News Jason 'McGrath' levels drug-taking accusation at the Lions - Which is categorically debunked

[Ironmonger]

Sorry Tom, I just don't agree with that at all. I think that the link is so tenuous between the FC story and the CM's piece. Hammo's original article effectively amounts to "there was something dodgy going on in 2003". He had a scattergun of allegations and gave the least detail about "match fixing".

3 days later, another news outlet publishes a story which has only 2 common factors with the Hammo piece - the club and the year. To be quite frank, I think the club would have been quite foolish had it responded to the original Hammo article by citing the Wizard Cup game.

To suggest that the club has been "played" is 180 degree opposite to my opinion. The CM published an article which was either ignored or scorned by almost every person. They didn't drip feed this story in order to rope a dope the Lions and they have not been vindicated by Footy Classified.

The CM is clearly fighting a lone battle - no other media outlet is taking up their cause. The only reason the CM is 'still in the game' is because it is a loudhailer in Queensland. It can shout louder and for longer than anyone else.

But I disagree that it has somehow controlled the agenda on this - the fact that it has had to roll out Craddock and Crutcher in an effort to give its story credibility says volumes.

So do you agree or disagree that the club would have realised what was being referred to in the original article?

I certainly don't agree that the article was either ignored or scorned by almost every person. We certainly scorned it, but Patrick Smith and Mark Robinson didn't, amongst others.

Admittedly its getting very little mileage today, which surprises me a bit, to be honest.

I think if we'd played this better we could've denied the opportunity for the CM to shout about anything at all, except maybe the revelation that a few players may have been taking recreational drugs ten years ago. It was the 'match-fixing' link that allowed people to tie this into the ACC report, as both Smith and Robinson did. We could have nipped that in the bud right from the outset.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The club committed at the outset to not giving this mouthbreather any more publicity than he deserved. By acknowledging the tenuous link to the Wizard Cup game, we would have given him a shred of credibility and breathed oxygen into all his other claims. It would have also set the precedent that any idiot can level accusations at the club without evidence and get a response.

I think the club handled it as well as can be expected.

 

[cjwalkley]

TBD - I was uncertain if you were referring to 'Jason' or Hamilton in your post, then I realised it's equally valid for both!

 

[Hollow Knight]

TBD - I was uncertain if you were referring to 'Jason' or Hamilton in your post, then I realised it's equally valid for both!

Hehe yeah, I meant Jason but you're right, it's flexible

 

[POBT]

So do you agree or disagree that the club would have realised what was being referred to in the original article?

I think they possibly had made the connection but, on balance, I think it is more likely that did not. That original article was so light on - it refers to match fixing, spot fixing and inside information involving a particular individual. It is a pretty long bow to then say "aah, he's talking about the bet Johnny Smith, Boot Studder, put on the Wizard Cup in Cairns."

As I said, I am yet to be convinced that Hammo/Jason are even talking about the same game/event (edit: as FC).

I certainly don't agree that the article was either ignored or scorned by almost every person. We certainly scorned it, but Patrick Smith and Mark Robinson didn't, amongst others.

Fairfax hasn't touched it (as far as I've seen) - at least not extensively. The Hun didn't touch it. Whateley on 360 was reluctant to discuss it. Robinson went into bat but it was pretty half-hearted. And Smith didn't defend the article - he just spoke about the fact that it wasn't being investigated, given the current climate.

I think if we'd played this better we could've denied the opportunity for the CM to shout about anything at all, except maybe the revelation that a few players may have been taking recreational drugs ten years ago. It was the 'match-fixing' link that allowed people to tie this into the ACC report, as both Smith and Robinson did. We could have nipped that in the bud right from the outset.

I acknowledged that I thought we could have handled this a bit differently. But that's a long way from "being played". And I have a differing reason for handling this another way - and it is more connected to the long term relationship than the short term damage of this story.

But let's make an assumption - Hammo/Jason were indeed referring to the Wizard Cup game and the club knew/guessed that that is what they were referring to. What do you think the Courier Mail would have done if we'd revealed the Wizard Cup thing? Personally, I think that would have simply inflamed matters. It would have given Hammo more air and allowed him to re-frame the story to justify his original article.

And let's not forget that the Wizard Cup story was not broken or even referred to by Hammo and the Courier Mail. How did they play us if they didn't print the story that contains the specifics? Surely, if Hammo had the information that was subsequently revealed on FC, he would have published it. Yet, he and his paper somehow "played" us despite the fact that another outlet broke the real story?

 

[dlanod]

Hehe yeah, I meant Jason but you're right, it's flexible

I honestly thought you were referring to Hammo.

 

[Ceebee]

The club committed at the outset to not giving this mouthbreather any more publicity than he deserved. By acknowledging the tenuous link to the Wizard Cup game, we would have given him a shred of credibility and breathed oxygen into all his other claims. It would have also set the precedent that any idiot can level accusations at the club without evidence and get a response.

I think the club handled it as well as can be expected.

They wont be making any more comments about a fiction story I believe.

 

[Ironmonger]

I think they possibly had made the connection but, on balance, I think it is more likely that did not. That original article was so light on - it refers to match fixing, spot fixing and inside information involving a particular individual. It is a pretty long bow to then say "aah, he's talking about the bet Johnny Smith, Boot Studder, put on the Wizard Cup in Cairns."

As I said, I am yet to be convinced that Hammo/Jason are even talking about the same game/event (edit: as FC).

I really don’t find that very convincing. Maybe they weren’t certain whether they were talking about the same event, but they must’ve realized it was a possibility.

