Drug & Match Fixing Scandal in Sport

[happy_tiger]

I'm starting to get the feeling this is slightly dodgy

Firstly when they came out originally with Lundy and all present they spoke about having phone taps

Now I read today the the ACC has said there were no phone taps

They aren't going to catch any drug cheats now , with the masking agents and how quickly these drugs are absorbed into your system (some are untraceable 30 minutes after taking)

Only way they will catch players is through keeping all samples and retesting in the future when WADA testing catches up to the drug cheats

 

[tig_prmz]

this all seems sooo blurry and unorganised to me. much like an amateur poker game with fake chips at a mate's house.

can't help but think there is some politics involved in this as this news (supposedly 5 years) came right after gillard's election call.

all i can think about is right now is the media earning extra money as this drags on and on and on and on and on.

 

[Yossarian]

The request for the ACC investigation came from ASADA not the Federal Government. The Government/PM/Minister have very little input into what the ACC investigates. Generally targets come from the ACC Board which is mostly made up of state police and the AFP (plus some others).

It's highly probable there were no phone taps. Despite what people might think, the capacity of the ACC to conduct TI is fairly limited or more correctly, they can't handle an infinite amount of phones off at any one time.

Happy the intent of the Operation (well I suspect from the ACC's POV) is not to catch individuals, it is to get at the people behind the criminal activity. Also there are far more effective ways of gathering information than TI.

 

[happy_tiger]

Yoss , understand what you are saying , but I want every sportsmen or women involved tainted for life if they are guilty

If we toughen the laws /penalties behind all this it can be far easily controlled

Whether it is in the now , or ten years down the track don't care . Strip them of their earnings , honours ,everything That is the way to prevent these issues evening reaching this stage

 

[Yossarian]

That sounds reasonable Happy and I guess the ball is in the court of the states and Commonwealth to make sure the laws are tight/strict enough. One issue here though is a stack of people seem to have committed offences from a doping perspective but without the knowledge they were doing so. Now while regulations for sports orgs are set pretty low (ignorance isn't a defence) the same is not necessarily true when it comes to prosecuting someeone. Yes the same concept (ignorance not being an excuse) applies but this only relates to your knowledge of it being an offence rather than your participation (i.e. with a few exceptions you need to knowingly perform the illegal act. Could get tricky…

 

[delpy]

this all seems sooo blurry and unorganised to me. much like an amateur poker game with fake chips at a mate's house.

can't help but think there is some politics involved in this as this news (supposedly 5 years) came right after gillard's election call.

all i can think about is right now is the media earning extra money as this drags on and on and on and on and on.

I agree, if this all followed a 12 month investigation, then why did they call the press conference when they were seemingly not ready? The conference being run by MP's and not ASADA or the ACC stinks to me.

I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of: that it is true and the league is riddled with drugs, or that it was just a political move with no thought whatsoever given to what damage this could cause the game and sport in this country in general.

 

[Yossarian]

this all seems sooo blurry and unorganised to me. much like an amateur poker game with fake chips at a mate's house.

can't help but think there is some politics involved in this as this news (supposedly 5 years) came right after gillard's election call.

all i can think about is right now is the media earning extra money as this drags on and on and on and on and on.

I agree, if this all followed a 12 month investigation, then why did they call the press conference when they were seemingly not ready? The conference being run by MP's and not ASADA or the ACC stinks to me.

I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of: that it is true and the league is riddled with drugs, or that it was just a political move with no thought whatsoever given to what damage this could cause the game and sport in this country in general.

Well Lawler was at the presser… I'm sure he spoke but his comments didn't make the news.

Not sure why they had a press conference, that's more an AFP thing than ACC! Anyway the investigation thus far and any future op are 2 different things. Why go public? Well it generates chatter and makes people nervous... Tbh the ACC is not interested in the reputation of the game.

Make no mistake though, despite the presence of ministers at the press conference this is not being driven by political considerations.

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Yoss , understand what you are saying , but I want every sportsmen or women involved tainted for life if they are guilty

If we toughen the laws /penalties behind all this it can be far easily controlled

Whether it is in the now , or ten years down the track don't care . Strip them of their earnings , honours ,everything That is the way to prevent these issues evening reaching this stage

I agree with you Happy, cheats should be stained for life when they are found out.

But as we all know, that isn't the way it works in the NRL. Some of the major recipients in the Melbourne Scum cheating saga are still getting picked to play Origin and for Australia and one of the maggots has been named CAPTAIN of his state and country….some punishment that is.

Those Storm blokes and others like them that cheat should be immediately booted out of the game or at the very least never, ever get the honour of playing representative games. It is a bloody disgrace.

 

[delpy]

this all seems sooo blurry and unorganised to me. much like an amateur poker game with fake chips at a mate's house.

can't help but think there is some politics involved in this as this news (supposedly 5 years) came right after gillard's election call.

all i can think about is right now is the media earning extra money as this drags on and on and on and on and on.

I agree, if this all followed a 12 month investigation, then why did they call the press conference when they were seemingly not ready? The conference being run by MP's and not ASADA or the ACC stinks to me.

I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of: that it is true and the league is riddled with drugs, or that it was just a political move with no thought whatsoever given to what damage this could cause the game and sport in this country in general.

