Mega Thread Player caught betting on AFL

[g-man]

Heath Shaw's a very good player, but obviously not very bright.

Don't think you'll get too many who disagree. Just a disappointing and silly thing to do really. Some of the stuff being thrown about here is over the top though. Doubt there's one person here who hasn't made mistakes or done something silly.

 

[Mattman93]

Well that's obvious considering the penalty is extremely severe for the offence committed.

Bullshit.

Betting on a game involving your own team is venturing into extremely serious territory.

Season at least.

 

[Barnzy]

If they want to actually teach him a lesson and not give him a slap on wrist then suspend him for the 8 weeks + all finals. Piss weak by the AFL but so predictable.

He will be back, play a couple finals and Collingwood will be fine.

 

[MaddAdam]

Considering that's a question, I suppose that means you want me to answer. It is far from being hit with a wet lettuce leaf. Adrian Anderson said that the type of bet did not influence the penalty, so if a player had bet on the outcome, he probably would have received the same penalty. Heath Shaw was made an example of regarding a $10 bet for first goalkicker, and it wasn't even a winning bet. Penalties should fit the offence, and this didn't due to it's severity.

This should matter why?

 

[Forward Press]

Shaw embarassed himself and the Collingwood Football Club there, but I'm not sure how he embarassed the AFL. The league didn't even impose any sanctions there as far as I recall; all suspensions imposed were of the club's own volition.

I meant in bringing bad light onto the game. When a major incident like that occurs the AFL is of course happy to let the club inflict the suspension if they think it ends up being an appropriate punishment, but of course they would not appreciate the negative publicity on its players. Bringing the game into disrepute and all that jazz.

 

[stellation]

Heath Shaw will be missing for 8 weeks, McGuire confirmed, whilst adding that the club had also imposed a ban of 16 weeks on Shaw's brother Rhyce. "Whist Rhyce was not directly involved in the bet, he did once give Heath a double on his BMX over to the friend's house. We really expect more from him than that."

 

[damuzzdu]

If I tell my family members I'm working on a takeover of another company I can go down for insider trading. As he said himself, he didn't tell them not to bet, so he was at the very least an enabler in it.

OMG this is not ASIC. Sheesh, it is bloody football game FFS.

Just calm down and hope to hell next time it is not a West Coast player involved. Will you call for the WCE players sacking if that happens, I doubt it.

Next troll comment pls

 

[MC Bad Genius]

Lots of people are asking what is Maxwell supposed to do if someone asks him about the game. The thing is, there are many professions where you are legally not able to mention anything about your work. Its not just ASIO agents (or FBI/CIA etc), but a lot of regular caseworkers are not allowed to talk about anything to do with the cases they get. When people ask, you just apologise and say you can't talk about it.

That's not to say that I think Maxwell DID do anything wrong necessarily, as I don't know whether its part of his contract as a player not to reveal anything to anyone outside of the club.

But Heath Shaw is a totally different story. What a freaking idiot.

 

[KissStephanie]

Players (eg Matthew Primus) and officials have been given multi-thousand dollar fines as well as suspension for multiple weeks. The players have all been instructed several times by the AFL this year to avoid betting on AFL matches. Heath Shaw also had that 2008 incident with Alan Didak that embarrassed the AFL.

Thank you for supporting my opinion. Matthew Primus penalty was not as severe. The Heath Shaw incident in 2008 was a club offence that did not embarrass the AFL because it had nothing to do with them or this incident.

If anything eight to fourteen weeks is appropriate.

Much too severe. 4-6 weeks plus six weeks suspended seems appropriate. If they wanted to give him 8 weeks, then that would have been reasonable if he were still permitted to play in the VFL in the meantime. They made an example of him by giving him a penalty that exceeded the offence.

Bullshit. Betting on a game involving your own team is venturing into extremely serious territory. Season at least.

Pure ignorance. Keep up with the story. He did not bet on a game sunshine.

