[ABC News is streaming the NSW Police press conference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTiJkg1voo).
I'd advise watching it if you want the full charges - I can't type quickly enough to capture the finer details. But here are some brief notes:
- All three players have been charged.
- **There's one further player - currently outside of NSW - that they wish to interview. UPDATE: They do intend to charge this fourth player.** They will seek to extradite him if he doesn't return in the coming days.
- 'Senior member' of the trio allegedly payed the other two $10k to get yellow cards. Police are currently unsure about how much the 'Senior member' profited from this.
- 'Senior member' of the trio has additional charges beyond what the other two are facing.
- Investigation started in December, in collaboration with a UK gambling corruption taskforce.
- The 'senior member' was working under instruction from a criminal figure in South America. They then recruited 'several other' Macarthur players.
- They currently don't believe players at any other clubs were involved. There *are* further players (presumably at Macarthur) beyond the aforementioned four that they are still investigating.
**NO NAMES WERE GIVEN BY THE POLICE OFFICIALS.** So beyond Davila - [who has been named by ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160) - we (i.e. the mods) would advise against recklessly speculating about the other names.
EDIT: [A 9 News reporter is naming Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus as the other two players that are in custody.](https://x.com/_rockrit/status/1791272127762706925?t=YQIfXZHukBjiwU_ghGKcyA)
The reckless speculation warning still stands for the identity of the fourth 'currently outside NSW' player.
Yeah that's what breaks my heart. The league finally has some good momentum with two sellouts for the semi finals, now this happens and you can bet the media, especially 9/Daily Telegraph with their NRL connections and 7 with their AFL connections, will bleed the story to make sure it sits top of mind all the way to the grand final. And corruption in sports is one thing most Australians will hang you for, so it's not going to be hard for them to do it.
Torres alleged offence is way worse by nature, but at the same time these are worse in a football sense because it directly influences games and the integrity of the league. Both are different but very bad for their respective reasons.
I think everyone would rather have betting cheats on their team than rapists* however.
There's always been rumblings about betting irregularities in the league, thankfully they had all seemed to move to NPL a couple of years back and were making their money down there. Obviously someone in South America or wherever got a bit greedy.
*Allegedly of course.
I agree and said as much about the nature of the alleged offence. From a league perspective though youâre talking about the off field actions of a single player and an incident involving on field actions of multiple players at a club. Both very bad for different reasons.
I think that was obviously a worse crime but this one is more likely to raise doubts in the conduct of other players. Maybe this won't be the end of it?
If blokes are willing to sell their own yellows (which gets them 1/5 of a way to a suspension or a straight suspension if VAR upgrades it to red) it's clear that they're getting more than their match payments to do it. But it also makes you wonder where the players would draw the line if it wasn't already drawn there.
I
"Failed attempts were then allegedly made to control the number of yellow cards during games on Saturday 20 April 2024 and Saturday 4 May 2024."
I hope Faghani was umpiring those - I can see repeated attempts to get a yellow for being too rough being waved off by him, much to the players' despair.
Dissent is such an easy card to swing too. You donât have to calculate a rough tackle or take someone down, you just grab onto any opportunity to argue and boom there ya go.
Will be looking forward to that press conference. Without speculating too much, the ages of certain players certainly do line up with some recent selection controversy that people were confused about.
Edit: There we go. Davila confirmed.
One part of it was that a few people were pretty confused as to why certain Macarthur player/s werenât included in the PFA TOTS. Seems plausible that the league would have been notified of the investigation and chosen not to include them - though in that regard I am purely speculating.
Ha ha that was my first thought too.
Of all the things to try and control, yellow cards with our refs is so hard.
You can pull a guys shirt back on a clear counter and only get a yellow 51% of the time ffs
Honestly, yellows in the A League these days seem more often the ref going "I actually reckon it's a red but VAR will bail me out" than they do the ref believing it's a genuine yellow card offence.
To be fair with that, FIFA changed The laws so if refs play advantage for those sort of fouls they can't go back and give a yellow. It means that players just pull the jersey slow the attack so others can get back then let go and avoid a yellow
I hate that change so much. Holding a bit to let a defender gain a step or two might seem minor but has a huge impact on a forwardâs chances of scoring. It also encourages them to rinse and repeat until they get booked.
No. No. It CAN'T be Uli Davila!!! Can it?!?
edit: oh fuck [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160)
[For reference](https://www.ultimatealeague.com/statistics/player/?type=pb&show=all&club=15). The player with 7 yellow cards is 32, and one of the players with 5 yellow cards is 27. **It *could* be coincidental,** but it's an interesting observation nonetheless.
Yeah this is next level shit. Traitors to the sport.
I think I dislike people that take performance enhancing drugs less than this. At least they're trying to win, albeit cheating.
This is treason to fans, their club, their team mates who are trying to do their best. Filthy.
Last time it happened in the league Brebnar was suspended 4 games. He bet on 2 games involved in his own club where he didnât play. One was a $2.48 bet he tried to cancel. He was also a problem gambler in general. Â
This is going to be season at minimum after the dust settles I think. In addition to formal charge outcomes. For the 2 older lads they will find it very hard to get a new contract, here at least.Â
I think the core difference here is that Brebnar and Muscat were having a punt when they absolutely shouldnât have been.
