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Whistle blows on Murray, but is it halftime or fulltime?

Anthony Sharwood

by Anthony Sharwood

08 Jul 05:55am

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Filed under: Blogs, Fifa, Les Murray, Sbs, Soccer, Sport, World Cup Bid

40 comments

Les Murray was doing what Les Murray does better than anyone last weekend.

A body language expert might tell you he's being a bit defensive

On SBS’s Women’s World Cup Show, he was pronouncing the unpronounceable, and enthusing over the prospects of one of Australia’s national teams – in this case, our women’s team, the Matildas.

In the ad breaks, there he was again, promoting his latest book. That book has gotten him into all sorts of trouble lately, due to alleged inaccuracies surrounding Murray’s claim that Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill led a players’ revolt against coach Pim Verbeek at the 2010 World Cup.

Despite Murray’s MacAvaneyesque enthusiasm for all things soccer, there are some who find him dry, humourless and a little hard to digest. But that’s just a style thing. After last night’s 7.30 Report, many will today be questioning the substance of the man too.

As Leigh Sales said in her intro: “Journalists and columnists allege they’ve been under pressure to write pieces supporting Australia’s World Cup bids. They say some of the pressure has been coming from veteran broadcaster Les Murray, the editorial supervisor at SBS Sport and a member of FIFA’s Ethics Committee.”

There are several disgruntled figures at play here, but chief among them is football writer and blogger Jesse Fink, who was employed by SBS’s website The World Game for four years, before his contract was terminated last week.

I should disclose at this point that I have known Jesse for 10 years. He can be an abrasive person with a knack for getting into verbal fights, but he is a well-credentialled journalist who was a finalist in the 2003 Walkley Awards with an investigative piece on the people who sell cricket memorabilia.

Here’s a nice irony. Les Murray was one of the three judges who chose Fink as a finalist back in 2003. But let’s return to the present day.

Last night on 7.30, Fink claimed things started to change for him at SBS when he began writing pieces that were critical of the Australian World Cup bid and the Australian World Cup bid strategy.

Last night’s report revolved around an email sent by Les Murray to some SBS staff in 2008. In the email, Murray took issue with some of the negative comments which had been made about the World Cup bid. He wrote:

“It is not a good look if we - SBS - the most powerful voice in football appear to talk down the bid or declare it stillborn. Given that the bid has great support in Australia… my preferred editorial policy would be to support it…”

Fink says he was appalled by this, even though Murray went on to say in the email that “this is not to say we shouldn’t broadcast the facts or that we shouldn’t give it [the bid] balanced debate”.

Murray wouldn’t be interviewed for the show and strongly denies any impropriety, but SBS issued the following statement.

“SBS refutes the suggestion that Les Murray instructed SBS staff to have no regard for impartiality in relation to the Australian bid to host the World Cup, nor did he instruct staff to report negatively on other nation’s bids.”

Then 7.30 revealed another email, in which Murray suggested Fink write a piece on the US bid. He said he couldn’t do it himself as a member of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, but encouraged Fink to respond to “this Gulati clown” in a blog.

Gulati was the then president of the US soccer federation. Needless to say, Fink never wrote the column.

The show continued, with more blank denials from SBS. “Mr Fink has expressed a range of views on matters relating to FIFA, the FFA and football generally, none of which were curtailed at the direction of Les Murray,” they said.

But the bottom line is this: Jesse Fink believes he had something less than pure editorial freedom.

7.30 reports that Murray sent a reminder email saying “we are not permitted to defame FIFA officials”. That email was in relation to Mohammed Bin Hammam, the would-be FIFA boss who quit May’s presidential race hours before fronting an inquiry into corruption.

But the moment that really riled Fink was the day he had a column sent to Football Federation Australia (FFA) for “fact checking”. SBS says it was indeed for fact checking, not “approval”. Those kind of semantics just make Jesse Fink laugh.

A long, fresh rant appeared on Fink’s website overnight entitled “Why I Blew the Whistle”. It’s nearly 1,500 words but the salient two paragraphs are these:

SBS Sport, as a news service not a PR arm for the FFA or FIFA, should have been fighting for truth and accountability. It spends our money, after all.

Taxpayers spent $45.6 million on the World Cup bid and in my view SBS Sport protected that waste of money from critical examination.

Whether Fink is right or wrong about that – and lawyers may have the last say – it’s safe to assume that life will not be the same for Les Murray after this. Not for a while anyway.

