Overall, the AFL position – as put forward by CEO Gillon McLachlan – has been that the mistake was primarily a matter of human error, with the goal umpire adamant in his judgment that the ball hit the post. More crucially, he did not call for a review that would have corrected the error.
The AFL did not believe there was any issue with the technology in the Adelaide-Sydney mistake, and that the problem was that the goal umpire had chosen not to apply the technology.
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The league ruled out overturning the result of the match, drawing a distinction between a mistake made with time remaining on the clock for the scores to change again, and the infamous “Sirengate” episode of 2006.
On that occasion the umpires did not hear the siren with Fremantle leading St Kilda and the AFL Commission later awarded the match to the Dockers.
McLachlan has defended the league’s under-fire ARC system, saying the behind to Keays would have been overturned if the goal umpire had reviewed the kick.
“It was a goal umpiring decision that should have been reviewed and that was a mistake. I want to say conclusively that if the decision had been reviewed it would have been overturned, and it would have been a goal,” he said on Sunday.
“It’s a human error that happens repeatedly through games across the course of the year, but this is an error that, given the context and the moment, was of great consequence and I want to acknowledge there was a mistake and take accountability for the mistake on behalf of the league.”
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Had the result been overturned, betting agencies could have faced an added combined payout of more than $1 million for win-only bets had they agreed to a “goodwill payout”.
The result of a match is declared final on the day of the game, allowing betting agencies to pay winnings to their customers, in much the same way correct weight is called after a horse race.
However, two sources at different agencies who could only comment on the condition of anonymity because they were not officially allowed to discuss betting issues, said agencies could have agreed to a “goodwill payout” had the AFL overturned the result. Under this condition, winnings would have been paid to those who had backed the Swans and Crows.
Whether the winnings of multi-bets would have been paid out remained unclear, the two sources said.
They estimated the combined payout would have been in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, with the possibility it was “north of one million dollars”.