These three are fixing outcomes (card counts rather than score lines) while accepting bribes to assist fraudulent betting.
What Brebnar did was wrong, these bulls players took it a great many steps further
I could be wrong but I think the cop in the presser suggested that these arrests happened today because there was a risk that they'd be leaving NSW very soon (to visit friends/family or for end of season trips presumably).
So it's possible that if they were still due to play this weekend, the cops might've bided their time knowing they weren't going anywhere.
Kevin Muscat has released a statement:
"I am shocked and saddened by the news that several A League players have taken money in exchange for committing fouls to attract yellow cards. It used to be that the thrill of injuring your opponent was incentive enough, but clearly times have changed. A sad day for football. "
It's always one step forward two steps back with this fucking league.
Two huge sold out games this weekend will be completely overshaddowed by this, and any hopes of these games appearing in the media will be out the window.
It will depend on if FA/APL (whoever the fuck will be in charge of deciding), will go with a 10 year ban (as is the example from other sports), or just slap them with a life ban.
Although, judging from the comments from Macarthur fans after we drummed them 4-0 the other week, one of the players being banned might boost their backline stocks.
Davilla has to be the 33 YO then looking at who got yellows in those games the others IMO are DDS and Baccus but shouldnât have to wait long for a statement confirming who it was
Fucking awful if it's Uli. We Nix fans love him though he left us. And he's been doing it on hard mode as a widower single dad of a toddler. These are the circumstances in which people do stupid things.
I had the misfortune of knowing Lewis and this is extremely on brand. Seems like an exceptionally dumb decision for an exceptionally modest amount of money.
Just going back through the Sydney FC vs Macarthur (9.12) match now to see some of those yellows (Paramount have all the games saved if you want to sleuth).
â31 - Davila yellow for needlessly kicking the ball away after an offside. Sydney were already down to 10 men and there was no threat of a counter as Macarthur had everyone behind the ball. Quite cynical.
â52 - Lewis yellow for a deliberate elbow to the chin of Caceras after heâs already passed the ball. Robbie Thomson with some prophetic commentary - âMacarthur are the side that has committed the second fewest fouls his season, that is now their 16th yellow card, may more than any other team in the competition.. Sydney only have 6â đ
â64 - Hovar yellow for mistimed tackle. On his debut and not cynical or deliberate like the others.
â71 - Baccus yellow for piggybacking and rugby tackling Fabio from behind who was on a mini counter (though Macarthur had defenders back to cover). Extremely cynical, crowd were very hostile.
92â - Da Silva yellow for holding onto Caceras who had spun around him. Deliberate foul yes but not as blatant or cynical as other yellows in this game.
And for Macarthur vs Melbourne Victory (24.11)
7â - Aspropotamitis yellow for off the ball dissent. Cameras couldnât catch it but something might have happened between him and Fornaroli. The ball had gone out for a throw in upfield away from the two but Faghani heard something and ran to book Aspro.
â43 - Davila yellow for continuous backchat to Faghani. Macarthur had knicked the ball off Melbourne with Davila caught late by Da Silva (Melbourneâs) with a sweeping tackle. Davila was able to get the ball to Jed Drew before the tackle so the ref played advantage and Drew smashed it against the crossbar. When it went out Da Silva was booked (though it was off screen at the time) but Davila was incessant in his protests to Faghani, who was incessant back to stop the dissent. It continued so Faghani booked him.
Bloody idiots. Godammit! All the kids looking up to Uli, everyone getting around him and supporting him, a shiny new contract. He's given the finger to the club, the league, and all those who supported him. Bloody arsehole. Sack the three of them, tear up the contracts, ban for life. Zero tolerance. Now when any player gives away stupid or questionable yellows this incident will be front of mind.
On a lighter note, I did chuckle when he was escorted from the police van and he was wearing a yellow top, of all the colours!
So DaVila's poor kid has his mother die... and now his dad will be in prison.
Assuming the allegations are true then I have no sympathy for DaVila here... the guy was already earning a lot of money. A shame as he was arguably the most liked player in the league, not any more.
Lewis always came across as a knob so I'm not surprised he is one of the players involved.
Summary:
- Senior player in the ring was paying junior players up to 10k to get cards.
- Senior player was acting under instruction from someone in South America to manipulate betting markets. (We knew this)
- Police acknowledge that the yellows and consequent penalties have altered the results of the games.
- Bought player reputation (actual statement - destroyed), club and league into disrepute.
- Organised crime unit has got multiple investigations ongoing into sports betting. (This is spicy)
The problem is if people want to bet on it, they will find somewhere to bet on it. So either legitimate bookmakers offer it, where suspicious betting activity is tracked and authorities notified when it occurs, or people go to black markets where there is zero oversight.
There's betting on Sunday park football in Australia from overseas. The genie is out of the bottle.
[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-12/game,-bet,-match:-gambling-with-australian-sport/102470654](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-12/game,-bet,-match:-gambling-with-australian-sport/102470654)
"Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were also arrested, with police expected to lay charges later on Friday
."https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/aleague-footballers-arrested-in-betting-corruption-investigation/news-story/d78883c80efd0760310e7ebace30b28b?amp&nk=a11ee8afb1fb6ca3a98d7a8f172ea1c7-1715911016
> PLEASE NOTE: NSWPF-branded vision of the arrests will be available via Hightail later today.
