http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...atchfixing-investigation-20171030-gzauqf.html
NRL privately seething with NSW Police over match-fixing investigation
If a diplomat is someone who thinks twice before saying nothing, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg demonstrated he was half a diplomat when the NSW Police issued a press release last Friday announcing its findings from a prolonged investigation into match-fixing.
Greenberg thought twice, but did say something: he would have preferred the police not choose the day of the first game of rugby league's World Cup to reveal there was ample evidence footballers gambled, used cocaine and visited prostitutes, while also conceding no one would be charged with match-fixing.
The NRL are keen to develop a working relationship with NSW Police but top officials are privately seething at what appears to be deliberate and sustained attempts to rain on rugby league parades.
The investigation into match-fixing started in a bizarre way. The police issued the following release on June 2, 2016: "The Organised Crime Squad is in the early stages of examining information relating to alleged match-fixing in the NRL. No further comment is appropriate at this stage."
So, the day following the series-opening State of Origin match, in which Queensland defeated NSW 6-4 at ANZ stadium in front of 80,000 people, the police believed it was necessary to disclose they were "examining information".
Why would it do this? Perhaps there were some operational reasons why it would announce the beginning of an examination into information regarding unusual betting patterns at three NRL games, detail provided to them by the NRL. Nevertheless, it was a departure from standard protocol and had a damaging impact on last year's Origin series.
In September last year, during the NRL semi-finals, the police upgraded the examination to an "investigation" and formed Strike Force Nuralda.
Around the same time, gambler and friend of footballers, Eddie Hayson, convened his own press conference. The silly season had arrived early.
The NSW Crime Commission became involved in the investigation. It's reasonable to speculate that some of the information the police have in relation to spot-fixing and point-shaving was obtained during those hearings, which are conducted under the Crime Commission's coercive powers. They cannot be used in evidence in a criminal trial and cannot be distributed outside the commission and police.
When the police said it had information in relation to spot-fixing and point-shaving but weren't prosecuting, it was probably because it couldn't. If this is correct, it's hardly from the police handbook to then leak this information as background to various press outlets, rather than exclusively share it with the NRL which sparked the investigation by alerting them to the unusual betting patterns.
The police showed its hand in the press release last Friday. The extent of the investigation – the number of interviews, breadth of use of telephone intercepts, analysis of betting and other records – has been massive. And it came up with nothing.
Perhaps, internally there was heat on the police to justify why such extensive resources were directed towards an investigation such as this, including the use of the NSW Crime Commission. A simple release saying it found nothing was never going to cut it. Instead, the message from the police was that footballers use alcohol and cocaine, gamble and visit prostitutes, and the NRL needs to fix it but the constabulary can't charge anyone.
An alternate headline, "Police investigation reveals young men on big salaries drink alcohol, use drugs, gamble and occasionally visit prostitutes", is hardly breaking news.
It would be hypocritical of me not to say the media, including my own paper, swallowed the police bait, running front-page stories of the gambling, drugs and use of prostitutes, while downplaying the news that police found no evidence of match-fixing.
The saga is akin to a childish game of cops and robbers where the "baddies" have won.
Consider the quotes from Hayson early in the investigation: "We all laugh about it" and "the cops got sold a big lemon".
He denied fixing matches and predicted the investigation would end up with police having "egg on their face".
With the NRL's collective bargaining agreement with the rugby league players association concluding on Tuesday, it's no surprise Greenberg is seeking access to players' bank and mobile phone records in order to probe integrity issues without relying upon the police.
The integrity unit would be funded by rights fees from betting agencies, with investigations made public, only at their end and never on NRL grand final day.