 

[Forward Press]

If they wanted to give him 8 weeks, then that would have been reasonable if he were still permitted to play in the VFL.They made an example of him by giving him a penalty that exceeded the offence.

So when you have players rubbed out for 2 weeks (in Primus' case), multiple other players (eg Simon Goodwin) and Simon Goodwin copping big fines for betting on results of other games, and the AFL warning players to stay well away from AFL betting when investigating other suspicious cases like the Daniel Merrett and Brent Guerra 1st goalkicker betting plunges, Heath Shaw, with all that precedent and all the warnings, shouldn't get a lot more than 2 weeks?

 

[Lach72]

I have no worries with a penalty fitting of an offence. This penalty was too severe for the offence though.Where did you get 12 weeks from? Did you make that up? Why stop there? They could have given him three years if they wanted to be really harsh. It would have been too much as this penalty was for the offence committed.

Too severe?
The bloke's second shot at the title. He's dense and should have got a year off.

Inside information, affecting the betting market.
The afl are weak as piss...

 

[damuzzdu]

They wanted to make an example of them. All the players know the rules. There is no reason to break them. It was a stupid decision and a hard line was required to ensure nobody else would dare do it.

If they wanted to be really harsh, they could have made it 12 weeks.

It was 14 weeks actually or did you not read correctly. 6 weeks was suspended ONLY because Heath Shaw co-operated with AFL openly and honestly when confronted.

 

[DTRAIN87]

Thank you for supporting my opinion. Matthew Primus penalty was not as severe. The Heath Shaw incident was a club offence that did not embarrass the AFL because it had nothing to do with them or this incident.Much too severe. 4-6 weeks plus six weeks suspended seems appropriate. If they wanted to give him 8 weeks, then that would have been reasonable if he were still permitted to play in the VFL.They made an example of him by giving him a penalty that exceeded the offence.

LOL Primus was suspended not for betting on his own team like Shaw. Also he was not done in a year where the AFL said not to do this act. Which Heath Shaw incident are you talking about? They both embarrass the AFL as far as I am concerned as they play in the league and it reflects badly on it.

 

[HARKER]

There is another thing amongst all this.

How did it come about that two separate instances have emanated from the same situation in the same game?

 

[new breed]

OMG this is not ASIC. Sheesh, it is bloody football game FFS.

Just calm down and hope to hell next time it is not a West Coast player involved. Will you call for the WCE players sacking if that happens, I doubt it.

Next troll comment pls

We sacked Cousins and Gardiner , Eddie said Shaw was on his last chance so if Eddie doesn't act the AFL should .

 

[mytym]

I think some of you are over-reacting slightly here. But thats no surprise, this is BigFooty.

Maxwell said he does it every week. I can't quite imagine any of you going home, and your brother or sister asks you what your role is this week, you'd turn around and say, 'Non of your business! Its secret!', or if you went up to your older brother who you look up to, and asked him what you think of this ect. Nick Maxwell did nothing wrong other than not warn his family/friends not to use that inside information for gambling purposes, simple as that. A $5,000 fine would suffice.

Heath Shaw also got what he deserve, and doesn't deserve to be hung, shot, or sent to jail. He put a $20 bet, based on inside information, on Maxwell kicking the first goal. This is in no way match-fixing, and I'd hardly assume, that him attacking into a forward line 2 minutes into an AFL game, he'd think to himself, 'Wait, I could win $260 if I get it to Maxwell', when he would be earning thousands just to play in that game. He is a 25 year old who loves a punt, and thought he'd get away with an advantage because of his position. He didn't, and got an 8 game suspension and a $20,000 fine for it, I'd assume thats an adequate punishment. Especially now that this simple act could risk him being involved in the Collingwood final series.

Spot on!

It's clearly not match fixing as the return provides next to no incentive considering how much Shaw earns. It's just stupidity of the highest order.

Maxwell has done nothing wrong.

The bigger problem that all of this highlights is that the gambling agencies and the industry in general is a cancer on society. It takes away so much and gives back very little.

