By: EFL CEO Phil Murton
Last week, the Eastern Football League joined with AFL Victoria and a host of other football leagues across Victoria in helping to raise awareness of the Victorian Responsible Gambling’s Foundation ‘Love The Game‘ sporting club program.
The message is ‘Love The Game, Not The Odds’. Clubs such as Bayswater, Wantirna South, Waverley Blues and Nunawading are already on board to educate their players.
Our partnership with the VRGF is one we are very proud of. With a website that has in excess of 15 million page views per year, the League has at times in the past had the opportunity to benefit financially from this form of advertising. The Board made a conscious decision to not accept this given our constituency and commitment to providing a safe and welcoming environment across all or media channels.
With the current prevalence in gambling advertising and easy access through online accounts, we think the ‘Love The Game‘ program is a great fit for the League and our clubs to be part of to educate young men and women on the risks and pitfalls associated with gambling. Combined with the Good Sports Program and other initiatives clubs are running, it sends a strong message to the community on the environment our clubs are trying to create for the young people involved.
It’s a program that doesn’t say don’t bet, but just think about when and how much, an important message given the opportunities for gambling these days. For a club to sign up to the Charter, apart from not being sponsored by a betting organisation, the main feature they have to commit to is having a short education session for their players.
As you go about your business this week, I encourage you to take some notice of the amount of times you see or hear advertising related to gambling. It’s not until you consciously look for it that you realise how prevalent it is. And it’s the impact that this significant subconscious exposure has that is the unknown concern for us all, given many are in mediums that young people can and do access.
I gave it a try last week. Going about my normal daily business, I heard or saw gambling advertising an extraordinary 40 times throughout the day. Much of that time, such as driving in the car or watching the footy, my three young boys were with me. In what may be a sign of things to come, I read recently that the Italian government had put a blanket ban on all forms of gambling advertising.
We’ve all read the unfortunate high-profile stories of problem-gambling involving former AFL players David Schwarz, Brendan Fevola, Brent Guerra, Daniel Ward and Daryn Cresswell. It would be naïve to think stories like these aren’t happening amongst our friends and teammates.
As people who know me would attest, I’m no wowser. While I’ve never been a big punter, I enjoy the occasional bet and odd day at the races, am a member of the MRC at Mornington and try to attend a few race meetings over the summer. But since being involved with the VRGF, my awareness of gambling advertising has increased and has shocked me. As my little experiment last week showed me that the saturation and normalisation of gambling advertising is mind blowing. Something needs to change or something will give.
If you or someone you know has a problem with gambling, you can call Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858 or Gambler’s Help Youthline on 1800 262 376.