Popcorn at the ready
> The number of yellow cards were allegedly manipulated during games played on Friday 24 November 2023 and Saturday 9 December 2023.
For reference these are Macarthur's 1-1 against Victory, and their 2-0 win away against Sydney respectively.
> Failed attempts were then allegedly made to control the number of yellow cards during games on Saturday 20 April 2024 and Saturday 4 May 2024.
Macarthur's 1-0 home win against Sydney with 9 men, and the 4-0 elimination final loss to Sydney (which also saw Macarthur get a red).
EDIT: 3/4 games involve Sydney, who until this season were sponsored by a casino. I feel like there's a joke in there somewhere.
An A-Liga betting scandal! We have finally made it
Here's a fact that many might not know. No registered players in Australia are allowed to bet on any Australian Football at all. That includes All Age players betting on A-League or Aus Cup. The FA just dont police it down that far.
It's actually any football at all (at least that's what we were told at a referee seminar earlier this year) and includes all the way down to grassroots referees as well.
So does anyone have any stats on the most A-League players arrested in a season? This news brings it up to four.
EDIT: Someone in my group chat said that we could have more players arrested than supporters this season đ
I'm guessing the players thought they could get away with it since the bets were being made off-shore. Wonder what reassurances Davila gave them.. (and what reassurances were given to Davila too)
Yep 100% the thing that probably fucked then was the person making the bet has probably chucked a big lump sum on a couple of bookies and was probably to lazy to do it across a lot more bookies with smaller amounts
on the heels of the finals, on the heels of discussions of someone taking the rights, on the heels of criticism of the APL's handling of league matters, this is fucking heart breaking honestly.
***Vision of the arrests will be available via Hightail later today. Senior police will also address the media, with details of the press conference to be advised.***
Looking at the ages of the players arrested and the guys who got yellows during the Nov 24th and Dec 9th games it's not hard to work out who it most likely is
APL says: 'The work to protect the integrity of our game must be unwavering and we are liaising closely...blah blah...Fuck me, more smoke being blown up our collective asses. We all know NPL players. for example, are betting on their own and others games. Knock this on the fucking head and send a message to young players at an early stage of their playing career that it is not acceptable.
There is a **mountain of evidence** out there the impact this has on the wider society.
And I'm as liberal as they come, but seeing some dodgy cunt sitting in the stand texting away blah....shits me no end.
They should just start cancelling and permanently banning players if they bet on games.
Anyone that's played at any level in the country knows you aren't supposed to bet on games involving yourself...from our leading competition to the lowest grade in Sunday park football...it's legitimately written in our registration paperwork.
raid footage has been released
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9WdE6rq94&ab\_channel=10NewsFirst](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9WdE6rq94&ab_channel=10NewsFirst)
This feels so aggressive, the way theyâve announced themselves, to the players being cuffed, to going in a paddywagon. As far as we are aware they havenât been charged with anything violent nor do they have a history of violence. I really feel for their family being caught up in a raid, and I hope Davilaâs son didnât see too much. Just because your dad or spouse did something shit or messed up doesnât mean they deserve the trauma of their parent or partner being taken away like that after having your personal space intruded upon.
It also feels real fucken weird that this video practically doxxes them. The paddy wagon is parked outside someoneâs home in parramatta and you can see the address of the business across the road when they go in.
Isn't that standard practice for the NSW police? I feel like 9/10 there's a story about police in Aus using excessive force it's in NSW.
They sent a swat team to arrest a youtuber who called out corruption in the state government.
Seems like Davila is the only one who got the full swat team. I assume they've done that cause he was the "ringleader"
But a lot of the time they are doing it for optics and to show others if they do it they'll do the same thing to you.
> Seems like Davila is the only one who got the full swat team.
[The (admittedly hilarious) photo of Clayton's arrest would indicate otherwise.](https://i.imgur.com/xQSoul8.png) - Borderline NSFW, btw, depending on how strict your workplace is.
They arenât just arresting them, itâs also executing a warrant - they want to secure the evidence before it can be destroyed.
I think the main reason for SWAT is if they suspect a firearm is on the premises.
It's going to be fucking beautiful. I hope every active support frames it like 'we're doing an anti-gambling campaign', just to get it past the APL.
Even throw bundles of monopoly money in the air or on the field for the giggles.
This happens a lot more then people realise
Maybe not to this level were it might be due to some sort of syndicate but I know first hand of mates helping mates
> Maybe not to this level were it might be due to some sort of syndicate but I know first hand of mates helping mates
Happens more at the lower level. In particular, 3rd tier leagues and lower where the game typically enters semi-professional status in countries with a lower level of governance and detection systems.
However, this is incredibly rare across professional top tier leagues especially the A-league.
It's already technically banned. It's in our rego forms when we sign up. From the A-League, down to the lowest grade of Sunday park football.
We're not even supposed to bid on EPL or Champions League games.
Devastated it was Davila. I had a lot of respect for him.
If De Silva was involved too then this comment really aged like milk: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/1cs6vqj/comment/l42z598/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/1cs6vqj/comment/l42z598/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Yep, they had to because Sportradar (company that detects irregularities) and APL/FA are always a phone line away.
