A huge story this week broke in the new about Brownlow votes from the Round 8 match between Melbourne and West Coast.
According to reports about the lost Brownlow votes it seems that in the official paperwork delivered to AFL House after the game by one of the umpires, the envelope containing the Brownlow votes was missing. The umpires then had to re-submit their votes for last month’s game. The signed and sealed envelope with the Brownlow medal votes should have been part of the umpires’ match paperwork.
Simon Meredith, Stuart Wenn and Jacob Mollison were the officials at West Coast’s 29-point win at the MCG.
The AFL said a search was conducted of the umpire change rooms and adjoining areas, while there were interviews with all match-day staff who had access to the area. But The envelope containing the votes was not found.
The AFL said the umpiring department had initiated additional measures to ensure envelopes could not be lost in the future, but would not divulge what this involved. AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson would not comment.
TAB Sportsbet’s Gary Davies said the lost votes would not disadvantage punters.
”We don’t bet on particular rounds,” he said. ”The only way it can really affect it is through betting on players for each side – who polls the most Brownlow Medal votes for each side.
”But it’s only one game. We don’t think it’s an issue at all.”
But bookmaker Alan Eskander didn’t agree and said the AFL lacked integrity on its Brownlow Medal procedures.
“There was always a perception that there were leaks on the Brownlow,” he said. “How are punters going to have the confidence in the integrity of the voting system now?”
The AFL was left particularly red-faced as it goes to great lengths to ensure the votes for its most prestigious individual award remain a secret. The blunder is a massive breach of protocol and seriously embarrassing for the AFL.
But the AFL will take no action against the three umpires over the missing Brownlow votes.
It does not believe the breach will have a serious effect on Brownlow betting.The AFL declined to comment, saying in a statement that the umpiring department had put in place additional measures to avoid a repeat.
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