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NSW Organised Crime Squad Investigating alleged NRL Match-Fixing

Last Week

Bench
Messages
3,647
Just saw Channel 7's coverage with that smug Oompa Loompa, am I missing something here? Keiran is on the winning side so I don't know why he is at the centre, and like all the other people on this forum it does not look thrown. If it was just a 18K payout how do you convince one player yet a lot more to throw a game for what is essentially pittance compared to their salaries.
With the Pakistani cases, I understand a whole heap more cash was plunged on outcomes that could be controlled by one person i.e no balls.
And Channel 7 opening up with "yet more trouble for rugby league"-I wouldn't trade any of the scandals we've had this year for the Adam Goodes, Eddie McGuire and ban the mosque, sagas the AFL has.

There's more than that. And also it appears that there's more than this one match and sport involved.
 

Last Week

Bench
Messages
3,647
We just cant stay out of the headlines

Eddie Hayson, Kieran and Liam Foran, under scrutiny over NRL betting plunge

  • Kate McClymont, Nick McKenzi
A third rugby league match is being scrutinised by police and the NRL integrity unit after the emergence of an extraordinary betting trail linking organised crime figures, associates of chronic gambler Eddie Hayson and football playing brothers Kieran and Liam Foran.

Some of the winnings from a successful plunge on the match in question, in which Kieran Foran played, ended up in the TAB accounts of the Foran brothers.

The Eels' three late tries
The Parramatta Eels beat the Manly Sea Eagles with three tries in the final 12 minutes of play at Brookvale Oval on 14 April 2016.

At 8pm on April 14 this year, Parramatta captain Kieran Foran led his team onto the field at Manly's Brookvale Oval.

This was Foran's first foray back at his old club having signed a $5 million deal to play with the Eels.

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Facing scrutiny: Kieran Foran passes for the Eels against Manly at Brookvale on April 14. Photo: Getty Images
Half an hour before kick-off $18,000 in cash was wagered on the Eels to beat Manly by more than five points. The wager was made at the Breakers Country Club at Wamberal on the Central Coast.

Although there are no CCTV cameras in that TAB, three minutes earlier Frank Farrugia, who lives less than five minutes away at Terrigal, signed into the club.

Farrugia, a man with links to outlaw bikie gangs, is close friends with Kieran and Liam Foran. Farrugia is also a close associate of Hayson, a former brothel owner and major punter who owes millions of dollars to a raft of characters including drug dealers, footballers, jockeys, boxers, family, friends and a convicted murderer.

With 10 minutes to go Manly were ahead 10-8. But in the dying minutes of the match Parramatta scored three quick tries, running out 22-10 victors.

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Heavily linked with NRL players: Eddie Hayson. Photo: Andrew Meares
The betting forays of Hayson and friend disgraced jockey Danny Nikolic are already under scrutiny by law enforcement authorities.

When Fairfax Media revealed in June that Hayson had instructed a jockey to bet $120,000 on the outcome of a 2015 Souths v Manly match, which is also under scrutiny, Hayson subsequently admitted he transferred $100,000 to Nikolic last year to bet on an NRL match on his behalf. He said Nikolic added $20,000 of his own to the wager.

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Traditional rivals: The NRL clash on April 14, 2016, between Manly Sea Eagles and Parramatta Eels. Photo: Cameron Spencer
However, Hayson told News Corp that he had checked with Nikolic and "is adamant the money was not gambled on either of the two matches under scrutiny," the report said.

Fairfax Media can reveal that over the past 12 months, Hayson has used the TAB accounts of many associates to disguise his betting activities. One account which has piqued the interest of authorities is the TAB account of Nikolic's girlfriend, Tania Hyett, who worked at a Victorian racing stable.

On April 13, the day before the Parramatta v Manly match, Hayson sought – unsuccessfully - to have his TAB account re-activated having been banned on February 11 for suspected money laundering.

