Collingwood phone probe: AFL club fined $20k for Jordan De Goey, Jeremy Howe breach
Collingwood has been hit with a huge fine after Jeremy Howe and Jordan De Goey were found to be in breach of matchday rules around mobile phone usage.
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Collingwood has been whacked with its second major fine in less than 12 months with the Magpies ordered to pay $20,000 for Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe’s mobile phone gaffe on Friday night.
The AFL was satisfied that De Goey (concussion) and Howe (hamstring) used their phones to provide updates on their injuries to family members and club staff.
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But Collingwood’s mobile phone box was inexplicably unlocked and De Goey was captured on broadcast cameras retrieving the phones in what was a blatant breach of “AFL Rule 30” regarding the use and possession of communications devices in restricted areas.
It follow the Pies’ own admission that their players broke the rules by contacting family members on Friday night.
Last year the Magpies were fined $50,000 (half suspended) when coach Nathan Buckley and assistant Brenton Sanderson breached COVID-19 protocols by playing tennis in Perth with Alicia Molik.
Unlike last year’s $50,000 (half suspended) fine for coach Nathan Buckley’s breach of the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols — he and assistant Brenton Sanderson played tennis with Alicia Molik — this penalty will not be counted in the club’s football department spending soft cap.
The league confirmed that COVID fines were specifically called out of the soft cap, whereas this breach was unrelated to those protocols.
While the sanction still sings, having the $20,000 counted in the soft cap could’ve, for example, forced a full-time staffer to drop down to working four days per week.
Buckley attributed De Goey’s brain fade to the concussion he had sustained in the match.
But it was Collingwood’s responsibility to ensure the phones were locked away and the AFL said there was no excuse for the mishap.
“The rules, which have been in place for a long time to protect the integrity of our code, clearly state no mobile phone usage during the match,” AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said.
“It is a rule that clubs and players have been educated about and reminded of every year.
“Each club has authorised device users each match day that are there, in part, for the very reason the players used their phones – to contact family members if required.
“The players know this, the clubs know this, and we must adhere to this very simple but important rule to continue to protect the integrity of the game.”
Collingwood football boss Graham Wright was among the club’s 10 authorised device users and his phone should’ve been used to contact Howe and De Goey’s families.
The Pies put their hands up on Saturday to recognise they had made an innocent mistake and cooperated fully with the AFL.
Pies operations manager Nick Maxwell is usually tasked with securing the box of mobile phones, which must remain locked until after the final siren.
But Western Australia’s border restrictions meant that Maxwell did not travel to Perth for the Round 5 game because he had been in Queensland the previous week for the club’s AFLW preliminary final at the Gabba.
The AFL said it “worked with Collingwood and determined that while both players used their phones to contact family members and or club staff on the status of their in-game injuries, the rules clearly state there is no mobile phone usage in the change rooms permitted by anyone who is not an authorised device carrier”.
In a statement, Collingwood acknowledged the rule was in place to protect the sport’s integrity: “Innocent though the breach was – a fact established with the AFL - Collingwood accepts and understands the penalty and will ensure such a breach is not repeated.”
WHAT WAS SAID?
Sports integrity experts believe the AFL must attempt to find out what communication was sent from their phones to decipher whether it could’ve been used for gambling purposes.
“We make all these rules and assumptions that someone is going to pick up a phone and ring somebody and say, ‘Here look, put a million bucks on this’,” Pies coach Nathan Buckley said on Monday night.
“We do (protect against the worst) and I understand that, and we do as a club as well.
“We take full responsibility for this situation no doubt, but Jordie De Goey (who retrieved the phones) was concussed … so he’s not thinking straight.”
But those who have worked in anti-corruption are adamant the bulk of the blame lies with Collingwood – and not the players – for making the mobile phones accessible during the match.
While De Goey and Howe should’ve known the rules, the Herald Sun reported on Saturday that officials from rival clubs were stunned that the mobile phone box in Collingwood’s rooms was seen unlocked.
Operations manager Nick Maxwell is usually in charge of securing the box, which is supposed to remain locked until after the final siren.
But WA’s border restrictions meant that Maxwell did not travel to Perth for the Round 5 game because he had been in Queensland the previous week for the club’s AFLW preliminary final at the Gabba.
The AFL refused to divulge whether it would check De Goey and Howe’s phone records.
Collingwood has been issued an official please explain from the AFL after Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe breached match-day rules: https://t.co/7HR7BfQD8K@RalphyHeraldSunpic.twitter.com/N5t8bqWQk9
— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) April 19, 2021
In 2015 the AFL failed to locate key text messages during an integrity investigation into the alleged leaking of match information from Michael Talia (Western Bulldogs) to brother Daniel (Adelaide).
“The brothers exchanged text messages in the lead up to the match but these were unavailable to the investigation as Michael Talia lost his phone on holiday in Bali and Daniel Talia had deleted the messages,” the AFL said in a statement.
“The AFL makes no adverse findings in relation to this matter.”
Eyebrows were raised when multiple senior coaches were pictured with their mobile phones earlier this season, and the Herald Sun asked the AFL whether it was a poor look.
But the league said it had no problem because the coaches were among their club’s 10 “authorised device users” on game day.
Their phones are free to be used for emergencies and to place calls to family members, with the football boss and club doctor always retaining their mobiles, and that is how contact should’ve been made to Howe and De Goey’s families.
In 2019 Cricket Australia banned Hobart Hurricanes keeper Emily Smith for 12 months (nine suspended) for posting her team’s line-up on Instagram an hour before it was scheduled for release.
Smith was poking fun at her lowly batting position while the game was abandoned due to a washout.
But with millions of dollars wagered on every women’s Big Bash match, and more than $100 million riding on some men’s games, the breach for posting inside information was taken extremely seriously.
However, Howe and De Goey’s error is considered far less serious and as such is only likely to incur a financial sanction.
But a landmark report into illegal gambling, released by the Asian Racing Federation earlier this year, warned that criminals were increasingly targeting sports to launder their crooked cash.
At least $1 billion in Australia was being wagered on illegal betting markets, including the AFL, raising fears of match-fixing and corruption.
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