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Rugby league bosses are to investigate newspaper claims that two players put money on their own team to lose a Super League match.

The Daily Mail alleges St Helens and Great Britain stars Sean Long and Martin Gleeson won almost £1,000 each after betting Saints would lose to Bradford by at least nine points on Easter Monday.

A Rugby Football League spokesman told the paper: "Betting is against our rules.

"We will investigate whether the players have a case to answer and we'll take whatever steps are necessary."

Eleven Saints players missed the match where the Lancashire team were beaten 54-8.

Long said: "It was not my bet. I opened the account for my mate.

"He didn't have the money in his account so I just said I'd put the money on for him and, obviously, he would give me the money if he lost and I would give him the money if he won."

I can imagine the conversation at training this week

Long: Boss, can a few days off, I'm at
the salon this Monday, its the only time they
can fit me in?

Millward: Yeah, no worries Sean, I was going to let
you anyway, its part of my strategy.

Long: What is?

Millward: Well to get our new stadium, the board
have said that we need to put some of our
money in, so I need you to go and put a
bet on for me.(Hushed voices)We're
going to lose against Bradford. Shush!
Long: What!!!

Millward: I want you and Martin to go down to
Stanley Racing and put a bet on for us
to lose, the board will love it and I
promise I will pay for your lovely locks
to be braided again.They suited you so
much x
Long: Sure thing boss, be round later to show you
how it looks.

Martin & Sean hold hands and skip merrily doan Prescot Road to town to put the plan into action

Or something like that!!!!

Sorry, didn't see the Daily Mail mentioned - I was going to ask for the reference to be posted to keep the lawyers happy if this is untrue! Sounds like the kind of thing Stains would do, any kind of cheating seems ok to them.

On second thoughts, this appears to be copied directly from Sportinglife.com http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... tting.html. Can I ask that if people copy stories from other sites that they fully reference the fact, such as a link to the page or at least an acknowledgement of where the story came from? The material on SportingLife, BBC etc is copywrited and by pasting it into here without saying where it came from you are stealing their work and in the eyes of the law you are trying to pass it off as your own. The originators could then potentially cause problems with Mike over such thefts and maybe even force the site to be shut down.

More here...

http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.as ... 6546&list=

Hope the bookmaker isn't Stan James :exc: :eh:

This time of year always seems to be silly season for Saints, two years ago they fielded a daft side against Bradford just before Murrayfield last year there was the salary cap, the multitude of stories and rumours about the coach and players and now this year we have a repeat performance of an under strength team against Bradford and now this from these two cuckoo's who have done a great job in undoing all the hard graft that has gone into promoting rugby league by telling those who know nothing about the sport what a great game it is and how it should get more coverage in the press and media and what is the biggest rugby league news story to hit the nationals? Bjorn flippin' Long (allegedly) and his buddy putting shed loads of money on their team to lose. :doz: Thanks very much lads, well thought out!

It's not Sean Long's fault really... he thought Stan James and William Hill were famous hairdressers - hence the obvious attraction for him!!! (LOL)

Seriously you pies! Although it seems long and Gleeson may have had a bet on their teams outcome because of their insider information, which is common in sports betting and eccepted (TIPS). They didn't actually play so they were in no position to have an effect on the final outcome for their own gain. (eg):- Its the same as a race horse owner legally betting his own horse to lose but not the jockey, who is in the position to effect the outcome of the race. Technically Gleeson and Long are in effect playing the same role as the horse owner, thus not breaking any legal laws. I don't condone what they have done because of the ungamesmanship they have delt upon the fans that support them to win every game. A big fine and a lengthy suspension would be a fair result, to sign the players high for this would be too harsh and a negative for the game...No matter how much we hate the Saints

I think you will find that Martin Gleeson did play in the Bradford match. :exc:

primrose-n-blue posted:
Seriously you pies! Although it seems long and Gleeson may have had a bet on their teams outcome because of their insider information, which is common in sports betting and eccepted (TIPS). They didn't actually play so they were in no position to have an effect on the final outcome for their own gain. (eg):- Its the same as a race horse owner legally betting his own horse to lose but not the jockey, who is in the position to effect the outcome of the race. Technically Gleeson and Long are in effect playing the same role as the horse owner, thus not breaking any legal laws. I don't condone what they have done because of the ungamesmanship they have delt upon the fans that support them to win every game. A big fine and a lengthy suspension would be a fair result, to sign the players high for this would be too harsh and a negative for the game...No matter how much we hate the Saints

Just come out of Mr Smith's have you? Up until now P&B I had a lot of time for you and enjoyed having you come on here and whilst I know what you are getting at if you seriously think what these two have (allegedly) done is okay then you are as stupid as them have you not read the statement of the RFL where it says that betting is specifically prohibited by players? We may all know it goes on but its not exactly clever to do it in their own names is it and I also don't buy this story about 'I did it for a mate' if his mate couldn't afford to open a betting account how the hell was he ever going to afford the thousand pound stake money if by some chance the bet had "gone wrong" and while I'm at it - who has ever mentioned sine die? I certainly haven't and can't see anyone else has on here, in fact the only place that theme is really running is on the Saints own board so just try and get that chip off your shoulder before tomorrow. I can just imagine how unbearable you are going to be if your team do manage to finally beat us tomorrow and don't worry we know it has to come sometime - just hope its not for another 20 years or so.

stupid thing to do.. & it makes our sport look bad for al the outsiders... or curious fans wanting to get into the game.. should be delt with swiftly & harshly..