In a huge embarrassment for the AFL, official Brownlow Medal votes from one of the games in Round 8 have gone missing. I posted a summary of the news articles about the lost brownlow votes and today Mike Sheahan and Jon Ralph of the Herald Sun asks more important questions.
In his article Sheahan asks:
How does the fact the AFL can’t locate Brownlow Medal votes from a Round 8 game sit with that familiar image of a dozen gun-toting guards solemnly accompanying a security box to centre stage for the count to decide the champion player of the season?
How, indeed. Maybe the umpires need a security escort from the stadium to AFL House when they transport the envelope with the votes?
How can Brownlow votes be lost, and who purloined them? Or found them? The integrity of the most famous award in Australian sport has been compromised.
According to the AFL the original votes haven’t been found.
Have the umpires faithfully recalled their votes? Did the thief or finder lay bets on the basis of the original votes?
Surely someone will pay dearly for this startling event.
Maybe Adrian Anderson, doesn’t the buck stop with him?
And Jon Ralph in his article asks:
Surely, in a landscape where nothing is forgiven, the AFL couldn’t exonerate its own umpire while penalising one of its own clubs.
The AFL says the case of the lost Brownlow votes is an isolated incident, but what of the worst-case scenario? What if the votes had been from a Round 22 encounter featuring a betting market’s red-hot Gary Ablett?
How much would that knowledge be worth to a corporate bookmaker, especially a climate in which people can bet on top-10 Brownlow results or even the most votes per club?
Former umpire Derek Humphery-Smith believes someone out there has the lost votes.
“If the Brownlow Medal winner came from either of those two teams, and recorded votes in that match, it would be an interesting integrity challenge for the AFL. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last (votes have been lost),” he said.
“I would be very confident it’s happened before. They will turn up somewhere.
“The great risk is people’s ability to bet on so many things. The AFL have tightened their processes really well … but it is amazing this could happen.”
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