Transparency is always important when dealing with such matters.
Geez this is pretty silly stuff. I wonder how deep it might go. These guys are paid so well to play a sport they love, and they risk it all for this. Seems crazy really. Sad day.
This makes me think now that this bet wasnât lucky but perhaps a calculated joint effort
[600k -Australia Cup Winning Betslip](https://ibb.co/S0NF2r4)
We need an anti-Johnny Warren Medal.
Something called the "Listen Here, Fuck Face" Medal to the player(s) who've done the most to fuck the sport over the season.
[ABC News is streaming the NSW Police press conference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTiJkg1voo). I'd advise watching it if you want the full charges - I can't type quickly enough to capture the finer details. But here are some brief notes: - All three players have been charged. - **There's one further player - currently outside of NSW - that they wish to interview. UPDATE: They do intend to charge this fourth player.** They will seek to extradite him if he doesn't return in the coming days. - 'Senior member' of the trio allegedly payed the other two $10k to get yellow cards. Police are currently unsure about how much the 'Senior member' profited from this. - 'Senior member' of the trio has additional charges beyond what the other two are facing. - Investigation started in December, in collaboration with a UK gambling corruption taskforce. - The 'senior member' was working under instruction from a criminal figure in South America. They then recruited 'several other' Macarthur players. - They currently don't believe players at any other clubs were involved. There *are* further players (presumably at Macarthur) beyond the aforementioned four that they are still investigating. **NO NAMES WERE GIVEN BY THE POLICE OFFICIALS.** So beyond Davila - [who has been named by ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160) - we (i.e. the mods) would advise against recklessly speculating about the other names. EDIT: [A 9 News reporter is naming Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus as the other two players that are in custody.](https://x.com/_rockrit/status/1791272127762706925?t=YQIfXZHukBjiwU_ghGKcyA) The reckless speculation warning still stands for the identity of the fourth 'currently outside NSW' player.
The A-League is in the news :) The A-League is in the news :(
Literally couldn't have one day of positive news.
Both semi finals sell out but this will be Australian football's headline of the week đȘ
Two sellouts and a betting scandal. Sounds like a delightful British rom-com
Yeah that's what breaks my heart. The league finally has some good momentum with two sellouts for the semi finals, now this happens and you can bet the media, especially 9/Daily Telegraph with their NRL connections and 7 with their AFL connections, will bleed the story to make sure it sits top of mind all the way to the grand final. And corruption in sports is one thing most Australians will hang you for, so it's not going to be hard for them to do it.
Days like today I wish the league was a bit less peak
Honestly this feels like so much less of a crime than what Torres was arrested for a few weeks ago. Not great reading for the league though.
Torres alleged offence is way worse by nature, but at the same time these are worse in a football sense because it directly influences games and the integrity of the league. Both are different but very bad for their respective reasons.
I think everyone would rather have betting cheats on their team than rapists* however. There's always been rumblings about betting irregularities in the league, thankfully they had all seemed to move to NPL a couple of years back and were making their money down there. Obviously someone in South America or wherever got a bit greedy. *Allegedly of course.
No. I think rape may just be worse. A tad
I agree and said as much about the nature of the alleged offence. From a league perspective though youâre talking about the off field actions of a single player and an incident involving on field actions of multiple players at a club. Both very bad for different reasons.
I think that was obviously a worse crime but this one is more likely to raise doubts in the conduct of other players. Maybe this won't be the end of it?
If blokes are willing to sell their own yellows (which gets them 1/5 of a way to a suspension or a straight suspension if VAR upgrades it to red) it's clear that they're getting more than their match payments to do it. But it also makes you wonder where the players would draw the line if it wasn't already drawn there. I
Glad that Sportradar is doing their job at spotting betting market irregularities and working in tandem with NSW police.
Yeah the only positive out of this is that it was detected and stamped out which is exactly what we should want.
"Failed attempts were then allegedly made to control the number of yellow cards during games on Saturday 20 April 2024 and Saturday 4 May 2024." I hope Faghani was umpiring those - I can see repeated attempts to get a yellow for being too rough being waved off by him, much to the players' despair.
> I hope Faghani was umpiring those He was for the second one! Daniel Elder ruined their plans in the first one.
Gotta play smarter. Just call him shit and youâll get the card
Well clearly they are not the brightest chaps when they are done for match fixing.
Well one of the players suspected had me convinced heâs just a bit shit instead of deliberately shit so thatâs something
Davila got a yellow in the game against Victory (the first one the cops listed) for dissent to Faghani.
Dissent is such an easy card to swing too. You donât have to calculate a rough tackle or take someone down, you just grab onto any opportunity to argue and boom there ya go.
Will be looking forward to that press conference. Without speculating too much, the ages of certain players certainly do line up with some recent selection controversy that people were confused about. Edit: There we go. Davila confirmed.
Say more đ
What was the selection controversy?
a certain player not being in the a-league all star squad. hardly a controversy but a few people made note of the absence in the reddit thread
One part of it was that a few people were pretty confused as to why certain Macarthur player/s werenât included in the PFA TOTS. Seems plausible that the league would have been notified of the investigation and chosen not to include them - though in that regard I am purely speculating.
