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The Ageing Hooker and the Perversion of Point Shaving
“Phoenix” has been around the game a while. She is what most punters would call “a little world weary” but she has the street smarts lacking in her younger, more attractive rivals and she is considered a fun girl, a goer who doesn’t play the sad pumpkin and generally has a bit of sass about her. She knows her time at 'The Brothel' and probably any other similar establishment that would refer to itself as high class is coming to an end. She is approaching the crossroads and her options aren’t pretty. The choice between street walking and regular work after the “high life” of being a call girl is not a pleasant one and one most straight-laced folk couldn’t really comprehend in any meaningful away.
Those clients walking into 'The Brothel' on a Saturday morning, sometime around 3am, aren’t choosing Phoenix with the same regularity as two years ago or a year ago or even six months ago. Age is a cruel mistress, particularly for a hooker in tough economic times. She only seems to get the call when most of the other girls are off earning a buck or when she pulls a day shift and her competition isn’t nearly as strong. Even an ever-extending repertoire of new tricks hasn’t stopped the decline. The fork in the road is drawing near.
She still has her regulars though and that is what keeps her punching her card at the factory. Two of those regulars just happen to play for the Sydney Roosters. Phoenix doesn’t follow rugby league but she knows that the Roosters **** for free and that the man upstairs, Easy E, will make up the difference. One Rooster is only young and has a thing for rough sex with older women. The other has been around the league awhile and has few peculiarities despite his talking big when teammates are around, his bluster bigger than his bite. The latter is usually finished pretty quick but sees out the hour as he enjoys the companionship and is actually quite lonely, a man of many associates but few friends.
Phoenix has few problems with the latter but considers the former a misogynistic pig, even by the standards of brothel clientele. “He is always drunk. He is a degenerate gambler who is always broke. He calls all the girls sluts. He sent one to hospital when he slapped her around just a bit too much. We didn’t see her again but the sheets were covered in blood there was a hole in the wall. It was a real mess.”
Both of her Rooster regulars came by 'The Brothel' twice in the first week of September. The first time was on the Wednesday after a day at the track to honour retiring legend Craig Fitzgibbon. The two regulars and a few other Roosters came by, drunk and rowdy, sharing some beers and some girls after meeting with Easy E. The mood was celebratory despite the fact the Roosters were headed for the wooden spoon and had embarrassed the club all season with displays of ineptitude and stupidity on and off the field. The second was after the Roosters final game of the season, a dramatic 32-16 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys. Again the mood was surprisingly celebratory.
The Roosters had led 16-0 just before half-time and it appeared as if legend Craig Fitzgibbon would be sent out a winner. He may have not heard the rumours that a few key Roosters would be running dead in the second half. He may also have been oblivious to the huge sums of money wagered on the Cowboys to win the match by thirteen or more. The NRL certainly seemed oblivious or at least apathetic about the odd amounts of money coming from a source close to the Roosters and his bowlers being bet on the Cowboys touching up the Roosters.
Those at NRL head office may have paid little heed to the inordinate amount of cash coming for the relatively minor betting option coming from a man known colloquially as colourful but Phoenix certainly wasn’t. She is no footy fan and gambling has never been her go but she was prepared to head down to her local TAB on the Thursday afternoon before the match and have $1,500 on the Cowboys to win thirteen plus. After some pillow talk, the older Rooster worded her up the night before. It was Phoenix’s third bet in three weeks, all of which were against the Roosters. Her $1,500 on the Cowboys was her biggest ever wager.
North Queensland ended up winning by sixteen but only after scoring three tries in the last eight minutes on the back of a Roosters team that completed only 44% of their sets in the second half and missed 22 tackles in the final 40 minutes. All in the game that the Roosters were bidding farewell to one of the greatest players to ever pull on the club jersey. Any viewer who was aware of the betting that had gone on before the match seemed to think that the Roosters were running dead.
The post-match accusations played out as expected, aside from the fact the story has gained legs in the mainstream media and has reached the point where the NRL has been asked to give an explanation of the match, the betting and the integrity measures in place by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation. Usually these stories die out before they reach any sensible conclusion. The Roosters front office was furious that such allegations could be levelled at the club. The NRL, predictably, dismissed the charges naively, ignorantly saying that they can’t launch an investigation every time a bookmaker losses money. The Sydney Morning Herald have kept on the hammer of the story suggesting they know more than they are letting on and that this is far from over. Bookies have kept a calm head about things, alluding to the suspicious nature of the match without claiming outright that the game was fixed. It was the same song and the same dance that always gets a run when smoky suspicions of match-fixing reach the public domain.
