NRL Scandal

Australian league player sacked for silence on betting

SYDNEY, March 18 (Reuters) - Ryan Tandy, the Australian rugby league player at the centre of a police spot-fixing probe, was sacked by his club on Friday for refusing to disclose whether he made a bet on a National Rugby League (NRL) game.

The 29-year-old prop attended a hearing at his Canterbury Bulldogs club in the western suburbs of Sydney on Wednesday at which he declined to answer questions about whether he had placed a bet on a match against the Gold Coast Titans last June.

"The club formed the view that it was untenable for Mr Tandy to remain employed by the club ... in circumstances where he was refusing to provide information about a matter that is wholly within his knowledge and relates to duties which he expressly owes to the club," Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said in a statement.

Tandy already faces four charges of giving false information to police in relation to a probe into a separate National Rugby League (NRL) match. He pleaded not guilty in court earlier this month.

"It is important to note that the action taken by the Club today is distinct and separate from the serious criminal charges that Mr Tandy is facing," Greenberg added.

"Mr Tandy is of course entitled to the presumption of innocence in relation to those charges."

The police investigation was launched after a local gaming agency reported suspicious betting activity surrounding the game against the North Queensland Cowboys.

Tandy gave away a penalty in front of the posts early in the match after a number of large bets had been placed on the first points of the game coming from a penalty kick.

Despite its huge popularity in Australia, the NRL has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years, rocked by scandals ranging from player misbehaviour off the field to illegal player payments.

League administrators stripped Melbourne Storm of two of its premiership titles and fined the club A$1.7 million last year after the club was found to have committed systematic salary cap breaches.

The latest scandal has erupted amid a push by Australia sports officials for federal legislation to combat gambling-related corruption in sports.

There have been relatively few cases of corruption in Australian sport, but sports-related gambling, worth $A2.8 billion in 2008, is a major growth industry.