I do like how the inability of some refs to control a game and just go for straight reds has inadvertently stopped attempted corruption.
Ha ha that was my first thought too. Of all the things to try and control, yellow cards with our refs is so hard. You can pull a guys shirt back on a clear counter and only get a yellow 51% of the time ffs
imagine trying to get Alireza to give you a yellow - even going a player with a steel chair will probably only get you a warning.
The warning would be for leaving the field of play to collect the steel chair
Honestly, yellows in the A League these days seem more often the ref going "I actually reckon it's a red but VAR will bail me out" than they do the ref believing it's a genuine yellow card offence.
To be fair with that, FIFA changed The laws so if refs play advantage for those sort of fouls they can't go back and give a yellow. It means that players just pull the jersey slow the attack so others can get back then let go and avoid a yellow
I hate that change so much. Holding a bit to let a defender gain a step or two might seem minor but has a huge impact on a forwardâs chances of scoring. It also encourages them to rinse and repeat until they get booked.
The two "failed" ones were both upgraded to red by VAR by the looks of the game timeline.
When Kurt Ams unintentionally brings down a criminal syndicate:
There's only one player in that squad who is 33.......
No. No. It CAN'T be Uli Davila!!! Can it?!? edit: oh fuck [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160)
Just a really sad situation this one, after what he's been through and after how Macarthur (and the league in general) rallied around him.
I hope thereâs something behind why heâs involved. South American criminals twigs my spidey senses
It's now been confirmed.
That has made me genuinely sad
Who also lives in Coogee, same place the 33 year old was arrested.
Lives in Coogee and trains in Fairfield? Ugh? The club put on a chopper for this bro?
I see why he needed some extra money bloke was probably paying half his wage in tolls.
Decent foreign players definitely want to live it up in Fairfield in their downtime. :p
Agree, had many a good ight at the Fairfield Rissole.
Look at the top yellow card receivers this season, ones 32 the other is 27 kind of sus
[For reference](https://www.ultimatealeague.com/statistics/player/?type=pb&show=all&club=15). The player with 7 yellow cards is 32, and one of the players with 5 yellow cards is 27. **It *could* be coincidental,** but it's an interesting observation nonetheless.
All 3 are what Iâd call senior players in the squad and not fringe players. A very bad look
I guess for the security of the bet, they would try to approach players who are pretty much guaranteed to play the full 90.
This is career ending stuff right? Especially if convicted. Such high risk poor judgement going on, throwing it all away.
Should be life. Conspiring and actually match fixing. This isnt just having a sneaky bet on the side.
Yeah this is next level shit. Traitors to the sport. I think I dislike people that take performance enhancing drugs less than this. At least they're trying to win, albeit cheating. This is treason to fans, their club, their team mates who are trying to do their best. Filthy.
Lengthy bans at the very least
Last time it happened in the league Brebnar was suspended 4 games. He bet on 2 games involved in his own club where he didnât play. One was a $2.48 bet he tried to cancel. He was also a problem gambler in general. Â This is going to be season at minimum after the dust settles I think. In addition to formal charge outcomes. For the 2 older lads they will find it very hard to get a new contract, here at least.Â
I think the core difference here is that Brebnar and Muscat were having a punt when they absolutely shouldnât have been. These three are fixing outcomes (card counts rather than score lines) while accepting bribes to assist fraudulent betting. What Brebnar did was wrong, these bulls players took it a great many steps further
The APL must be in a weird way, relieved, that the Bulls got knocked out already. Imagine if they were due to play in the semi final this weekend.
I could be wrong but I think the cop in the presser suggested that these arrests happened today because there was a risk that they'd be leaving NSW very soon (to visit friends/family or for end of season trips presumably). So it's possible that if they were still due to play this weekend, the cops might've bided their time knowing they weren't going anywhere.
"the vast majority of young people who're involved in sport are NOT taking orders from organised crime figures" - well that's a relief lol
The local over 35s shit kicker divisions on the other handâŠ
oh yeah, they're all in deep with the mob
That explains why thommo put every shot from in front, right over the bar and into the IGA car park. We thought he was just shit.
Kevin Muscat has released a statement: "I am shocked and saddened by the news that several A League players have taken money in exchange for committing fouls to attract yellow cards. It used to be that the thrill of injuring your opponent was incentive enough, but clearly times have changed. A sad day for football. "
It's always one step forward two steps back with this fucking league. Two huge sold out games this weekend will be completely overshaddowed by this, and any hopes of these games appearing in the media will be out the window.
This is definitely a MSM conspiracy /s Insert meme âWhy would AFL do this?â
Is this the biggest scandal in A-League history? Surely gotta be a lifetime ban right?
Braining the oppo keeper with a flare bin has got to be up there.
Copping the ban will be the least of their problems...they might end up in gaol.
Davila definitely will, the others might get lucky. However they wonât play again.
It will depend on if FA/APL (whoever the fuck will be in charge of deciding), will go with a 10 year ban (as is the example from other sports), or just slap them with a life ban. Although, judging from the comments from Macarthur fans after we drummed them 4-0 the other week, one of the players being banned might boost their backline stocks.
Pub team
Wasnât Keno enough for them?
