Sheens accused of intimidating ref

Updated November 06, 2011 14:50:50

England coach Steve McNamara has accused Tim Sheens of intimidating referee Henry Perenara following his side's 36-20 Four Nations defeat by Australia at Wembley Stadium on Sunday morning.

McNamara was furious that Kangaroos back rower Tony Williams was not sent off following a high shot on Ben Westwood midway through the second half.

Williams was placed on report for the incident, and will learn his fate when the international match review committee meets on Monday.

McNamara was also incensed at Perenara's decision not to award a try to Tom Briscoe, or consult the video referee, when the score was 18-8.

The Kiwi official called a double movement against the winger, but TV replays showed his elbow had not touched the ground as he lurched for the line to score.

"It was a wrong decision, poor decision, as simple as that," McNamara said.

"As I believe was the decision not to send off Tony Williams. That was a dead-set red card. No two ways about that.

"We would never ever use the officials as a reason why we never won that match this week.

"But the unfair influence at the start of the week by Tim Sheens and the rest of his staff - the pressure that that referee must have been put under - I think is wrong.

"For me it is a straight send-off as he has hit him right across the top of the head and it is a sending-off offence.

"We had Adrian Morley sent off a few years ago about 16 seconds in, there are a lot of examples. Shaun Edwards quite a few years back on this same ground."

Sheens denied McNamara's claims and said his comments earlier in the week were only outlining his disappointment at the way English referee Phil Bentham refereed his side's win over New Zealand last week.

"I didn't talk about the referee at all. I spoke after last week's game that I was disappointed in that particular game," Sheens said.

"I have said nothing in that respect about this week's game.

"I don't think it was a send-off, but of course I am the Australia coach."

Williams, who scored one of his side's six tries, denied the challenge was intentional and said he and Westwood had spoken after the game and there were no hard feelings.

"To be honest, I hit his shoulder and I slipped. I don't think there's anything wrong with that," Williams said.

"It was accidental and that is all it was, their players didn't say anything to me at the time, me and Westwood swapped shorts at the end of the game, and it's all good."

Luke Lewis, Paul Gallen, Chris Lawrence, Darius Boyd and Greg Inglis also scored tries as the Kangaroos booked their place in the final.

However, their hopes of winning the tournament for the first time since 2009 received a huge blow when Billy Slater broke his collarbone in the 11th minute.

Slater will now miss the rest of the competition.

AAP

Tags: rugby-league, sport, england, australia

First posted November 06, 2011 13:06:35

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NRL curtails gambling opportunities, but AFL accused of paying lip-service

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The National Rugby League has issued strict new guidelines for clubs about how they can promote gambling.

Experts have applauded its attempt at gambling reform, but have criticised the AFL for only paying "lip-service" to the issue.

Today, Collingwood Football Club's being criticised for running a competition encouraging supporters to place a bet.

Anna Hipsley reports.

ANNA HIPSLEY: The NRL has moved to prevent a number of betting types and banned the updating of live odds at games.

From Round 14, there won't be any bets placed on the first points scored in the second half and other exotic bets will be curtailed.

Monash University Gambling researcher Charles Livingstone.

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE: I mean you might say it's closing the stable door after the horse has bolted but on the other hand a couple of the things that they've announced do go towards providing more protection both to the integrity of the game, and in my view the more important aspect, which is helping protect people from getting sucked into a gambling problem.

ANNA HIPSLEY: Logos will be banned on clothing promoted to children. There'll also be restrictions on stadium naming rights for junior clinics.

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE: But on the other hand of course they haven't said that they're going to stop advertising or sponsorship and indeed if you go to the front page of the NRL website in the top right hand corner there is a big fat add for SportsBet, so they're a bit conflicted I think but I think they've got a long way to go before they can claim that they're acting out of concern for the well being of their supporters, because they're not at the moment really.

ANNA HIPSLEY: Can sporting codes extricate themselves from sports betting agencies, given they're so intimately linked? I mean you've only got four AFL clubs that don't have some association with a betting agency.

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE: Certainly they will have contractual relationships which they may find difficult to get out of, but I think it's certainly open to them to say that they're going to withdraw their participation from such sponsorship arrangements.

ANNA HIPSLEY: It's exactly that sort of contractual arrangement which is causing headaches for Collingwood Football Club.

TAB Sportsbet, a major sponsor of the Magpies since 2009, is currently offering fans the chance to win a seat in the coach's box if they place a $5 bet.

The promotion's part of an existing contract TAB Sportsbet has with Collingwood.

Craig Nugent is Tabcorps managing director for sports betting

CRAIG NUGENT: Look I think it's right for people to ask the questions and right for people to have the views. We're looking to participate in a good discussion on what needs to be appropriately addressed going forward and if there's need for some modification in terms of the way it's promoted we're happy to sit down with all of the stakeholders and discuss that fully and appropriately in a detailed way.

ANNA HIPSLEY: On his breakfast radio show this morning, Collingwood CEO Eddie McGuire defended the arrangement.

EDDIE MCGUIRE: When you do a deal with people you actually have to give them something for the money.

ANNA HIPSLEY: But gambling researcher Charles Livingstone doesn't buy that argument.

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE: As with tobacco in the '80s, there was a lot of talk that the game would collapse without the money that comes from these sources; well they didn't collapse, in fact they went from strength to strength.

Yes they are engaged in commercial arrangements with these betting companies and so on but they can certainly withdraw from the, within a year I would have thought they'd be able to get out of these commercial arrangements.

And it's not as though they are providing very significant amounts of money; as I understand it the amount that the AFL is making out of the gambling sponsorship is a couple of million. Now when you consider that their broadcast rights deal with something like one-and-a-quarter billion, this is a very insignificant amount of money.

ANNA HIPSLEY: Collingwood's certainly not alone in signing on with a betting agency. More than three-quarters of the AFL's 17 clubs have some affiliation with casinos or betting agencies. Six clubs actively promote betting on their club website.

Eddie McGuire says his club has taken a responsible position on gambling.

EDDIE MCGUIRE: We don't have any association with betting on our websites, so we don't have Magpie bet. A lot of clubs do and that's a commercial decision.

ANNA HIPSLEY: AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has also raised concerns about the impact of gambling ads on children and publicly backed the Government's push last week to ban live odds during games and curb promotion at grounds.

But anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello say it's just lip-service.

TIM COSTELLO: You can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. I certainly think the AFL needs to recognise that they are under the lamp of public scrutiny and no-one actually believes what they're saying if they don't take some action on this.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello ending Anna Hipsley's report.

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