Players and Officials Betting on Rugby Will Remain Confidential

The names of most of the executives and players who were caught betting on rugby league games, which is not allowed, will most probably remain a secret, when the National Rugby League sanction them this week.

The governing body of NRL is currently finalizing its investigations of seven officials and eight players, who had bet on sports in Australia, and particularly on rugby, seriously breaking the code of conduct of the league.

Small breaches

Australian executives and players who were caught betting on rugby games won’t get their names revealed

• The NRL is doing an extensive investigation

• It wants to send a very clear message to all players how serious and not tolerated match-fixing is

• The NRL will co-sponsor special film about different gambling issues

Only players who have breached the code more seriously will be suspended from their teams and their names will be exposed. This leaves the rest of the violators, with just a warning and no exposure of their identities.

Manly and Gold Coast players were some of the investigated people, but the game’s integrity unit, didn’t find any evidence of extensive abuse of the betting rules. Most wagers were very small, either $5 or less, which wasn’t considered as an attempt for match fixing.

There is only one famous player, who placed a small bet and was caught, but so far it seems that he won’t be revealed.

Despite the fact that there is no evidence of match fixing, which involved these players, the NRL still wants to make sure all players are aware of the severity of potential attempts for this violation and make sure everyone know that such behavior won’t be accepted.

Currently, NRL doesn’t have an official betting partner, since it broke ties with Tabcorp in 2012 and despite the fact that the announcement of the violators will be made this week, the final game of the marquee State of Origin series, won’t be negatively affected.

Changes in the Commission

In order to make sure the anti-match fixing message reaches loud and clear all players, NRL decided to partially fund special film, called Broke. It is an Australian production, which focuses on various gambling issues and its profits will be donated to the “Men of League” foundation. The film stars Claire van der Boom, Steve Le Marquand and Steve Bastoni.

Moreover, there were changes in the Australian Rugby League Commission as well, as Tony McGrath took the spot of Peter Gregg. He is former partner at KPMG, and is also co-founder, partner and co-chairman of the advisory company McGrathNicol. Additionally, He is on the boards of the Special Olympics Australia, QBE Insurance Limited (Australia) and the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation.

McGrath commented on the gambling news: “I am looking forward to working with my fellow commissioners and the NRL senior management team to assist them on what has clearly been a successful journey since the formation of the Commission in November 2012.”

John Grant, ARLC Chairman added: “Off the field, the commission remains focused on ensuring rugby league has the right governance and commercial frameworks in place to keep growing as a professional sport.”

Moreover: “We are delighted to have Tony McGrath agree to join the commission. He has advised on a number of high profile corporate restructures and will bring valuable experience to the business of rugby league.”