The most recognisable face in Australian soccer will now be seen by some as a man whose passion led him to be heavy-handed. A man who overstepped certain boundaries in the name of promoting the game he loves.

No one doubts that Murray has Australian soccer’s best interests at heart. The game is his life, after all.

But his friendship and professional support for colourful lobbyist Peter Hargitay - who was on Australia’s World Cup bid – has rung alarm bells for some.

Most commented

40 comments

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    • Al says:

      07:50am | 08/07/11

      Jesse has been getting a very fair run at SBS with his pretty consistently negative pieces. If Murray was trying to silence him, he wasn’t doing a very good job at it. I’ve been reading Fink’s blogs for a long time. He was getting tiresome to read of late, i’m glad they haven’t renewed his deal. Many football writers here are fixated on politics and seem to spend very little time analysing the stuff that actually happens on the pitch.

      Reply

    • CM says:

      10:28am | 08/07/11

      Totally agree, Al.
      Fink was all about the doom and gloom and I had stopped reading. Perhaps that’s why his contract was terminated. People had simply had enough.

    • fml says:

      11:16am | 08/07/11

      Yep,

      Sometimes you have to let renegades go. When personality becomes bigger than the goal. A cavalier approach may not always be in the best interest.

    • Mahhrat says:

      07:56am | 08/07/11

      Nothing like the approach of retirement to really bring out the worst in people.  I see it in my own job, at club level, and now it looks like we’re seeing it here.

      Nobody can know ‘for sure’, but gee there are a lot of people just a short period from retirement who are throwing spanners into works.

      Reply

    • Justin says:

      08:42am | 08/07/11

      The problem is that Les Murray wears 2 very prominent hats. He’s both part of the FIFA cabal & head of SBS sport. For a broadcasting operation that so heavily covers soccer, that’s a massive conflict of interest. It’s only because it’s soccer & it’s SBS that this isn’t up in lights everywhere.

      That Les doesn’t see it that way is symptomatic of the attitudes within FIFA in regards to governance.

      Johnny Warren used to cut through the BS as a counterpoint to Les, now we have Fffffffozzy furiously agreeing with him.

      Reply

    • S.L says:

      09:08am | 08/07/11

      Us “older” soccer fans remember when the only round ball program we got was Match of the Day with Brian Moore (cue in that iconic theme!) on the ABC. The commercial stations refused point blank to give soccer any airtime. The only live match we got was the FA Cup Final.
      Then along came SBS and good old Les Murray! Pre Foxtel he was our face of Association Football and all of a sudden we were watching competitions we’d never heard of (including our local game).
      Yes he can waffle on but no more than the channel nine league talking heads.
      I like old Les!

      Reply

    • Observer says:

      09:52am | 08/07/11

      I too remember Match of the Day. I lived in Perth between 1972 and 1993 and can remember the day SBS arrived in our lounge room. I rang my brother and proudly announced ‘It’s like living in Europe! Football and Sex!’

    • George Best says:

      12:38pm | 08/07/11

      Sorry to nitpick but Moore never presented MOTD…that was Jimmy Hill or David Coleman (back in the 70s/80s).  Moore’s sho was the Big Match.
      While I admire Les’s passion for the game, he is humourless and his commentary is very average.

    • S.L says:

      02:05pm | 08/07/11

      Apologies George you are correct. Memories fade as time goes by…....

    • fml says:

      09:36am | 08/07/11

      Bit upset are you Ant?

      Les have a wee go at your mate? is finky crying in his cornflakes now?

      Football is and has been in a precarious position in this country, fighting for tv time and respect from the mainstream. Its all too cynical to pop in late in the game and criticize everyone. People like Johnny Warren and Les Murray have fought for football’s survival their entire lives, Why the hell shouldnt they be protective of it? Finky complains about the cost of the bid, It obviously wasnt enough because we didnt offer any bribes.

      Yes we lost out on the bid, but in todays sceptical, dollar driven world negative criticism about the bid is going to drive mainstream interests away. The last thing we want is to have to wait another 20 years and another Johnny and Les for another bid.

      Reply

    • M says:

      09:58am | 08/07/11

      fml, you and Al have it right. Fink’s columns on the World Game website for at least the last 6 months have been nothing but vitriolic and negative of everything FFA and FIFA. He wasn’t winning any friends at all in the public with his predictable and unbalanced rants. Yes, FFA has made some incredibly poor decisions over the last 7-8 years, but Fink rarely seemed to bother to explore why or offer valid alternatives. I’m not surprised he finally stepped on a few too many toes at SBS. Moreover, I don’t think it’s surprising to hear that he and Les were often at loggerheads. Les hasn’t always been supportive of the FFA or FIFA either, but he and Johnny did bring football into the mainstream. It’s his baby. While I agree with Justin that there often isn’t a counterpoint to Les’ opinions on SBS, at least there is someone on Australian free-to-air TV who has always been willing to give football airtime. I doubt that Fink’s treatment would have been any worse were he writing similar pieces about rugby league while working for channel 9 or AFL while working for channel 10.

