The ugly aspect of betting on football
matches is in the headlines today following a big win by high profile punters
on the Warriors’ win over the Knights on Sunday. An outside observer might say – so what?
But there is a very worrying aspect to the story.

In the Warriors v Knights pre-match
betting, the Knights were at unbackable odds, and so they should have been.
That was provided Andrew Johns was in the team – and there was no suspicion he
would not be.

But by Friday morning, rumours, only
rumours, spread that Johns was in doubt. Within hours, a “well known betting
identity” plonked a staggering $147,000 on the Warriors with six betting
agencies. The same “identity”, Steven Fletcher,
rather notoriously cleaned up on a greyhound in a mid-week Gold Coast dog
meeting in a “sting” that is still the subject of a government inquiry.

It will be argued that the punter gambled
on Johns not playing. And it may be as straightforward as that.

The Daily Telegraph has today
pointed out that the other party involved in that greyhound bet is “colourful Sydney identity”
Eddie Hayson, who also happens to be a partner with Johns in the boom two-year-old racehorse,
Regreagan.

Now there is no suggestion of any Johns involvement in the Warriors
plunge. And Fletcher has denied Hayson was in on the
Warriors plunge. But we may never know – the same forensic examination of race,
trot and dog betting regularly carried out by stewards is very unlikely to
happen when it comes to betting on rugby league, or the AFL, or any other sport.

The NRL has already washed its hands of
this latest dubious plunge on the basis of “information”. The bookies don’t pay
a fee to the game – so their activities are not regulated by the code’s
administrators. But that is about to change, and, the
Warriors plunge might make it change sooner rather than later.