According to footage obtained by Fairfax Media, two days before he was banned Hayson was seen ploughing $19,000 cash through the TAB machine at the V Bar in Liverpool Street in Sydney. The payments were made in two lots of $9500.

On February 16, five days after he was banned, Hayson and Farrugia were seen at Erina TAB.

The payout for the $18,000 wager on the Parramatta win was $41,400 and authorities believe that Farrugia collected the winnings at Tuggerah TAB. The winnings were divided into five vouchers.

On Wednesday May 4, Jordan Tulk, a 21-year-old associate of the Forans and Farrugia, redeemed the five vouchers worth $41,400 which had been won on the football match.

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UK stint: Liam Foran during his time with the Salford City Reds in the Super League in 2013.Photo: Matthew Lewis

Later that afternoon Tulk, from Umina, plunged the entire amount on a gelding running in the last race on the Sunshine Coast. Brazen, which firmed to favouritism on the NSW TAB, won the Butler McDermott Lawyers handicap reaping a massive $95,220.

In 1990 Brazen's trainer David Vandyke (then known as Hayes) was banned for two years after one of his horses returned a positive swab. He became a heroin addict but he has since turned his life around. Fairfax Media is not suggesting any wrongdoing on his part.

On that same Wednesday night, May 4, Liam Foran was given the winning $95,220 ticket and he cashed it in at Gosford's Central Coast Leagues Club.

Liam Foran, who works as an assistant to Hayson, received $22,000 in cash and a $73,220 voucher.

He then deposited $2000 in cash into his brother Kieran's TAB account. This is contrary to the TAB terms and conditions which only allows the account holder to access their account. By this time Kieran Foran was in a rehab clinic in Brisbane having been admitted on April 29. Three days earlier Foran's career had come to a devastating halt when he was admitted to hospital. Foran recently claimed he had overdoses on left-over pain killers.


Liam Foran, Jordan Tulk and Frank Farrugia. Photo: Facebook

Football staff at Parramatta had been growing increasingly anxious about Foran's betting and his association with Hayson. On Anzac day their star recruit skipped a team community event to attend Gosford races with his brother, Hayson and others.

In a recent interview with Daily Telegraph journalist Phil "Buzz" Rothfield, Rothfield, who has had thousands of dollars paid into his own TAB account by Hayson, quoted Foran saying Hayson was one of his most loyal friends and someone who he had leaned on heavily over the last three of four months.

In the interview Foran also talked openly about enjoying a bet but claimed his gambling was under control. Those who know him well suggest otherwise.

Armed with the $73,220 voucher from their winnings on Brazen, that same night Liam Foran drove from the Central Coast to Canterbury Leagues Club in Belmore in Sydney's southwest. Around 9pm he cashed it in taking $10,000 in cash and the remainder in another voucher.

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Links to Hayson: News Corp journalist Phil ''Buzz'' Rothfield. Photo: Facebook

He then walked to the nearby Belmore TAB to turn his $63,220 voucher into 10 vouchers worth $6000 each plus $3220 in cash.

The following day all 10 vouchers were redeemed. Three of them – totalling $18,000 – were redeemed at Star Casino by a friend of Hayson's from Mosman. Hayson has previously put money into the businessman's TAB account.

A Surfers Paradise man and a Bankstown tow-truck driver redeemed a voucher each at the Bankstown Sports Club. The other vouchers were redeemed by unknown people at TABs at Punchbowl, Lidcombe and the Red Lantern hotel.

Comment is being sought from the Forans, Farrugia and Tulk. Hayson declined to comment.

The NSW Organised Crime Squad is assessing massive amounts of TAB data as part of its inquiry into existing match-fixing allegations which has embroiled the NRL.

For years sporting officials have been concerned about the former brothel owner and big-time punter's connections with leading sporting figures.


http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-over-nrl-betting-plunge-20160805-gqlwkx.html

Read this article people. This article is all true. (this is real journalism).

The most telling thing behind this article is the information that isn't being said. What is behind the story is what we all know and suspect.
 