    • fml says:

      10:53am | 08/07/11

      Maybe a job writing for channel 9 or 10 was exactly what he was aiming for?

    • Tim says:

      11:26am | 08/07/11

      So Les’s passion and standing in the game makes him immune to criticism and interrogation? In fact, Les doesn’t need Jesse to point out the problems with SBS. Les has done a fine job making himself look barely credible of late.

      Nine times out of ten I think Jesse raises very valid points regarding the inadequacies at FFA and how the WC2022 bid was conducted and the dodgy hiring of highly suspicious ‘strategists’. The WC bid was once in a generation chance, but clearly some people don’t want to know what went wrong. And M, its not up to Jesse to offer alternatives, its investigative journalism, not FFA problem solving 101.

    • fml says:

      12:38pm | 08/07/11

      Tim,

      It depends on the purpose of the criticism. Is it for personal gain? or for improvement of the sport? None of Finky’s criticism was beneficial to Australian football, he plays the victim for not being able to openly criticise his employer.

    • MM says:

      12:43pm | 08/07/11

      Tim, feel free to point me to any investigative journalism Fink did in the past 12 months.  I enjoyed some of his articles, because they raised valid points.  But after raising those valid points he then went on to rant about them for another 1000 words.  No investigation and now offer of an alternative, apart from sack the FFA or sack FIFA.  Far from proactive comments.

      Not to mention on top of this, after the A-League experienced one of its best seasons, with many commentators stating the CCM and Brisbane Roar played a level of football not yet seen in Australia, Fink not once actually wrote an article praising the quality of football in the country, he continued to write negative pieces.

      Feel free to go back and read any of his articles over the past 6-12 months, and you will find at least 60% of the comments on his articles were negative about his pieces.  I am pretty sure that in itself is enough to terminate his contract.  His audience no longer wants to read him.

      No where in those comments is there anything wrong.  Les states he would like to see support of the bid, but he won’t stop people from writing fact.

      If Jesse was so hard done by, please let him provide evidence of where he was censured.

      A boss has the right to direct his employees.  That is why he is the boss.

      It just seems that Jesse doesn’t like being discarded after his audience has grown tired of him.  The same happened at Fox, as SBS…  The only common trend here seems to be Fink, not Les.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      09:42am | 08/07/11

      It sounds a little storm in a teacup to me. Support the bid (dodgy) but you’ve permission to be honest about what goes wrong (fine). Doesn’t come out of it looking good, but doesn’t come out of it looking really bad either.

      Reply

    • Skitt says:

      10:02am | 08/07/11

      On another occasion, Murray sent a reminder email saying ?we are not permitted to defame FIFA officials?. That email was in relation to Mohammed Bin Hammam, the would-be FIFA boss who quit May?s presidential race hours before fronting an inquiry into corruption.

      Long-time cage-rattler and author Andrew Jennings likened this edict to something you?d see in Stalin?s Russia or North Korea.

      Ant, employers have every right to remind employees that they SHOULD NOT commit acts that may see them in court. This includes printing defamtory comments

      Reply

    • Bretto says:

      10:09am | 08/07/11

      So let me guess, Andrew Jennings was upset and likened the Les Murray email to Stalinist Russia etc because he thinks you should be allowed to defame FIFA executives??????

      The reason why Jesse Fink is on the nose is because his articles are about nothing but “this is crap”, “that is crap”, and so on. Which is fine if he could actually follow it up with good investigative journalism. All he ever does is have a good whinge.  Having a rant is not actually journalism…....something you should probably keep in mind too Sharwood.

      Reply

    • Dr. Time says:

      10:09am | 08/07/11

      Good ol’ Les. He’s no Johnny Warren.

      Reply

    • Felix says:

      10:48am | 08/07/11

      This aired on the same ABC that hasn’t provided any coverage of the Matildas, but did a lovely puff piece on amateur women’s AFL instead. The Australian women’s team get through to the world cup quarter finals, or some butch women in Melbourne having a fumble-athon, I know which deserves more coverage, it’s a pity the ABC don’t.  ABC show the W-League but then refuse too provide any coverage of those same women when the competition is aired on SBS. It seems the ABC are just angry with their tax payer funded counterparts, so much so that they refuse to even recognise sporting events that air on SBS.

