The Perth Glory affair has escalated to a very dangerous place after the head of the A-League, Damien de Bohun, .
For a brief moment after the sanction of finishing seventh was handed down, I thought this might be the reason why it hadn't been consigned to last, i just hoped not for the sake of the game.
For FFA to admit as much is unprecedented and has become a case study in why the separation between gambling and sport should always be maintained.
"Many neutrals called for Perth to be banished to 10th place with zero points," De bohun wrote. "This outcome carries a problem in the integrity of the competition for those who have wagered bets on the outcome of the wooden spoon.
"FFA has licensing agreement with several major betting agencies. Placing Perth in 10th was deemed to be more problematic than the exclusion sanction and the by-product of a 7th place.
"Some may have wagered on a Perth wooden spoon in recent weeks in trying to pre-empt the FFA's determination. An unsatisfactory situation."
It appears the positions of the bottom four in this season's A-League have been at least partly decided by betting agencies, in order that they avoid having to settle bets on the wooden spoon.
That is unbelievable.
Those with a sharp sense of humor - just about everyone in football - are joking that from now on the betting agencies will be determining all ten league positions in order to limit their exposure at the end of each season.
As so often happens in life, satire's temerity to take events to their extreme cleverly serves to highlight both the absurdity, and the danger, of the precedent that has been set.
I have been an ardent critic of gambling and sport working too closely together, for this very reason, as well as the undue influence on kids when watching the game they love while being bombarded by odds.
The message is subliminal and powerful: don't just watch the game, kids, have a flutter to increase your enjoyment, its part of the whole experience.
This is not to moralise about gambling per se, we merely have an obligation not to push it on the kids who follow their heroes on the field of play.
Advertising is one thing, exerting a direct influence over decision-making by a governing body pertaining to a professional competition is entirely another.
Firstly, any betting agency knows full well that a professional competition containing a salary cap can be, and often is subject to cap breaches, and the instances of clubs being penalised by the stripping of all points are numerous.
Therefore, the betting company's financial exposure would factor this in. It is the agency's prerogative and its alone. Otherwise, don't take bets on the wooden spoon.
This risk certainly can never be the game's to shoulder.
The A-League's administration must be completely free of influence by any commercial partners, and based on what is in the best interests of the game, league and clubs in that order.
Nothing else can be allowed to intervene. If it does, the partnership is definitively unsuitable. Surely, that is the only test that should be applied? We must be very careful, regardless of the league's thirst for funds, to never sell the soul of the game.
There is some suggestion that FFA could have been subjected to legal challenges had it relegated Glory to last, by those with (in)vested interests on the Wanderers or Jets finishing last.
Well, they should have known this when they accepted commercial consideration from gambling companies. Since when did the integrity of the game have a price?
Equally, those that bet on Glory to finish last after reading of the alleged breach also acted in good faith so, as usually happens where gambling is concerned, no one wins. Except the betting companies, that is. This time, the game is the ultimate loser.
Integrity, as far as I amaware, means acting on principle in a spirit of what is ethically and morally right regardless of the consequences, positive or negative. This is anything but.
Apologies to Glory fans, I do feel for you at an emotional and difficult time, but the ethically right course of action was for your team to be relegated to last, irrespective of the ramifications for any commercial partner.
Unfortunately, integrity has been the casualty in a situation that has become an unwelcome distraction from the finals.
I do have some sympathy for De Bohun, whose hands were tied the minute the governing body took money from betting agencies. Nevertheless this precedent is extremely dangerous as who knows what further influence will be exerted in similar situations in future, and to what detriment?
Football, and indeed all sport, needs to examine whether such negative consequences of associating too closely with the gambling industry preclude doing so, and this case stands as a cautionary tale for the game, and the industry moving forward.
The bottom four places have been decided by commercial interests. Not on the field of play or in accordance with sporting principles of fairness. Whatever the cheque that was banked, the game is all the poorer.