Phoenix knew the score though. And so did any decent bookmaker worth their salt. The game was as hot as a car thief in Cairo. At the very least the match was worthy of investigation. Bookies lose big sums all every weekend and rarely cry foul. They only scream shenanigans when something does not seem to be on the up-and-up.
A number of Roosters showed up at 'The Brothel' after the final match of the year, ready to party with girls. The word from above is that the players could **** as many girls as they liked for free, no questions asked, no trouble given. Those who were missing tackles and dropping balls and giving away penalties and throwing stupid passes decided to get naked with a cadre of free whores rather than drown their sorrows with their teammates, the greatest of whom was walking away. It is believed that sometime after the match that accusations from one of those not running dead was levelled at another who supposedly was. The straight-up player was prepared to stomp a hole in anyone who had shown such a great disrespect for the club and the game that they were prepared to set matches up for gamblers. A wedge was driven through the club.
Whether it is found to be true or not, the NRL owes it to the game of rugby league and fans everywhere to investigate allegations of match-fixing. There is no other claim that could hurt the game or any sport for that matter more than corruption. Not drugs. Not violence. Not sex. Not officiating. Not rationalisation. Not relocation. The reason is simple: match fixing undermines the core reason people watch sport. It gets at the fans who can argue away any other scandal. Match fixing has left boxing in a coma less than three generations after it was sat atop the sporting landscape. It contributed significantly to the decline in popularity of baseball. It continues to dog horse racing and harness racing. It has been rampant in Sumo wrestling. Tennis has been rocked by it over the last decade. And all those sports are somewhat marginalised. Boxing is the greatest example: what was once one of the most highly regarded sports in the world is now viewed as something so tainted that Sideshow Alley even cringes at it.
No sporting organisation can afford to let match fixing flourish. Rugby league is the most resilient of sports but match fixing is its kryptonite. When a sport gets the stink of corruption on it then it is all over: only the very lucky survive. The NRL needs to be vigilant in regards match fixing and come down heavy on those who may be involved. They can’t just ignore the issue, dismiss it as the whining of bookies and gamblers and then pretend there is nothing worth investigating. If they continue down this road of bones then we are all ******.
It is not just the NRL that needs to be worried about this and it is not always gambling related. Match fixing is obviously taking place in the AFL and it is condoned by the league. Melbourne tanked a number of games at the back half of the year as have other teams over the last decade in order to get a priority pick. If the AFL doesn’t address this significant integrity issue then it had better be prepared for the consequences.
This screed is not an indictment on legalised sports betting. Those, like crazed chicken ****ers such as Nick Xenophon, who suggest it is are ignorant fools who use some fluffed up moralistic argument calling for a prohibition of sports betting that serves no practical purpose other than to allow the perpetrators to get away with their skulduggery and the overseeing organisation to absolve themselves of any responsibility to get us to conform to their views of morality. Any prohibition on sports betting is simply not workable and at any rate, the moral police have no right to get us to conform to their moral code and stop us from wagering on racing and sports.
By focussing the debate on whether sports betting should be legal or illegal, the cheats who indulge in match fixing, point shaving and micro betting fear nothing. They slip through the cracks of a painful moral argument. A more realistic view needs to be taken. The NRL needs to get practical. They need to engage betting shops, employ people who understand the betting industry, analyse betting patterns, implement player education schemes and set up a punitive system of deterrence characterised by heavy penalties. Until then, match fixers will go unpunished.
Much like Phoenix, the NRL is at the crossroads. Get heavy or get ******. They are the only two options. And the last thing rugby league needs is to be wandering the streets, marginalised and sad, ready to do anything for any price. Integrity is king and the NRL must maintain it at all times.
If the NRL continues to sit on its hands then expect to see 'The Brothel' and Easy E and possibly the Roosters in the news again next August and September. Phoenix most likely won’t be there but the real whores, those players who sell out the game for a quick buck, will be there and likely ******* for free.
