Sport-AFL player banned after bet on team mate

Sport-AFL player banned after bet on team mate

The Australian Football League banned a player for eight matches on Friday after he was found to have placed a A$10 bet on a team mate to kick the first goal in a match.

Australia has moved to draft federal legislation to combat gambling-related corruption in sport and has been weighing up long jail sentences for offenders.

A betting scandal involving sacked prop Ryan Tandy rocked the National Rugby League this year, with police charging the player and a prominent agent over a suspicious betting plunge surrounding a penalty kick.

The AFL, custodians of the popular indigenous football code Australian Rules, banned Collingwood defender Heath Shaw for 14 matches, with six suspended, after investigators found he had bet on his captain Nick Maxwell to kick the first goal of a match against the Adelaide Crows earlier this year.

Shaw, who was also fined A$20,000 ($21,000), had shared a A$20 cash bet with a friend and was discovered after investigators noted a betting plunge on Maxwell to kick the first goal.

Maxwell, normally a defender for title-holders Collingwood but who played as a forward against the Crows that day, was fined A$10,000 because three of his family members had laid bets totalling A$85, the AFL said.

"There's a clear message here to players, coaches and officials, that if you do breach the AFL's betting regulations, the chances are you will get caught," AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson told reporters.

Sports gambling, worth A$2.8 billion in Australia in 2008, has exploded in the country in recent years, prompting local politicians and sports officials to demand it be reined in amid fears local leagues will be devastated by corruption-related scandals.