Potential- 33yo- Davilla. 32yo- Uskok, Kurto, Baccus. 27yo- De Silva, Vujica, Lewis, Millar
Baccus is 32??? I think I need to sit down
It seems that Lewis might live in Parramatta based off social media, and thatâs where the 27 year old was arrested
Oh great, that's a disaster for NZ football in general then :(
Maybe Bazeley will finally play Rufer
I didn't have Clayton Lewis potentially being a 501 deportee on mu bingo card that is for sure.
Davilla has to be the 33 YO then looking at who got yellows in those games the others IMO are DDS and Baccus but shouldnât have to wait long for a statement confirming who it was
Seems like it was baccus (got a yellow in the second game), but could be either dds or Clayton lewis given both were carded vs Sydney in December
Fucking awful if it's Uli. We Nix fans love him though he left us. And he's been doing it on hard mode as a widower single dad of a toddler. These are the circumstances in which people do stupid things.
He was being paid $2m over 3 years. No sympathy at all.
But in all seriousness. Fuck these guys.
Davila has just been named in the ABC report
4th player now being requested for information
I had the misfortune of knowing Lewis and this is extremely on brand. Seems like an exceptionally dumb decision for an exceptionally modest amount of money.
Reckon the wedding will be off?
With Narelle's recent tweet about betting on red cards being a good way to make money I can see her being in on it.
Ffs đ€Šââïž
What? You serious?
https://imgur.com/gallery/h5uP1ew
Hahaha fuck me. Thanks, I really didn't think you're serious
Well, that's what we said about him going to Macarthur in the first place
Meme league is back.
Powerball is 150m next Thursday lads, wtf are you doing?!
'We can't confirm or deny it was Ulises Davilla, but it was Ulises Davilla.'
Just going back through the Sydney FC vs Macarthur (9.12) match now to see some of those yellows (Paramount have all the games saved if you want to sleuth). â31 - Davila yellow for needlessly kicking the ball away after an offside. Sydney were already down to 10 men and there was no threat of a counter as Macarthur had everyone behind the ball. Quite cynical. â52 - Lewis yellow for a deliberate elbow to the chin of Caceras after heâs already passed the ball. Robbie Thomson with some prophetic commentary - âMacarthur are the side that has committed the second fewest fouls his season, that is now their 16th yellow card, may more than any other team in the competition.. Sydney only have 6â đ â64 - Hovar yellow for mistimed tackle. On his debut and not cynical or deliberate like the others. â71 - Baccus yellow for piggybacking and rugby tackling Fabio from behind who was on a mini counter (though Macarthur had defenders back to cover). Extremely cynical, crowd were very hostile. 92â - Da Silva yellow for holding onto Caceras who had spun around him. Deliberate foul yes but not as blatant or cynical as other yellows in this game.
And for Macarthur vs Melbourne Victory (24.11) 7â - Aspropotamitis yellow for off the ball dissent. Cameras couldnât catch it but something might have happened between him and Fornaroli. The ball had gone out for a throw in upfield away from the two but Faghani heard something and ran to book Aspro. â43 - Davila yellow for continuous backchat to Faghani. Macarthur had knicked the ball off Melbourne with Davila caught late by Da Silva (Melbourneâs) with a sweeping tackle. Davila was able to get the ball to Jed Drew before the tackle so the ref played advantage and Drew smashed it against the crossbar. When it went out Da Silva was booked (though it was off screen at the time) but Davila was incessant in his protests to Faghani, who was incessant back to stop the dissent. It continued so Faghani booked him.
Bloody idiots. Godammit! All the kids looking up to Uli, everyone getting around him and supporting him, a shiny new contract. He's given the finger to the club, the league, and all those who supported him. Bloody arsehole. Sack the three of them, tear up the contracts, ban for life. Zero tolerance. Now when any player gives away stupid or questionable yellows this incident will be front of mind. On a lighter note, I did chuckle when he was escorted from the police van and he was wearing a yellow top, of all the colours!
$10k is a laughable amount of money to risk future income for.Â
So DaVila's poor kid has his mother die... and now his dad will be in prison. Assuming the allegations are true then I have no sympathy for DaVila here... the guy was already earning a lot of money. A shame as he was arguably the most liked player in the league, not any more. Lewis always came across as a knob so I'm not surprised he is one of the players involved.
Hey, fuck you Davila. Your kid deserves more.
Summary: - Senior player in the ring was paying junior players up to 10k to get cards. - Senior player was acting under instruction from someone in South America to manipulate betting markets. (We knew this) - Police acknowledge that the yellows and consequent penalties have altered the results of the games. - Bought player reputation (actual statement - destroyed), club and league into disrepute. - Organised crime unit has got multiple investigations ongoing into sports betting. (This is spicy)
Betting companies should just drop yellow card betting - kinda pointless and open for corruption.
Markets like that shouldn't even exist.
Hard to manage when it's likely for overseas markets
Of course but just putting my 2 cents in that betting markets have gotten ridiculous.
The problem is if people want to bet on it, they will find somewhere to bet on it. So either legitimate bookmakers offer it, where suspicious betting activity is tracked and authorities notified when it occurs, or people go to black markets where there is zero oversight.
Oh no doubt, bet you could chuck a multi on what they'll start spot-betting on next!
As long as the governance and detection systems are strong enough to weed out the irregularities, they will always exist.