Warriors Fever

Juniors
Messages
1,682
Read this article people. This article is all true. (this is real journalism).

The most telling thing behind this article is the information that isn't being said. What is behind the story is what we all know and suspect.
So..are we expecting something like with Pakistan a few years ago or will it fizzle out. I'm not poking fun but what is it we all know and suspect?
 

myrrh ken

First Grade
Messages
9,817
The first thing I said while watching try 3 was "where the f**k was he running"

He's possibly hoping for the pass back inside as Lyon has radradra covered and he cant get there anyway.

All I'm saying is there would have to be a number of people involved if they are questioning tries 1 and 3.
 

Danish

Referee
Messages
31,909
Read this article people. This article is all true. (this is real journalism).

The most telling thing behind this article is the information that isn't being said. What is behind the story is what we all know and suspect.

The article is quoting a bunch of perfectly legal bets being placed and collected on by people who don't play league, but are friends with players.

An article documenting the channel 9 commentary team's punting behaviour would probably read about the same, or absolutely anyone involved in a relatively large punting club.
 
Messages
3,000
The bets themselves aren't really the issue it's the driving around switching TAB tickets to different vouchers and part cash and these TAB vouchers ending up with various colorful characters that is the issue. If I had funded a bet with legitimate money I would just go to the closest TAB and collect.
 

drago brelli

Bench
Messages
3,345
If anything is proven against the people under suspicion they can simply do a Mad Mal Roberts and declare themselves as 'sovereign citizens'.
 
Last edited:

Danish

Referee
Messages
31,909
The bets themselves aren't really the issue it's the driving around switching TAB tickets to different vouchers and part cash and these TAB vouchers ending up with various colorful characters that is the issue. If I had funded a bet with legitimate money I would just go to the closest TAB and collect.

Betting agencies regularly ban punters who win too much, so that could play a part in the need for all the switching. It mentioned one of the blokes in the punting club is banned from the tab.

Unless they can prove someone is actually throwing matches, I don't care. A few punters taking steps to hide their betting patterns from the TAB so they don't get their wagers rejected is fine with me. The only one getting "screwed" there is a gambling agency that preys on mugs doing their dough
 

Tiger5150

Bench
Messages
3,191
The article is quoting a bunch of perfectly legal bets being placed and collected on by people who don't play league, but are friends with players.
.

....and payment ending up in the account of a current player, via papertrail linked to a game. You dont see a problem with that?
 

Tiger5150

Bench
Messages
3,191
Betting agencies regularly ban punters who win too much, so that could play a part in the need for all the switching. It mentioned one of the blokes in the punting club is banned from the tab.

Unless they can prove someone is actually throwing matches, I don't care. A few punters taking steps to hide their betting patterns from the TAB so they don't get their wagers rejected is fine with me. The only one getting "screwed" there is a gambling agency that preys on mugs doing their dough


you have no issue with a current player receiving payment as a result of all of this?
 

Danish

Referee
Messages
31,909
you have no issue with a current player receiving payment as a result of all of this?

Ultimately all that happened was current player got 2K given to him by his brother. Do you think Foran is hanging on what amounts to half a days wages to him?

If he is found to be betting against his side, or on some sort of exotic bet he could feasibly control, I'll then certainly have an issue. At the moment it just looks like he might in a punting club which wagers money across a heap of sports, and he gets a small slice of the overall winnings.

Nothing I've read suggests any evidence of match fixing thus far
 
Messages
3,000
I'm sure Foran's dad who earned $19.5m last year is stoked one of his sons is working as a lackie. Driving between TAB outlets for shady characters.
 

Last Week

Bench
Messages
3,647
Understood, oh well we shall wait and see if the police have any evidence to proceed

I don't if any charges will be laid. There is a certain amount of evidence that would be needed before charges are laid. That may never eventuate. That doesn't mean there needs to be charges for there to have been match fixing.

The NRL or any other governing body don't need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any match fixing has taken place. They're not bound by those rules like Police are.
 
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