 

[Deery]

Harmless bet imo.

Maybe the AFL should look at itself, one of their major sponsors are a betting agency, all you ever see on TV adds and posters are Betting agencies advertising games, football show showing live odds, afl website showing live odds, if its such a dam problem, the AFL would be doing something about it, but hey, they are making hundreds of millions from bets.

Do you blame players for putting a bet on when they are subject to the constant bombardment advertising?

Before they look at the players, the AFL should first look at themselves.

 

[Forward Press]

OMG this is not ASIC. Sheesh, it is bloody football game FFS.

Just calm down and hope to hell next time it is not a West Coast player involved. Will you call for the WCE players sacking if that happens, I doubt it.

Next troll comment pls

No.

No-one is calling for Nick Maxwell to be sacked.

I would not oppose it though if the club heavily fines a player or even a short suspension. Because if the club won't, the AFL will.

 

[Donstuie]

Very convenient suspension length isn't it. Disgraceful.

Pretty much. Just enough time for Heath to "prove himself to his teammates" and be yet another Collingwood feelgood story when he accepts another premiership medallion.

 

[Mattman93]

Pure ignorance. Keep up with the story. He did not bet on a game sunshine.

He bet on Maxwell to be first goal kicker did he not? Semantics.

 

[MC Bad Genius]

OMG this is not ASIC. Sheesh, it is bloody football game FFS.

Just calm down and hope to hell next time it is not a West Coast player involved. Will you call for the WCE players sacking if that happens, I doubt it.

Next troll comment pls

You've got a pretty big Collingwood chip on your shoulder. Believe it or not, most people would have the same reaction regardless of whether it was Collingwood, any other team or even their own team. If you need proof, look at some of the threads on the Swans board from a few years back when Keiren Jack has placed a bet on a game. I'm sure that there would be similar things on the Melbourne and Adelaide boards as well.

 

[telsor]

The penalties for gambling on small bets are hasher than they really warrant, but the point is that they have to be.

If you catch people making a small bet and hammer them for it, then people will notice, remember the policy, and be much less likely to more significant bet.

Similarly, it doesn't matter if there is any suggestion of match fixing. Again, it's the 'thin edge of the wedge' argument...Stomp on them before they get to that stage and it makes it far less likely that anyone will.



So if anyone complains that the punishments are too harsh for a 'nothing offence'...they should be, indeed, THEY HAVE TO BE..


For anyone who thinks they're too soft...What would you do if someone from your own club made a bet twice as big? or 10 times?

nb. If there is was credible suggestion of match fixing, I'd ban them for life.

 

[Damon_3388]

Bullshit.

Betting on a game involving your own team is venturing into extremely serious territory.

Season at least.

What he did obviously isn't right, but a bit of perspective, please. One small bet (that he didn't even win) on something that (at the AFL's admission) had no bearing on the result of the game. It's not like he was blatantly fixing match results here, or even made any attempts to generate a winning result for the bet itself.

He will be back, play a couple finals and Collingwood will be fine.

It's hardly a given. 8 weeks of no football at any level would see any player struggle to make it back into a finals side, particularly if their replacement (likely to be Simon Buckley) adequately fills their shoes.

 

[stui magpie]

Heath Shaw is an evil individual. He should be sacked, stoned, beheaded, then revived and shot.

Imagine placing a $10 bet. Now if he'd just rorted millions of dollars off ordinary Australians by price fixing, we could have named a cup after him.

 

[Lach72]

Harmless bet imo.

Maybe the AFL should look at itself, one of their major sponsors are a betting agency, all you ever see on TV adds and posters are Betting agencies advertising games, football show showing live odds, afl website showing live odds, if its such a dam problem, the AFL would be doing something about it, but hey, they are making hundreds of millions from bets.

Do you blame players for putting a bet on when they are subject to the constant bombardment advertising?

Before they look at the players, the AFL should first look at themselves.

Turn it up. They all know betting on footy is not allowed.