TRANSCRIPT
An announcement that has rocked Australian football.
New South Wales Police says an investigation - with help from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission - has uncovered an alleged betting scandal in the A-League.
Police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald says search warrants were executed across Sydney, resulting in the arrest of three A-League players.
All three men were from a southwest Sydney-based A-League club: captain Ulises Davila, and his teammates, Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus.
"Police have charged those three players with participating in a criminal group. They have also charged them for engaging in conduct that corrupted a betting outcome from a game that occurred in December 2023. We will allege that those players intentionally gave out yellow cards in the receipt and for the purpose of a corrupt payment."
Police allege an organised crime figure from South America instructed team leader Davila to organise yellow cards to occur.
They allege Davila paid teammates Lewis and Baccus $10,000 each for deliberately earning yellow cards.
Assistant Commissioner Fitzgerald says the incident is highly damaging for the sport and has betrayed the trust of fans.
"All sports fans understand that even one penalty can change the way a game flows, and also the way the momentum of that game can be carried out. We will allege that the giving out of four yellow cards, and the subsequent penalties that arose out of those yellow cards, could in fact change the way that result of that game went. And we will allege that these incidents in November and December 2023; that these players betrayed the trust of their supporters and the code they supposedly love."
They involve two matches in December last year against Sydney FC, and November last year against Melbourne Victory.
Detective Superintendent Peter Faux - from the New South Wales Police Organised Crime Squad - says investigators have so far not identified any betting in Australia, adding that it happened offshore, "predominantly in South America".
"There's multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars being paid out in respect to the game we are alleging this occurred in."
Police say these players tried again during matches in April and May this year - but were unsuccessful.
In a statement, Macarthur FC says the club is "shocked and aware of the arrests".
It continues to say: "Integrity of our game is a foundation pillar and we will work closely with all relevant agencies on this matter."
Australian Professional Leagues independent chair Stephen Conroy has warned players not to engage in unlawful betting activity.
"To any young footballer or young athlete in any sport, it is not worth your while to fall into this trap."
The alleged incident has prompted calls for codes to end their close relationship with gambling.
Catherine Ordway is an associate professor of sports management at the University of Canberra.
"As we see globalization and digitisation and the commercialisation of sport, then these issues are only increasing. The gambling market is massive; and everybody has the ability to get a Sportsbet account on their phones, which is causing huge issues for sport because they're just not keeping up. And as those markets are expanding, we saw it happen in the US, they need to have the protections in underneath and the awareness that athletes could be vulnerable. And there are a number of gaps in the system that really need to be worked through in order to make sure that athletes are not going to be targeted by organised criminals."
Former Socceroo Craig Foster says this is a sports governance and integrity issue that needs to be dealt with.
"The question that sport and Sport Integrity Australia have to ask is: is this type of thing inevitable, given the fact that sport is almost entirely underpinned now, or at least is very much inculcated with the entire gambling industry. This association has now become far too close. Gambling is not just part of sport, gambling is deeply embedded in sport."
The three players have been granted bail, with court dates scheduled between May 30 and June 27.
Police are calling on a fourth player interstate to return to New South Wales - or risk facing extradition.
