AN INTERNATIONALLY recognised police officer will oversee the AFL's new data system to monitor the suspect behaviour of any AFL footballer, coach, official or club employee.
As the league intensifies its fight to preserve the game's integrity and protect it from match-fixing and the threat of performance-enhancing drugs, the game has employed former United Nations investigator Abraham Haddad in the new role of intelligence co-ordinator.
Haddad, who worked in Sierra Leone and Cambodia and has worked as a tactical intelligence operative for the Victoria Police sexual crimes squad, will set up the AFL's integrity database and ensure high-level security surrounding players' private details, which the AFL will use to cross-check with any unusual trends involving gambling and player performance.
The database will include the home and email addresses and telephone numbers of every listed AFL player and rookie along with employees from every AFL club. The AFL also remains confident that accredited player agents will soon be required to provide their details to the database following a push to subject managers to similar anti-gambling rules laid down for players and officials.
It remains uncertain whether football club directors' details will be added to the database, although AFL football boss Adrian Anderson said all would be required to undergo gambling education sessions.
''We have been very fortunate to secure Abraham Haddad through our close contacts with the Victoria Police,'' Anderson told The Age. ''The players have come on board with us and we are obviously very pleased the AFL Players Association shares our belief that the integrity of our game is fundamental.''
Conceding that some player agents were resisting the betting bans, Anderson added: ''We'd be very surprised if agents don't ultimately support us in protecting the integrity of the game. We all have to be extremely proactive in looking after the game itself. I would see it as the key fundamental priority of the AFL.''
A clause has been included in AFL standard playing contracts requiring players to provide telephone records, bank account details and computer hard drives in the event of any unusual or suspicious activity. Those details would then become part of the database.
''The pillars we see as vital to our integrity are first of all the rules,'' said Anderson, ''and then the powers to enforce them and of course education. We have seen other investigations into match-fixing fall apart because Facebook sites and phone records and so forth could not be accessed.''
The recently retired Haddad, who will report to the AFL's integrity manager Brett Clothier, has been contracted until the end of the year to establish the database. A Victoria Police officer for almost 25 years until 2003, he has held other intelligence roles including with the Melbourne District Intelligence Management Unit and Asian squad.
Since 2003, Abraham worked extensively for the UN and was part of the chief criminal intelligence unit for the special court for Sierra Leone and held another senior intelligence role in Cambodia.
The push to preserve the game's integrity has intensified following the allegations surrounding last year's NRL round-24 game involving the Canterbury Bulldogs, with three figures charged in relation to match-fixing - former Canterbury prop Ryan Tandy, player agent Sam Ayoub and league identity John Elias. In recent days Anderson pointed out that multiple charges had been laid in the US following match-fixing allegations in college basketball involving the University of San Diego.
The creation of Haddad's role came after a recent recommendation from Anderson to the AFL commission. The AFL had moved to tighten its rules surrounding inside information following an investigation by racing integrity commissioner Sal Perna.
Anderson and his integrity manager Clothier have extensively researched integrity issues across international sport including American basketball, cricket, European soccer and international tennis - all of which have faced match-fixing allegations. The integrity database will be based on a similar model adopted by the British horse racing industry.
'Everyone needs to have total confidence in the integrity of the game,'' Anderson said. ''If we can guarantee that then the commercial advantages will come anyway.''
The AFL Players Association has received assurances that the privacy of its players will be protected.
''From our point of view match-fixing goes to the very heart of the integrity of the game and the players are behind anything that protects that integrity,'' AFLPA boss Matt Finnis said last night.
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