Perhaps the issue is that I think that this is more serious than others seem to. I can’t believe it wouldn’t immediately have come to mind.

Unless there actually is another event, and this is a whole lot worse than it appears.

Fairfax hasn't touched it (as far as I've seen) - at least not extensively. The Hun didn't touch it. Whateley on 360 was reluctant to discuss it. Robinson went into bat but it was pretty half-hearted. And Smith didn't defend the article - he just spoke about the fact that it wasn't being investigated, given the current climate.

My reading of both Smith and Robinson is that their issue was with the club’s response.

It’s true though that this has hardly gotten widespread national coverage. I don’t think a more substantial response to the ‘match-fixing’ allegations in the first instance would’ve changed that. But I’m really only guessing. We both are.

I acknowledged that I thought we could have handled this a bit differently. But that's a long way from "being played". And I have a differing reason for handling this another way - and it is more connected to the long term relationship than the short term damage of this story.

But let's make an assumption - Hammo/Jason were indeed referring to the Wizard Cup game and the club knew/guessed that that is what they were referring to. What do you think the Courier Mail would have done if we'd revealed the Wizard Cup thing? Personally, I think that would have simply inflamed matters. It would have given Hammo more air and allowed him to re-frame the story to justify his original article.

And let's not forget that the Wizard Cup story was not broken or even referred to by Hammo and the Courier Mail. How did they play us if they didn't print the story that contains the specifics? Surely, if Hammo had the information that was subsequently revealed on FC, he would have published it. Yet, he and his paper somehow "played" us despite the fact that another outlet broke the real story?

I say we were played because the CM got exactly what they wanted out of this. I don’t believe they cared about breaking the real story. They’d have done far more extensive investigations before going to print if they had. I think they were more interested in flinging around some vague allegations and selling some papers to the RL diehards by putting some anti-Lions content in the paper across a few days.

I doubt they’ll drop this now. I think we can expect to see this ‘cover-up’ referenced a few times over the next couple of weeks. Last night’s Footy Classified story came out too late for them to print anything today, but I expect they’ll try to get a bit more mileage out of the latest revelations. We’ll see.

Maybe Hammo would’ve reframed his story, but if there was a statement from the club that made it pretty clear that the incident in question wasn’t match-fixing, illegal gambling, or anything to do with organised crime, then at least we’d have deprived him of a few inflammatory buzzwords.

Most importantly, it gets very hard to argue that there’s a cover-up going on when the club is freely admitting stuff like this.

 

[MacMum]

We can throw this right back at the AFL, you know.....if they were so concerned about the game and felt the need to ring the club, then why did they not take it further at the time, investigate and prosecute so to speak..

To bring it up 10yrs later is just not on and should not be tolerated..the Lions should just say it was looked at back then and if nothing was wrong then, how can it be wrong now!!

 

[POBT]

If not for the internet, then these two news outlets would have almost completely mutually exclusive readership/audience. The Courier Mail is a Brisbane paper circulated in Queensland. Footy Classified is a Melbourne production screened at the witching hour up here.

There would be about 3 people who had bought Monday's paper and stayed up to watch FC!

 

[adey115]

We can throw this right back at the AFL, you know.....if they were so concerned about the game and felt the need to ring the club, then why did they not take it further at the time, investigate and prosecute so to speak..

To bring it up 10yrs later is just not on and should not be tolerated..the Lions should just say it was looked at back then and if nothing was wrong then, how can it be wrong now!!

Remembering that Mike Sheahan wrote an article about this game in approx 2007 - this was also mentioned on Footy Classified last night.
So the AFL and the CM have had the opportunity to investigate this, since that Sheahan article. It was made public knowledge back then, and no one did diddly squat.

 

[freq]

Not quite finished, I was going to include a fair bit of other stuff initially.

It's probably riddled with spelling mistakes and factual errors but if they can be pointed out all the better

 

[patfullfankezz]

Oh yeah, totally not a coincidence his initals are A.H.

arseh*le.

Nice work freq.

 

[John]

I reckon there is a mini serious in this.

And who is the song by?

 

[Ceebee]

I reckon there is a mini serious in this.

And who is the song by?

I think it might be a maxi serious, actually John

 

[GingerGreatness]

Very, very cool work freq.

 

[Ceebee]

Geez you just want to smash his face in,what a creep

 

[Jorgo]

This is simply superb freq and looks very professionally done.

Kudos to you mate.

 

[Morgs_]

I reckon there is a mini serious in this.

And who is the song by?

Black Keys - Gold Off The Ceiling

 

[Tairy Greene]

Hahahaha, just brilliant. Went from a very good video to a great video just for the Hammo quote in the very last second. Pure. Gold! And his best still ain't good enough.

 

[Viceregal]

First time I got a visual / audio / live view of the guy ... I had a somewhat-less-than-completely-positive *cough choke* view of his previously ... lets just say that 'meeting him' has in now way helped his case in my mind!

 

[Hollow Knight]

If you ever did a movie about Hamilton (maybe after he is jailed for conspiracy and defamation), anyone else think he could be played by Joel McHale (from Community).

Similar appearance and he is really good at playing the cocky, full-of-himself types.

 

[Haso]

The characters that Joel McHale plays are generally a little too cluey for Hammo, I would have thought.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Love your work!

 

[Scubaveg]

Not quite finished, I was going to include a fair bit of other stuff initially.

It's probably riddled with spelling mistakes and factual errors but if they can be pointed out all the better

Gold!