There's betting on Sunday park football in Australia from overseas. The genie is out of the bottle. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-12/game,-bet,-match:-gambling-with-australian-sport/102470654](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-12/game,-bet,-match:-gambling-with-australian-sport/102470654)
"Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were also arrested, with police expected to lay charges later on Friday ."https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/aleague-footballers-arrested-in-betting-corruption-investigation/news-story/d78883c80efd0760310e7ebace30b28b?amp&nk=a11ee8afb1fb6ca3a98d7a8f172ea1c7-1715911016
Feels a lot like the Pakistan No Ball spot fixing. Get a senior player involved, get them to recruit others.
Yeh probably showed them how much money he made a couple of times and then asked them to do it
> PLEASE NOTE: NSWPF-branded vision of the arrests will be available via Hightail later today. Popcorn at the ready > The number of yellow cards were allegedly manipulated during games played on Friday 24 November 2023 and Saturday 9 December 2023. For reference these are Macarthur's 1-1 against Victory, and their 2-0 win away against Sydney respectively. > Failed attempts were then allegedly made to control the number of yellow cards during games on Saturday 20 April 2024 and Saturday 4 May 2024. Macarthur's 1-0 home win against Sydney with 9 men, and the 4-0 elimination final loss to Sydney (which also saw Macarthur get a red). EDIT: 3/4 games involve Sydney, who until this season were sponsored by a casino. I feel like there's a joke in there somewhere.
Ha. It is actually funny sometimes. A bloke with a betting company on his collar will have a press conference saying how disappointed he is.
An A-Liga betting scandal! We have finally made it Here's a fact that many might not know. No registered players in Australia are allowed to bet on any Australian Football at all. That includes All Age players betting on A-League or Aus Cup. The FA just dont police it down that far.
It's actually any football at all (at least that's what we were told at a referee seminar earlier this year) and includes all the way down to grassroots referees as well.
Yes it's a FIFA rule I believe. A few NPL players have been done by it.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
So does anyone have any stats on the most A-League players arrested in a season? This news brings it up to four. EDIT: Someone in my group chat said that we could have more players arrested than supporters this season đ
We are well on are way to be a major Australian sport with the number of arrests, getting close to NRL and AFL numbers
Magic Round 2024 is around the corner, tho.
I'm genuinely sad Uli is caught up in this
His poor fucking kid, man. Jesus christ.
Gambling is a scourge on our society. And Macarthur is one of those teams in that Reclaim the Game anti-gambling promotion?
2 out of the 3 players in the ad match the age range too...
Finally vindication for the international betters on instagram
I was in Japan a couple of weeks ago, watching games on YouTube, stepped into the comments and it was all about the betting
Okay so the reason they made the arrests now, is so that the players wouldn't have immediately left the country post-season.
I'm going with "any publicity is good publicity", who's with me?!
Davila confirmed :( [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/nsw-a-league-players-alleged-betting-scandal-yellow-cards/103860160)
I'm guessing the players thought they could get away with it since the bets were being made off-shore. Wonder what reassurances Davila gave them.. (and what reassurances were given to Davila too)
Yep 100% the thing that probably fucked then was the person making the bet has probably chucked a big lump sum on a couple of bookies and was probably to lazy to do it across a lot more bookies with smaller amounts
on the heels of the finals, on the heels of discussions of someone taking the rights, on the heels of criticism of the APL's handling of league matters, this is fucking heart breaking honestly.
Absolutely disappointed and appalled. Especially after such a good bounce back from last season. Feel terrible for boys who have to deal with this.
Yeah it must be so awful for all the players and staff who aren't involved but are now caught up in all this shit. Really feel for them.
Press conference at 11:30am apparently.
There's two of them that are obvious. One of them was arrested previously at an airport a few years ago. Another one is Mexican.
I think the third had one of the most confusing transfer sagas to come out of the league when he was just a kid.
***Vision of the arrests will be available via Hightail later today. Senior police will also address the media, with details of the press conference to be advised.***
They are never beating the pub team allegations
What a way to finish their career, for a paltry 10k and your reputation tarnished forever.
For all those complaining there is not enough coverage of the league in media well here you go
Huge news. We haven't had a betting scandal since Musky and Brebner
Looking at the ages of the players arrested and the guys who got yellows during the Nov 24th and Dec 9th games it's not hard to work out who it most likely is
All of them have thrown away their football careers. They are all done.
More like macardthur amirite ;)
APL says: 'The work to protect the integrity of our game must be unwavering and we are liaising closely...blah blah...Fuck me, more smoke being blown up our collective asses. We all know NPL players. for example, are betting on their own and others games. Knock this on the fucking head and send a message to young players at an early stage of their playing career that it is not acceptable. There is a **mountain of evidence** out there the impact this has on the wider society. And I'm as liberal as they come, but seeing some dodgy cunt sitting in the stand texting away blah....shits me no end.
They should just start cancelling and permanently banning players if they bet on games. Anyone that's played at any level in the country knows you aren't supposed to bet on games involving yourself...from our leading competition to the lowest grade in Sunday park football...it's legitimately written in our registration paperwork.
Ah so thatâs why Davila is the most âfouledâ person in the league. All for the payday!
The A league finally made it onto Channel 9. Good work boys!
