MY CALL - WATERHOUSE BASHING IS WAY OVER THE TOP

By David Fowler | Tuesday, April 2, 2013

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

I sensed the tall poppy blowing in the breeze when the vitriol against Tom Waterhouse and sports betting advertising hit fever pitch last week.

"Waterhouse bashing" is not new. In fact the family have copped it for almost a century.

Now a couple of disclaimers before proceeding. I'm not saying the anti-sports betting advertising clique is solely targeting Waterhouse and neither is this is a blog to paint the family as a bunch of cleanskins.

But the lion's share of the press that shrieked of the ills of sports betting advertising to our youth couldn't mask their dislike of Waterhouse.

The Sun Herald's columnist Sam de Brito began with … "Tom Waterhouse is a grub". Charming, Sam.

Tom Waterhouse was born into money but that doesn't equate to him becoming an immediate success story. Many kids of rich parents fail to fire.

But Waterhouse has worked hard to build a once on-track operation into a flourishing on-line empire. Isn't that called succeeding in life?

Well, apparently not for some. For the Courier-Mail's Mike Coleman it's the "kid with the silver spoon and shiny suit".

I pose a question. If the Channel 9 betting odds were being presented by an old guy with a pork pie hat without the name Waterhouse, would the indignation be the same?

I doubt it.

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Some Aussies just can't cope with success. And, like them or not, the Waterhouse family has been leaders in their various pursuits over the last century.

Indiscretions, definitely. Scandals, definitely. Full blown corruption, questionable.

Regardless of all of that, Tom Waterhouse shouldn't be shackled to his family's past but I'm certain he is just as proud to be another cog in the famous gambling dynasty.

I met him at the Warrnambool carnival in 2009. Polite and well-mannered who had little time for chat because he was there to work.

Yet the de Britos and Colemans of the world have summed him up as just another "rich little Waterhouse".

I'm certain the issue of his presence on Channel 9 needs tweaking and is currently being addressed by all parties.

But for all the cries of the "do-gooders", there are many out there who like watching footy and having a bet.

They are in the majority, not the minority.

So much of the nasty copy I have read is often attached with a "now I don't gamble" disclaimer. Red light flashing. It's like the non-drinkers espousing their values at the pub on a Friday night!

Their other central argument is that football shouldn't be interrupted by the pesky betting updates. After all, it's a sport.

Utter tosh.

Again, they live in the past. With salary caps, huge sponsorships and betting interest savaging that of racing, football these days is an industry. Get used to it.

Finally, is this sports betting advertising harming our kids and driving them to gambling?

Is there a definite link between the advertising and problem gambling?

What do you really think?

David Fowler