ACB institute gambling in sport round-table

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will bring together many of Australia's sports officials and representatives of both the Federal Government and the Opposition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday 18 July in a ground-breaking meeting to

Australian Cricket Board

17-Jul-2000

Representatives from the Australian Football League (AFL), National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Rugby Union (ARU), Soccer Australia, Tennis Australia, the National Basketball League, the Australian Golf Union, Netball Australia, the Australian Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games 2006 committee have all accepted invitations to attend.

They will be joined by officials from the Government and the Opposition, the Australian Sports Council, players' association representatives from cricket, AFL, NRL and ARU, and New Zealand Cricket's Chief Executive Officer Christopher Doig.

The forum is one of the anti-corruption initiatives announced by the ACB in May and the objective is to identify common strategies with other sporting codes and establish an effective, coordinated approach on the issue.

The session, chaired by ACB Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, will feature talks from gambling and legal experts, a player's perspective and a round table discussion on education of sports men and women, regulation and legislation on gaming.

The aim of the meeting is to produce a concerted approach from sport on how to deal with the issues raised by the relationship between betting and sport.

ACB Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said: "In the past, individual sports have tended to try and tackle issues that affect them on their own.

"But while we are all competing for the public's loyalty, all the different sports do have the same aim of providing high quality entertainment.

"The issue of corruption is something that could affect our ability to do that, so it makes sense to look at it collectively.

"And if we can find some common ground to fight the problem, then that will benefit all sports, not just cricket."

The forum is just one of a series of initiatives introduced by the ACB in May in a bid to keep corruption out of the game. They include:

The appointment of Special Investigator Greg Melik, with a brief to investigate any evidence of corrupt behavior in the Australian game.

The adoption of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) penalties instituted at their emergency meeting, including mandatory life suspensions to any player found guilty of match fixing, to strengthen the ACB's Code of Behaviour. This will extend beyond players to umpires, officials and administrators.

Expansion of the current ACB education and induction program to include annual education sessions with all ACB and state contracted players, Australian under 19 players, Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy inductees, umpires, groundsmen and administrators.

All players and officials signing an undertaking before each series. This seeks to ensure two things: firstly, immediately before each series it provides players with a clear reminder of their obligations to the game. Secondly, it provides an undertaking to the public that the match will be played on its merits, free from any gambling influence.

The meeting will start at 10 am and run through to approximately 3.30 pm with a media conference in the Ron Clarke Room in the Olympic Stand afterwards.

Australia