      Jesse Fink also had a massive rant at fox sports when they ended his employment, for what it’s worth. I also don’t get his argument that he wasn’t allowed to criticise FIFA or the FFA, that’s all he did.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      11:11am | 08/07/11

      You know, Harquebus, you really do come across as a humourless sort of person. Don’t you like anything? (Except, implicitly, crude petroleum.)

      Reply

    • BaBaa says:

      11:44am | 08/07/11

      As a former SBS employee I can categorically say the place is run by two of the most morally and ethically corrupt individuals you are likely to encounter.
      Les Murray is notorious for bullying his employees. These latest revelations should come as no surprise.
      Your time’s up Les. You have done a lot of good things for the game but finally, you have been exposed to the world for what you really are. An out of touch, agenda driven, egotistical old man with no respect for others or journalistic fair play.

      Reply

    • Geoff Davies says:

      01:49pm | 08/07/11

      As a former SBS employee, I can categorically say that BaBaa is the single most ethically and morally bankrupt people on the face of this or any other planet. They were fired because they were just plain useless at their joband always whinging about something.

      See, I can make stuff up too.

    • BaBaa says:

      02:13pm | 08/07/11

      Wow.

      Hit a raw nerve Geoff Shipp-Murray??? lol.

    • Sceptic says:

      03:57pm | 08/07/11

      I’d be hard pressed to come up with anything more unethical and corrupt, than defaming public persons, while hiding behind a nom de plume (such as BaBaa).

      Lowest of the low, whoever you are.

    • Grindstone says:

      04:25pm | 08/07/11

      Let’s all get some balance here people. SBS have supported the game for as long as I can remember. And Les Murray should be applauded for it. No question.

      But please, let’s not claim holier than thou shall we when many of us are hiding behind a nom de plume (such as Sceptic). Save the hypocrisy mate. Whoever you are.

    • Lennie Guilbeaux says:

      11:50am | 08/07/11

      As a lifelong journalist I would like to know the news organisation that gives entirely unfettered opportunity to their reporters to do what they like and comment on anything they like.  It does not happen.  Fink sounds like many journos today, he thinks his opinion is the right one and he should be allowed to express his opinion whether it is founded in truth or not.  What is wrong with a statement that says “we are not permitted to defame FIFA officials”.  When was defaming anyone the right of any journalist.  Does it matter that Fink once wrote an article that was good and was considered for an award? No.  He has obviously become obsessed with negativity and on any analysis has long since lost the one basic ingredient of a good journalist - objectivity.  Looks to me that SBS made the correct decison in not renewing his contract.  Let him go to News Ltd, Fairfax or a commercial TV or radio station and see how quickly he is told that he just can’t write what he likes.

      Reply

    • Mel says:

      01:19pm | 08/07/11

      Lennie, the difference between SBS and the other news organisations in which you compare, is that SBS is taxpayer-funded (as was the WC bid). Therefore there should be more expectation upon such a broadcaster to report unbiased fact.

    • fml says:

      01:53pm | 08/07/11

      Mel,

      Let the SBS news report unbiased fact, let the football department whose head has decided to promote football, promote football.

    • Rover of North Cooma says:

      04:29pm | 08/07/11

      News International apparently gave their employees the unfettered right to hack into private citizens’ voicemails and delete messages, wrongly allowing a family to believe that their murdered 13yo daughter might still be alive.
      I know it’s off-thread, but at least it’s not about politics!

    • Lennie Guilbeaux says:

      05:10pm | 08/07/11

      Mel, happy to agree that SBS should report news in an unbiased manner.  That is exactly my point.  Mr Fink doesn’t report he gives us his biased opinion.

    • Ricardo Jones says:

      01:14pm | 08/07/11

      So SBS’s coverage of football is a little biased. This is the revelation that isn’t a revelation at all. Next thing you’ll be telling me Channel 7 or the Herald Sun are biased in their coverage of AFL. I wonder why that would be? Don’t tell me Channel 9 or the Daily Telegraph are biased in their coverage of Rugby League. Any reason for that?

      Maybe there is a reason Neil Mitchell is biased towards AFL as well. It mustn’t be because he is an AFL Foundation member, or because 3AW have contracts with the AFL, it must be some other reason. Because if he were a member of the media and also a member of the AFL he can’t be objective in his view. Well at least that is the argument being put forward about Les Murray, he is a member of SBS and a member of FIFA so he can’t possibly be objective. Why is it just Les being attacked? Why not the hundreds of other media personalities in Australia with close connections to governing bodies of various sports?

