their connections and friendships with organised crime figures form part of the investigation.

There is no suggestion those players were engaged in match fixing.

What should not be in doubt is for those who are. This is not about $10 bets. It is about huge money and allegations of profit being shared between players and punters. At the very heart of it, it is about cheating.

Match fixing is the pits. It cuts to the soul of sport, and leaves us ­desperately wanting to believe the games we love to watch are honest.

Ryan Tandy was banned from playing rugby league after being found guilty of spot fixing in 2010. Now it appears that may be just the tip of the iceberg. If these allegations are true and the police get to the heart of an investigation that has been talked about for many weeks, the implications are huge for the code and for its relationship with gambling.

They are even bigger for any ­players found to have been ­involved in match fixing.

Their careers will be over.