darinsullivan.blogspot.com: Rabs and Gus show ignorance on issues outside footy

When more than a million people tuned in to watch Nine's coverage of the NRL preliminary final at Sydney Football Stadium last Friday night, it's doubtful they were expecting to be drawn into a Canberra bunfight.

But at halftime of the match between Manly and Brisbane that's exactly what they got, as unlikely political lobbyists Ray Warren and Phil Gould weighed in to the debate on poker machine reform.

The pair were clearly concerned about the impact mandatory pre-commitment plans would have on the bottom line of the code's poker machine-fuelled leagues clubs, the financial backbone of rugby league. And they were determined to send Andrew Wilkie and the federal government a message.

"Not only has the Manly Football Club been doing great work on the field this season," began Warren, in a clearly-planned minute-long editorial. "They've also been very busy working with the community off the field with significant funding from the Manly Leagues Club and Harbord Diggers, for whom a lot of these kids played."

Warren went on to list some programs run by the Manly Sea Eagles and paid for by pokies, before describing the mandatory pre-commitment technology as "untested".

"Yeah, the proposed mandatory pre-commitment that they've put forward is a rubbish policy," agreed Gould, as the players ran back on to the field for the second half. "It won't work. It won't solve the problem they say they're going to target, and it will do irreparable damage to the hospitality industry. It won't work and it will hurt."

"And that's an endorsement," finished Warren.

The "it won't work and it will hurt" line mirrors the message coming from key lobby group Clubs Australia, the most vehement opponent of Wilkie's reforms. Clubs Australia believes mandatory pre-commitment will ruin the pubs and clubs who thrive on poker machine dollars.

Channel Nine also included a link to the Clubs Australia website, which Warren and Gould urged concerned fans to visit. Clubs NSW has also uploaded the editorial to YouTube.

A spokesperson for Clubs Australia says Friday night's prime endorsement was not paid for and came off Channel Nine's own bat. The network had contacted Clubs Australia earlier in the week to say they planned to give them a plug, but that was all the information given.

"I think it reflects how much impact the mandatory pre commitment technology would have on the NRL and junior sport," a Clubs Australia spokesperson told The Power Index.

It's the latest salvo in an ongoing stoush, as rugby league becomes a key battleground in the poker machine debate in New South Wales. NRL leagues clubs are some of the most profitable poker machine venues in the country.

Last year the Parramatta Leagues Club earned $43.4 million in revenue from its pokies, while the Bulldogs Leagues Club raked in $69.5 million. The clubs say that without this cash community groups, including rugby league clubs, would suffer.

A former captain of the Canterbury Bulldogs, Steve Mortimer, has even been drafted on by Clubs Australia to sell "It's Un-Australian" campaign. MPs with powerful leagues clubs in their electorate are being lobbied behind the scenes.

They also have a key backer in the NRL, whose CEO David Gallop says the reforms will "severely damage rugby league and other community sports".

Warren's comments on Friday are also interesting in the context of his recent admission that he believed gambling had cost him a better life and that it annoyed him when problem gambling was "swept under the rug".

But for whom Warren and Gould were speaking on this occasion is unclear. Was it on behalf of the network or the commentary team? Or were they just personal statements? Channel Nine did not respond to an emailed list of questions.

But what is clear is that Channel Nine has an interest in the code surviving and prospering. As the primary commercial TV broadcaster, they have been a key partner of rugby league for years.

And if the NRL is right and mandatory pre-commitment see its clubs lose an estimated $144.4 million of revenue a year, then there might not be much left to broadcast.

Much of Nine's popular programming in New South Wales and Queensland relies on rugby league and plenty of their key identities have links to clubs desperate to see their leagues clubs continue to bring in poker machine dollars.

Gould is a key Penrith Panthers identity, having been recently installed as football operations manager. Last year the Penrith Leagues Club took home more than $90 million from poker machines.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he was appalled at the comments by Warren and Gould. He says such comments are evidence that the pokies industry is prepared to "say and do anything to protect its profits".

"If the commentators had wanted to join the reform discussion during the game, they would have served the public interest by laying out the facts of the debate instead of the patent nonsense they subjected sports lovers to," he told The Power Index.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon agrees. He's been backing Wilkie's efforts for poker machine reform and reckons commentators should stick to the game.

"They should get their facts straight. They should talk about how 40% of revenue made by clubs comes from problem gamblers," he told The Power Index.

"Commentators have a big audience and they need to be responsible about what they say – calling the reforms 'stupid', which will seriously address problem gambling in Australia, is quite simply irresponsible."