NRL ignored advice to establish betting integrity division Former NRL and now current FFA chief executive David Gallop, left, with current NRL boss David Smith. THE NRL has been blamed for its part in the corruption scandal that has rocked Australian sport with revelations the game ignored advice to establish a betting integrity division two years ago. While our top sporting codes go into damage control over explosive claims organised crime syndicates are using illegal drugs to lure athletes into match-fixing, The Daily Telegraph has obtained a copy of a confidential proposal put to former NRL boss David Gallop in February 2011. The document was put together by the former head of the TAB Warren Wilson and Peter Kadar, who was the TAB's former chief executive of wagering. They met with Gallop in early 2011 with a plan that clearly warned of the threat betting had on the reputation and integrity of rugby league - and how the game was being denied potential earnings of more than $100 million. "If they did what we told them to do they would have no bloody problems today," a clearly angry Wilson said. Gallop would not comment yesterday, saying it was no longer his place to talk about rugby league but it is believed the NRL board played a part in knocking back the proposal. Wilson is one of Australia's most respected sporting administrators and now CEO of the Panthers Group. Since 2004 he has worked with Kadar along with former TAB executives Michael Cleary and Les Vance on a plan to help all codes win their share of the world-wide sports betting explosion. For eight years their advice was ignored. What we were proposing in 2004 was to deliver to the NRL, the FFA, AFL etc, 1 1/2 per cent of what was bet on their sports on an annual basis,' Kadar explained. We met with David on numerous occasions. We met with soccer, cricket, tennis, netball, AFL and a couple of other minority sports. But we really couldn't get anywhere without the NRL. They put their idea on the backburner until 2010 when they decided it was time to have another crack at winning over Gallop, in the wake of the Ryan Tandy betting scandal. Late 2010 my colleagues and I were discussing the fact that there had been enormous scandals in soccer in Italy, France and Spain etc. and it would be naive of anybody to think it wasn't occurring here in Australia,' Kadar added. We then developed a proposal and in early 2011 we went and saw David Gallop, again re-invigorating the 2004 proposal, and adding to that a major component being setting up an integrity unit to monitor the betting agencies. It was not just about using a baseball bat approach but also developing a team of people who would go out to clubs and talk to the players, educate the players, educate the staff and all involved in the issues of betting and what their responsibilities are and what the ramifications are in the event they breached it. Once again we just got nowhere with David. There was not much feedback. Racing NSW jumped on the idea and reaped huge benefits. "As you know, Racing NSW ran with it long after 2004," Kadar said. They followed this proposal somehow and now they are reaping huge benefits. I would suggest to you that between 2005 and today (the NRL) have probably foregone $120 million to $130 million. It's only logical sports that are putting on the event should get a return as has happened in thoroughbred racing. And a small portion of that could be utilised for the purpose of setting up an integrity unit and making sure not only that the sport is protected but the licensed betting operators who operate under the highest integrity are also protected. And you can't forget who also suffers in all this and that is the average punter out there, they end up being the collateral damage. Asked if it made him angry to see the scandal now engulfing Australian sport, Wilson said: "Yep. Two of the blokes that were party to this working model, we were talking yesterday and we were laughing our heads off. Gallop is not the only one, they went and saw every other sport and now it should be taken out of their hands and it should be done by the legislators. An NRL spokesman said last night: "The NRL is focused very much on having an internal integrity unit ... out-sourcing an integrity unit is not something that we are looking at."