I’m a relatively well-disciplined guy. In my brief time in this world, I’ve managed to complete a degree, quit smoking, and exercise thirty-odd kilos of self-indulgence away.
But if there’s a TV on in the background, I won’t study; if friends keep offering me cigarettes, one day I’ll smoke one; and just ask my roommate what happens if he leaves an open bag of chips lying around.
The point is this – given proximity to temptation for long enough, just about everyone will crack.
The close connection between rugby league and gambling has the same problem, as we saw with former Bulldogs player and recently convicted match-fixer, Ryan Tandy.
Tandy is appealing, but if his conviction stands the National Rugby League (NRL) CEO David Gallop said in a press conference that he will ban him from rugby league for life. I almost expected a cut to TAB Sportsbet’s Glenn Munsie halfway through to let us know what the odds of a life ban were.
To say then that the NRL and betting agencies are bedfellows would be an understatement.
Having a punt on the weekend’s proceedings is beginning to rival actually buying a ticket and going to the match for everyday league fans.
I have friends who will bet on games without bothering to watch them – they just check the results online.
Why? Part of the blame has to go to the game itself: Channel Nine’s commentary team spends an inordinate amount of time talking about odds and margins, and then at half-time, they cut again to Munsie updating the odds so nobody is left out of the loop.
It’s not easy to separate the NRL from gambling anymore.
The means of gambling have expanded too. It’s not just the result of the game, or the first tryscorer; options range from the now infamous first scoring play, to the amount of points in the match, last tryscorer, man of the match, half-time leader, to the hair colour of the player who scores the 11th point.
It’s a far cry from my family’s traditional wager: the last sausage on the BBQ for whoever picks the winner.
I’m not a prude – I have a punt on a game every now and again. Usually for NSW, Australia or my beloved Sea Eagles.
I think it’s a great way to feel like I have a stake in the game. I feel the highs and the lows more, as I watch my $10 turn into $30, or disappear forever – but betting on sports games solely to make money is wrong.
Sport is about competition, it’s about watching men and women struggle for perfection. Watching sport is about appreciating that.
The odd punt can heighten that experience, but the apple has fallen a long way from that tree. Sports betting is big business, and it’s not clear which part now has priority – the sport or the betting.
If the NRL’s damning of Tandy in light of all of this isn’t a case of the pot calling the kettle black, it’s close.
The NRL and rugby league have always had a close association with gambling, and anyone who suggests that it’s only to encourage a heightened experience for spectators needs look no further than the prevalence of pokies in Leagues Clubs – the gambling isn’t about the sport, it’s about the money.
So is there really a great deal of difference between Ryan Tandy fixing a match to make an easy buck, and the NRL jumping in with betting agencies in pursuit of the same?
Tandy’s action was harmful because it undermined the competitiveness of the match, which lies at the very heart of sport, but the growth of betting has undermined what lies at the heart of watching a sporting match: the ability to share in that competition.
The NRL might believe its association with betting agencies is “for the good of the game”, but if it keeps going at this rate, they’re going to forget what was so good about the game in the first place.
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Comments (5)
Rob Crowther
Architectural Draftsman (logged in via email @westnet.com.au)
I grew up in NSW but moved away in 1980 to non rugby states.
Over the last 30 odd years I have watched occasionally.
Rugby league has evolved during this time. I am not sure if the betting issue is just another part of the evolution.
As someone who is still stuck in a time warp and can remember what the game looked like as a kid, I have noted that at various points in time…
1. Someone did not like dominant forward packs and skillful hookers so the ball is now just merely handed over after six…
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Peter W Anson
Proffessional Musician (logged in via email @optusnet.com.au)
"but the growth of betting has undermined what lies at the heart of watching a sporting match: the ability to share in that competition."
The growth of Rugby League undermined RL. The industrialisation of all sports, reducing them to a consumer item, packaged, wrapped, promoted, "value-added", players bought and sold, while executives of the industry devise ever more ways to strip the games of their original dignity and purpose, (including changing rules to suit betting and visual appeal)is the culprit in all of this.
There is more pleasure and sense of sharing to be found by watching your local under15s than industrial scale sport.
Roger Carter
Librarian (logged in via email @gmail.com)
Peter Anson is absolutely correct. When I grew up, you played or watched a sport because you liked the sport! Too much money has made sport a very unhealthy obsession for society generally.
Another aspect of this is the obsession of most sporting clubs with raising money via poker machines. This has perversely converted clubs that were originally founded to enable their members to enjoy a sport into miniature casinos that now play a significantly negative social role.
Matthew Beard
(Research Associate, Centre for Faith, Ethics and Society at University of Notre Dame, Australia)
Thank you all for your comments!
The University of Notre Dame is holding a Q & A on Sports Ethics on November 10th, where all of these questions will be raised. For more information, see: http://www.nd.edu.au/sydney/events/2011_Annual_Ethics_Dinner.shtml
Peter W Anson
Proffessional Musician (logged in via email @optusnet.com.au)
I'll be interested in a report of the Dinner, Mathew.