The Ageing Hooker and the Perversion of Point Shaving
“Phoenix” has been around the game a while. She is what most punters would call “a little world weary” but she has the street smarts lacking in her younger, more attractive rivals and she is considered a fun girl, a goer who doesn’t play the sad pumpkin and generally has a bit of sass about her. She knows her time at 'The Brothel' and probably any other similar establishment that would refer to itself as high class is coming to an end. She is approaching the crossroads and her options aren’t pretty. The choice between street walking and regular work after the “high life” of being a call girl is not a pleasant one and one most straight-laced folk couldn’t really comprehend in any meaningful away.
Those clients walking into 'The Brothel' on a Saturday morning, sometime around 3am, aren’t choosing Phoenix with the same regularity as two years ago or a year ago or even six months ago. Age is a cruel mistress, particularly for a hooker in tough economic times. She only seems to get the call when most of the other girls are off earning a buck or when she pulls a day shift and her competition isn’t nearly as strong. Even an ever-extending repertoire of new tricks hasn’t stopped the decline. The fork in the road is drawing near.
She still has her regulars though and that is what keeps her punching her card at the factory. Two of those regulars just happen to play for the Sydney Roosters. Phoenix doesn’t follow rugby league but she knows that the Roosters **** for free and that the man upstairs, Easy E, will make up the difference. One Rooster is only young and has a thing for rough sex with older women. The other has been around the league awhile and has few peculiarities despite his talking big when teammates are around, his bluster bigger than his bite. The latter is usually finished pretty quick but sees out the hour as he enjoys the companionship and is actually quite lonely, a man of many associates but few friends.
Phoenix has few problems with the latter but considers the former a misogynistic pig, even by the standards of brothel clientele. “He is always drunk. He is a degenerate gambler who is always broke. He calls all the girls sluts. He sent one to hospital when he slapped her around just a bit too much. We didn’t see her again but the sheets were covered in blood there was a hole in the wall. It was a real mess.”
Both of her Rooster regulars came by 'The Brothel' twice in the first week of September. The first time was on the Wednesday after a day at the track to honour retiring legend Craig Fitzgibbon. The two regulars and a few other Roosters came by, drunk and rowdy, sharing some beers and some girls after meeting with Easy E. The mood was celebratory despite the fact the Roosters were headed for the wooden spoon and had embarrassed the club all season with displays of ineptitude and stupidity on and off the field. The second was after the Roosters final game of the season, a dramatic 32-16 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys. Again the mood was surprisingly celebratory.
The Roosters had led 16-0 just before half-time and it appeared as if legend Craig Fitzgibbon would be sent out a winner. He may have not heard the rumours that a few key Roosters would be running dead in the second half. He may also have been oblivious to the huge sums of money wagered on the Cowboys to win the match by thirteen or more. The NRL certainly seemed oblivious or at least apathetic about the odd amounts of money coming from a source close to the Roosters and his bowlers being bet on the Cowboys touching up the Roosters.
Those at NRL head office may have paid little heed to the inordinate amount of cash coming for the relatively minor betting option coming from a man known colloquially as colourful but Phoenix certainly wasn’t. She is no footy fan and gambling has never been her go but she was prepared to head down to her local TAB on the Thursday afternoon before the match and have $1,500 on the Cowboys to win thirteen plus. After some pillow talk, the older Rooster worded her up the night before. It was Phoenix’s third bet in three weeks, all of which were against the Roosters. Her $1,500 on the Cowboys was her biggest ever wager.
North Queensland ended up winning by sixteen but only after scoring three tries in the last eight minutes on the back of a Roosters team that completed only 44% of their sets in the second half and missed 22 tackles in the final 40 minutes. All in the game that the Roosters were bidding farewell to one of the greatest players to ever pull on the club jersey. Any viewer who was aware of the betting that had gone on before the match seemed to think that the Roosters were running dead.
The post-match accusations played out as expected, aside from the fact the story has gained legs in the mainstream media and has reached the point where the NRL has been asked to give an explanation of the match, the betting and the integrity measures in place by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation. Usually these stories die out before they reach any sensible conclusion. The Roosters front office was furious that such allegations could be levelled at the club. The NRL, predictably, dismissed the charges naively, ignorantly saying that they can’t launch an investigation every time a bookmaker losses money. The Sydney Morning Herald have kept on the hammer of the story suggesting they know more than they are letting on and that this is far from over. Bookies have kept a calm head about things, alluding to the suspicious nature of the match without claiming outright that the game was fixed. It was the same song and the same dance that always gets a run when smoky suspicions of match-fixing reach the public domain.
