Integrity is paramount ... it has to be

JAIDYN J Stephenson was dealt with appropriately. a

He bet on Collingwood games he played in and bet on the performances of himself and his teammates. Forget that he only bet $36. It’s about the possibilities. The AFL said it investigated the bets, viewed the games he bet on and decided Stephenson did not have an impact on the games. They must be mind readers. How could the AFL really know what Stephenson S was thinking with ball in hand? Did he kick for goal when he should have passed the ball? Did he pass the ball to certain teammates to boost their stats? Did he play tempo football to try to keep the margin within his bets? Does he tell mates who his team is tagging this week?

In one of those games, Round 9 against St Kilda, Stephenson kicked a torpedo goal from 65m with two minutes to play. It was his third goal for the match. Did he opt to go the torp and not pass to a teammate to help get his multi up?

The euphoria of that brilliant moment now has an asterisk beside it.

Only Stephenson knows the answer to those questions.

And it’s because of those questions, hovering over a player who has bet on outcomes in games he played, that the AFL brought down the hammer. Integrity is paramount. It has to be. Above everything else in this game we love, we have to believe the players and matches are played on their merits.

We can argue about the penalty being too harsh or too soft, or that it was cosy he could still play finals, and how much weight his self-reporting carried.

And none of those arguments would be right or wrong.

Ten games and $20,000 seems about right actually.

Had the AFL given him a season ban, that would have been OK, too.

The AFL’s role is to hold people to account when it comes to integrity — on and off the field.

Stephenson is 20. He was an idiot. Most 20-year-olds are at some point.

His mistake, however, was magnified because it threatened the integrity of his sport. He had to cop a decent whack. Stephenson will need support and he will receive it.

By now, he will have been asked why he did it, which is the essence of the problem of gambling within the AFL.

When gambling counsellor Jan Beames said she believed that gambling was an epidemic in the AFL, she was howled down.

It betrayed the important point she was trying to make.

That football clubs were awash with punting clubs and syndicates, that young players were groomed by older teammates already on the punt, that young men with money and time were risk takers and vulnerable.

Stephenson would have been asked why he felt compelled to gamble when arm bells should have been ringing in his head. So why did he do it? It could not be about the money because it was $36 all up.

There’s a story to be told and lessons to be learnt for him and every other player.

Beames said players who gambled often had anxiety issues, some stemming from childhood. Other chased the adrenalin off the field as much as they experienced it on it.

We do not know with Stephenson, but he choked up yesterday when he spoke to the media. He was devastated.

The AFL is renewing its gambling sponsorship to the tune of $10 million.

The agreement allows the AFL to examine betting moves on players, coaches and people in the industry to ensure integrity. That’s the main positive.

The negative is a saturation of gambling ads and odds.

The AFL cannot be blamed for everything that hurts the world, but it can be accused of being an accessory.