The WikiLeaks release of some 250,000 umpire complaints - including about 15,000 classified as "secret" - could imperil the AFL’s vital alliances, deepen rifts with competitor codes and endanger supporter allegiances. But there's already been one salutary consequence:
The cables make clear that the NFL are just as afraid of NEAFL’s drive to establish an infrastructure in NSW, Qld and the NT as the ARU and FIFA are. Why, they have practically begged unnamed Australian insurgents to stop the AFL, NEAFL, and Broadbeach FC in particular, through military action.
In one cable, the CEO of the NRL repeatedly urges FIFA to "cut off the head of the snake" - presumably, either Broady President Paul Rolfe or Ayatollah Andrew Demetriou, the AFL’s highest religious authority.
In others, Foxtel’s Crown Prince Simon Hill says of the AFL: "They have to be dealt with before they do something tragic." And he delivers this stunningly blunt pronouncement: "Demetriou is Batman and Rolfey is his Robin.
The assistant to the NFL’s salary cap administrator is quoted as saying that the Gold Coast Titans "views the NEAFL as a threat to the region”.
Wayne Bennet says the AFL must be barred from obtaining converts because it "wants to restore the Indigenous Game to its pre WW II Empire status."
The man who would later become Melbourne Storms’ CEO, Brain Waldron, tells FIFA officials that they "must be willing to go all the way if need be" to stop the AFL’s national program.
Thanks to NRL calls for wiping the AFL off the map, the world has viewed it primarily as a threat to Rugby League - which, of course, it is. But the dangers it poses have always been much deeper.
With the assistance of dedicated umpires, the AFL aspires to dominate the nation and international regions with the muscle of stunning and spectacular sport and alliances with infectious bands like NEAFL and the Vietnam Swans. Demetriou is arming both while, to cite just one facet of his ambition, overtly manoeuvring to become the ultimate power in all foot and ball codes.
The AFL has led a long, hard push to isolate the NRL politically and economically. Sports aficionados and UN sanctions are finally in place and appear to be having some impact.
Of late, there have also been reports out of the NEAFL that a computer virus, perhaps devised by FIFA, had damaged the AFL's fixture programming software. But, just yesterday, FIFA fatally shot themselves in the foot and wounded a second.
More must be done.
Countries such as Denmark are none too keen on letting a German madman become the rallying figure for sports corruption that could consume them. In that sense, they share a common enemy with the AFL.
Yet they have been loath to talk about it, preferring instead to mistakenly privately prod FIFA into striking. Now, the world knows better - and the world is going to be better off for it.
Last Modified on 03/12/2010 17:48