Phoenix knew the score though. And so did any decent bookmaker worth their salt. The game was as hot as a car thief in Cairo. At the very least the match was worthy of investigation. Bookies lose big sums all every weekend and rarely cry foul. They only scream shenanigans when something does not seem to be on the up-and-up.
A number of Roosters showed up at 'The Brothel' after the final match of the year, ready to party with girls. The word from above is that the players could **** as many girls as they liked for free, no questions asked, no trouble given. Those who were missing tackles and dropping balls and giving away penalties and throwing stupid passes decided to get naked with a cadre of free whores rather than drown their sorrows with their teammates, the greatest of whom was walking away. It is believed that sometime after the match that accusations from one of those not running dead was levelled at another who supposedly was. The straight-up player was prepared to stomp a hole in anyone who had shown such a great disrespect for the club and the game that they were prepared to set matches up for gamblers. A wedge was driven through the club.
Whether it is found to be true or not, the NRL owes it to the game of rugby league and fans everywhere to investigate allegations of match-fixing. There is no other claim that could hurt the game or any sport for that matter more than corruption. Not drugs. Not violence. Not sex. Not officiating. Not rationalisation. Not relocation. The reason is simple: match fixing undermines the core reason people watch sport. It gets at the fans who can argue away any other scandal. Match fixing has left boxing in a coma less than three generations after it was sat atop the sporting landscape. It contributed significantly to the decline in popularity of baseball. It continues to dog horse racing and harness racing. It has been rampant in Sumo wrestling. Tennis has been rocked by it over the last decade. And all those sports are somewhat marginalised. Boxing is the greatest example: what was once one of the most highly regarded sports in the world is now viewed as something so tainted that Sideshow Alley even cringes at it.
No sporting organisation can afford to let match fixing flourish. Rugby league is the most resilient of sports but match fixing is its kryptonite. When a sport gets the stink of corruption on it then it is all over: only the very lucky survive. The NRL needs to be vigilant in regards match fixing and come down heavy on those who may be involved. They can’t just ignore the issue, dismiss it as the whining of bookies and gamblers and then pretend there is nothing worth investigating. If they continue down this road of bones then we are all ******.
It is not just the NRL that needs to be worried about this and it is not always gambling related. Match fixing is obviously taking place in the AFL and it is condoned by the league. Melbourne tanked a number of games at the back half of the year as have other teams over the last decade in order to get a priority pick. If the AFL doesn’t address this significant integrity issue then it had better be prepared for the consequences.
This screed is not an indictment on legalised sports betting. Those, like crazed chicken ****ers such as Nick Xenophon, who suggest it is are ignorant fools who use some fluffed up moralistic argument calling for a prohibition of sports betting that serves no practical purpose other than to allow the perpetrators to get away with their skulduggery and the overseeing organisation to absolve themselves of any responsibility to get us to conform to their views of morality. Any prohibition on sports betting is simply not workable and at any rate, the moral police have no right to get us to conform to their moral code and stop us from wagering on racing and sports.
By focussing the debate on whether sports betting should be legal or illegal, the cheats who indulge in match fixing, point shaving and micro betting fear nothing. They slip through the cracks of a painful moral argument. A more realistic view needs to be taken. The NRL needs to get practical. They need to engage betting shops, employ people who understand the betting industry, analyse betting patterns, implement player education schemes and set up a punitive system of deterrence characterised by heavy penalties. Until then, match fixers will go unpunished.
Much like Phoenix, the NRL is at the crossroads. Get heavy or get ******. They are the only two options. And the last thing rugby league needs is to be wandering the streets, marginalised and sad, ready to do anything for any price. Integrity is king and the NRL must maintain it at all times.
If the NRL continues to sit on its hands then expect to see 'The Brothel' and Easy E and possibly the Roosters in the news again next August and September. Phoenix most likely won’t be there but the real whores, those players who sell out the game for a quick buck, will be there and likely ******* for free.