Well Lawler was at the presser… I'm sure he spoke but his comments didn't make the news.

Not sure why they had a press conference, that's more an AFP thing than ACC! Anyway the investigation thus far and any future op are 2 different things. Why go public? Well it generates chatter and makes people nervous... Tbh the ACC is not interested in the reputation of the game.

Make no mistake though, despite the presence of ministers at the press conference this is not being driven by political considerations.

I made a prediction at why they went public, but I could be clutching at straws…
http://delpysword.com/2013/02/10/late-line-up-change/

 

[Peaches]

The timing does seem very strange as its clear that the investigation isn't finished. Political pressure may be the reason for that.

On the actual issues, it did seem to contain a lot of speculation. I couldn't imagine there would be too many players either match fixing or on drugs. I'm sure there are some but they would be isolated cases.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_

 

[Yossarian]

Maybe but based on my experience unlikely. I mean aside from a distraction (which is of minimal value) is there really that big a pay off? I find it extremely unlikely that Lawler and ACC management would go public unless they wanted to.

As for details I'd wait until more information comes out before people make too many judgements on the value of the Op so far. Some people may be surprised in the end.

 

[stryker]

That may end up being the case Yoss but the timing of the press conference and the fact it was held at Parliament house ….it has to at least partly be for political reasoning.

I think the whole conference and innuendo that paints every sportsperson in this country as having possible links to match fixing, organised crime and drug use without a single shred of evidence is amatureish at best and an absolute F'n disgrace at worst. I think that clown Jacin Clare and that incompetent moron Lundy should be hung from the highest pole for this as they have made us a laughing stock internationally.

Certainly took the focus off Labor's cabinet re-shuffle didnt it?

 

[happy_tiger]

Does any club have the right or possibility of taking legal action if they have been wrongly accused or defamed ??

Thought I heard in the late news the Cowbees are looking at their options

 

[Yossarian]

That may end up being the case Yoss but the timing of the press conference and the fact it was held at Parliament house ….it has to at least partly be for political reasoning.

I think the whole conference and innuendo that paints every sportsperson in this country as having possible links to match fixing, organised crime and drug use without a single shred of evidence is amatureish at best and an absolute F'n disgrace at worst. I think that clown Jacin Clare and that incompetent moron Lundy should be hung from the highest pole for this as they have made us a laughing stock internationally.

Certainly took the focus off Labor's cabinet re-shuffle didnt it?

I don't think the Canberra ACC office has a room big enough to host a press conference of that size! No evidence has been released publicly but to say there is no "single shred of evidence" is incorrect.

I think it is reasonable to criticise Clare and Lundy for jumping on board but too much blame is placed on the government. This is an ASASA/ACC operation - ASADA asked for it, ACC ran it and released the findings. It's pretty standard as those reports go - an overview of the big picture without reference to specific evidence. That's not to say the evidence doesn't exist though. The ACC release them all the time, this one goes nutso because it is about sport and not say Abalone theft or corruption at the ports.

There's always stuff going on and the reshuffle was pretty small bickies. To suggest that you release a report like this as a cover is just wrong. The reporting obligation of the ACC was the determining factor in the timing, not Clare or the government.

 

[stryker]

The ACC has gathered intelligence that this stuff is happening. That isnt evidence but is a starting point. ASADA want to erradicate doping from sport - that is their mandate. I have no problem with these organisations doing their job. If this stuff is happening, I too want those involved caught and punished.

There was no need for that press conference and it only achieved 3 things;

1) It accused every professional sportsperson in this land of being corrupt,
2) It tainted our hard fought for status internationally as a terrific sporting culture,
3) It tipped off any possible people who were involved, who surely have gone to ground by now, making it far harder to catch and prosecute them.

This was a massive stuffup and those involved have already turned and blamed the whole thing on the media. What did they expect? You drop this bombshell that none of us saw coming, thumping the table and declaring heads will roll and then produce NOTHING. Of course the media will run with it and due to the lack of information will start reporting innuendo and gossip as fact - thats what they do if they dont have access to the full story. Thats what some of them do regardless. We shouldnt have known about this until they gathered the required evidence and started catching people.

Either those who pushed for the media conference are trying to big note themselves, or they are indeed using this as a diversionary tactic.

 

[tig_prmz]

im just waiting till someone from ASADA or ACC or any govt. official to come out and say that the pressie was a mistake. acknowledge their fault

 

[Yossarian]

Well ASADA and ACC won't be doing that. Not their fault at all. The ACC is justing providing a report on an investigation they were asked to carry out.

 

[stryker]

Thats right this wasnt their fault whatsoever.

 

[delpy]

I still don't think ASADA or the ACC were too happy with the timing of the announcement. I get the impression they weren't yet ready to reveal their hand, hence this delay in any action. There was a lot happening in the Labor Party that week.

 

[Yossarian]

I still don't think ASADA or the ACC were too happy with the timing of the announcement. I get the impression they weren't yet ready to reveal their hand, hence this delay in any action. There was a lot happening in the Labor Party that week.

The ACC doesn't work like that. I'm told there was no issue with the timing at their end.