      The next time Neil Mitchell papers over an off-field AFL incident, or points out the faults of other sports which he always does, I expect to read about his close ties and affiliations with the sports governing body right here on the punch. Maybe 7:30 will even do a story on it.

      Reply

    • Sceptic says:

      03:48pm | 08/07/11

      Some salient points:

      1. All media organisations have certain editorial policies. They may be correct, or incorrect, but a staff member either accepts them or looks for alternative employment.

      2. Every editor, who has ever lived, suggests to staff stories which may be worth writing, or instructs them to write those stories. That is an editor’s job.

      3. It was a deplorable act by SBS to send Fink’s story to FFA prior to publication. If there were “facts” that needed checking, then those facts alone should have been checked.

      4. Its exceedingly naive to expect a television network to be able to have total freedom to do as it likes, without concern for the commercial relationships which keep it solvent. Arguably, SBS TV’s most valuable commercial property is its right to telecast the World Cup.So, why the great surprise at the network’s eagerness to protect this property?

      I suggest everyone just gets a grip on real life for a change.
      Finally, Les Murray and Jesse Fink.

      Les has done more for football in this country, more for keeping it in the national consciousness, than anyone I can think of in a pinch and my hope is he keeps doing it. But, he could do with a bit of detachment in his everyday attitude towards the game he loves and those who run it. A bit more naiveté, please, Les.

      As for Fink, he is a stirrer in the best Australian tradition and we would be poorer without voices like his in football. But, I think there is validity in the suggestion above, that he should put a bit more effort into investigating the detail, the nitty-gritty of the shortcomings he perceives. Not as glamorous as column writing and a lot harder to do, but the end result will be worth the effort.

      Lastly, just one name: Frank Lowy.

      Reply

    • Sceptic says:

      11:05am | 09/07/11

      CORRECTION: A bit LESS naiveté, Les.

      OOOOOOPS!  smile

      Reply

    • Lesley Laurel says:

      05:18pm | 09/07/11

      Les Murray has never been the same since Johnny Warren died !
      Craig Foster has been too clever for him ON SBS TV unlike Johnny Warren

      Reply

    • Lesley Laurel says:

      05:32pm | 09/07/11

      Les Murray is an icon of soccer football in Australia. He is soccer in Australia! .
      His icon status in soccer is as iconic,famous and legendary as Frank Hyde and Rex Mossop were icons to Rugby League ,Richie Benaud and Tony Greig to cricket, And Lou Davies and Paul Roos to Aussie Rules

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      07:40am | 10/07/11

      Who is Lou Davies, Lesley?

      Reply

    • The Liberal Loafer says:

      06:10pm | 10/07/11

      Lou Richards? Sorry

    • Iggy's pop says:

      02:42pm | 10/07/11

      there’s a reason fink doesn’t do any investigative journalism - it’s because pretty much everyone in the game can’t stand him and no player, coach or administrator wants to talk to him.

      les murray seems to claim some ownership of australian football but while his history and knowledge are invaluable, his dry-as-a-jatz stuffiness, tied to the self-righteous cod-philosophical preaching of craig foster, is one of the main reasons most aussies feel excluded from the game.

      sbs provide a solid counterpoint to the mainly anti-football media in this country - but they have no free-to-air competition. murray and sbs need a kick up the penalty spot.

      Reply

    • Sceptic says:

      04:42am | 11/07/11

      Geez, Iggy, are there any other weighty reasons you and others may have forgotten to whine about re: the “exclusion of Aussies” from the game?

      I mean, for starters, how about explaining your no doubt entirely openminded and unprejudiced view about who “Aussies” really are?

      Then I will eagerly await the heartfelt outpourings of other “most Aussies” as to why they feel “excluded” from football in Oz. Is this another dastardly plot? Is Les Murray stopping you at the turnstiles from entering unless you and the likeminded first swear an oath of loyalty to him? Can’t you just switch SBS off and go to the game without being “excluded” by Les?

      I mean, those cursed etnic clubs were successfully assassinated and chased out of the sport. So, it has to be Les Murray, whose Order of Australia honor fools no-one. He’s just another bloody refo.

      It was so much better when we had dinky-dis like Rex Mossop doing the commentating on Australian soccer. Who the hell needs a foreigner like Les Murray?

      Reply
 
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