No action taken against AFL over 2009 Melbourne tanking scandal
Melbourne claims it had no knowledge of any plan to tank during the 2009 season, a new board document has revealed, which emerged after the state’s gambling watchdog revealed it would take no further action against the league.
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The Melbourne board tried to wash its hands of the conduct of its three most senior officials as AFL investigators closed in on its 2013 tanking probe.
A board submission obtained by the Herald Sun reveals the club’s then directors told the league they could not be held responsible for the alleged actions of chief executive Cameron Schwab, football manager Chris Connolly or senior coach Dean Bailey during the 2009 season if a guilty verdict was reached.
“It goes without saying that none of Mr Schwab, Mr Connolly and Mr Bailey had any authority, express or implied, to engage in conduct in contravention of Rule 1.6 or 1.7,” the submission said.
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“In these circumstances … none of the alleged conduct of Mr Schwab, Mr Connolly and Mr Bailey could be attributed to MFC, at least under common law.”
The board document emerged on Thursday after the state’s gambling watchdog said it would be taking “no further action” against the AFL over the tanking scandal.
Five months after announcing a fresh inquiry, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation said it had determined the league had not breached its obligations.
It followed the publication of 80 pages of secret tanking transcripts in the Herald Sun in April, exposing how multiple club officials had confessed to a conspiracy to lose matches.
A VCGLR statement referred to the AFL’s actions in notifying it of a potential problem in 2009, but not the confessions given by club officials to the league integrity unit in late 2012.
State Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the VCGLR’s “nothing to see here” verdict on the tanking scandal “beggars belief”.
“There is a real question whether the VCGLR is doing its job when it comes to regulating sports betting,” he said.
“No sporting code can simply regulate itself when it comes to gambling integrity.”
The Herald Sun report in April revealed that eight Demons football staffers said they had been directed not to win more than four games; that players not seriously injured were kept off the ground during matches to stymie interchange rotations; and that the AFL’s investigators were provided with reports detailing “fake injuries” used to rule players out of team selection.
Bailey confessed to AFL investigators: “What was said to me was if I win games I would get sacked. I was threatened. I didn’t like it. I think it was a terrible thing to be bullying and harassing not only me but the rest of the staff. Absolutely, I knew if we won those games, I felt that I would get sacked.”
But VCGLR director of compliance Adam Ockwell said this morning: “The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has completed its review of media reports regarding the AFL and the Melbourne Football Club that were published in April this year.
“The VCGLR found that the information and evidence published by the media formed part of its original investigation in 2009 which determined that the AFL had not breached its obligations as a sports controlling body.
“As no breaches of Victorian legislation were identified, the VCGLR will be taking no further action.
“In accordance with the Gambling Regulation Act 2003, the AFL as a Sports Controlling Body is required to notify the VCGLR in writing if it becomes aware of a breach or suspected breach of its policies, rules, codes of conduct or other mechanisms designed to ensure the integrity of the relevant sports betting event, as soon as practicable and in any event within 14 days of the breach or suspected breach.
“The VCGLR is committed to ensuring the integrity of betting on sports events.”
The board document reveals the Demons believed the AFL intended to charge Schwab before changing its mind, a move the Bailey camp believed was linked to concerns that Melbourne’s Bentleigh pokies venue, of which Schwab was a director, would collapse if he was charged.
The Demons board also tried to argue that the AFL Commission could not be satisfied the alleged tanking conduct was engaged in “for the benefit of the club”.
“When looked at in totality, it would be impossible to conclude that the impugned conduct could ‘benefit’ the club,” the submission said.
“General support for the club would diminish. Membership would decline. There would be a loss of revenue. The club would lose the ability to attract top players. There would be the risk of charges being laid by the AFL and penalties being imposed.”
After winning just four games in 2009, the Dees secured the first two picks in the national draft, selecting Tom Scully and Jack Trengove.
The AFL announced the findings of its “tanking” probe in February 2013, declaring Melbourne had not deliberately set out to lose matches. The club was fined $500,000 and Bailey and Connolly suspended for the lesser charge of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the AFL.
The AFL’s then deputy chief, Gillon McLachlan, who led the probe, stated: “I actually don’t know what the definition of tanking is. In the AFL rules, it talks to performing on merits and the best of their ability. In my view, there was no tanking on match day.”
The probe was launched in August 2012 when ex-Demon Brock McLean said on national television that “Blind Freddy” could see winning was not a priority at Melbourne in 2009.