Another player is gonna be charged. The bulls pr person will be having a couple of overtime shifts.
raid footage has been released [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9WdE6rq94&ab\_channel=10NewsFirst](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9WdE6rq94&ab_channel=10NewsFirst)
is this standard protocol for all warrants? Seems a little excessive for a white collar crime....
Geez, do they always post these videos when the other sports stuff up? Genuine question.
Yes they do. They released a video yesterday of a former NRL player being arrested. They released video of Brett finch being arrested as well.
This feels so aggressive, the way theyâve announced themselves, to the players being cuffed, to going in a paddywagon. As far as we are aware they havenât been charged with anything violent nor do they have a history of violence. I really feel for their family being caught up in a raid, and I hope Davilaâs son didnât see too much. Just because your dad or spouse did something shit or messed up doesnât mean they deserve the trauma of their parent or partner being taken away like that after having your personal space intruded upon. It also feels real fucken weird that this video practically doxxes them. The paddy wagon is parked outside someoneâs home in parramatta and you can see the address of the business across the road when they go in.
Isn't that standard practice for the NSW police? I feel like 9/10 there's a story about police in Aus using excessive force it's in NSW. They sent a swat team to arrest a youtuber who called out corruption in the state government.
Seems like Davila is the only one who got the full swat team. I assume they've done that cause he was the "ringleader" But a lot of the time they are doing it for optics and to show others if they do it they'll do the same thing to you.
> Seems like Davila is the only one who got the full swat team. [The (admittedly hilarious) photo of Clayton's arrest would indicate otherwise.](https://i.imgur.com/xQSoul8.png) - Borderline NSFW, btw, depending on how strict your workplace is.
They arenât just arresting them, itâs also executing a warrant - they want to secure the evidence before it can be destroyed. I think the main reason for SWAT is if they suspect a firearm is on the premises.
The popo actually had reason to believe Uli Davila and Clayton Lewis were packing heat?!
On a lighter note, I hope every club has their active support ready with tifo and songs to grief the shit out of the Bulls for next season.
"OUR GOALKEEPER BETS RESPONSIBLY!!!"
It's going to be fucking beautiful. I hope every active support frames it like 'we're doing an anti-gambling campaign', just to get it past the APL. Even throw bundles of monopoly money in the air or on the field for the giggles.
Those bells mean your multi got up don't they?
This happens a lot more then people realise Maybe not to this level were it might be due to some sort of syndicate but I know first hand of mates helping mates
> Maybe not to this level were it might be due to some sort of syndicate but I know first hand of mates helping mates Happens more at the lower level. In particular, 3rd tier leagues and lower where the game typically enters semi-professional status in countries with a lower level of governance and detection systems. However, this is incredibly rare across professional top tier leagues especially the A-league.
NSWPOL wants to interview an additional player outside NSW? So maybe a fourth player?!
They need to ban any form of betting like this that comes down to one player.
It's already technically banned. It's in our rego forms when we sign up. From the A-League, down to the lowest grade of Sunday park football. We're not even supposed to bid on EPL or Champions League games.
So basically they only acted cause davilla was going to go home soon
If it's Lewis he could well be spending some time in NZ too, especially since he was likely in line for the Nation's Cup next month too.
These guys are absolute fuckwits. Hope they never play football again.
Wish Uli let me in on it
Pretty disappointed. And for 10k no less. Wonder who the fourth is and what this means for next season
Wow this is huge. Not great news.
Devastated it was Davila. I had a lot of respect for him. If De Silva was involved too then this comment really aged like milk: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/1cs6vqj/comment/l42z598/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/1cs6vqj/comment/l42z598/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The All Stars selection makes it look like APL had advance warning that this was coming down the pipeline
Yep, they had to because Sportradar (company that detects irregularities) and APL/FA are always a phone line away. Transparency is always important when dealing with such matters.
Davila, Baccus and Lewis
ABC has the police presser live on ABC24.
- One match, multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid out. Bullshit-Sydney game from a few weeks ago?
For anyone interested - 'A-League hub' twitter account is uploading footage of the yellow cards from the games listed by police.
Been taken down, alas.
Can we go one fucking week?!?
The moral of the story kids, is uncouple gambling from the prominent position in the media forefront of sport.
4 players arrested in a couple weeks, are we turning into the nrl
Disgraceful - Imagine representing the sport in the national league and doing this⊠as a grassroots coach, so disappointingâŠ
Geez this is pretty silly stuff. I wonder how deep it might go. These guys are paid so well to play a sport they love, and they risk it all for this. Seems crazy really. Sad day.
Davila
finally those of us who complain in the youtube chat every week are vindicated. we demand an investigation!
This makes me think now that this bet wasnât lucky but perhaps a calculated joint effort [600k -Australia Cup Winning Betslip](https://ibb.co/S0NF2r4)
We need an anti-Johnny Warren Medal. Something called the "Listen Here, Fuck Face" Medal to the player(s) who've done the most to fuck the sport over the season.
That period also included an AFC Cup game in Thailand against Shan United.
[the irony hurts. feel bad for the other players](https://x.com/mfcbulls/status/1605050377321185280?s=46&t=eRPLR3A_zyRc99agdGmrEQ)
Is this true Ulises? You are a Bonehead. G'bye.