An Aussie Rules player has been banned for two games and fined $10,000 after surrendering information on his position. Gold Coast Suns defender Nathan Bock told two family members and a friend that he would be reverting to forward for a game with Hawthorne in September. Armed with the info, his family and friends headed to the bookies and successfully bet on Bock to score the first points. According to ABC.com.au, Bock was backed down from $101 to $21 and an undisclosed number of bets took the bookies for $40,000. The AFL has taken an extremely dim view of the whole situation and the fine paid is double that of Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell, who was guilty of the same offence just a few weeks ago.
“We viewed this case more seriously because it happened after Maxwell and Shaw,” AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson said. “We think more and more, there is no excuse for players not to be aware of the gambling rules and not to act in accordance with them. Each time it happens, the sanctions will continue to increase. It’s not good enough to simply say you didn’t place a bet or you weren’t aware it (information) was going to be used for betting purposes.”
Bock has since admitted that he told the Suns management as soon as the game was up and the situation even crossed his mind whilst he was placing the ball down before the kick. Bock said: “When you’re having a conversation with a family member or a mate, you don’t think they’re going to pass that information on.
“It was just a recent event with Maxwell and Shaw and I just reiterate how easily a conversation can lead to a little bit of information being passed on. It’s a careless and reckless mistake by myself.”
You feel slightly sympathetic for Bock as he sounds like it was a genuine mistake. It begs the question as to why he didn’t inform management immediately and pull out of the matchup as soon as suspicions were raised. His friends and family shouldn’t get away scot-free either as they will know the gambling rules for players. They’d have known the repercussions for Bock and chose to ignore it and now Aussie anti-gambling opponents will have a new reason to smirk slightly.
