On Thursday the NSW organised crime squad revealed it was investigating match-fixing allegations concerning two NRL games from late last season: a round 16 match between South Sydney and Manly and a round 24 clash between Manly and Parramatta. The Sea Eagles lost both matches. Hayson was right in the middle of it, with allegations he had paid six players $50,000 each in the Manly-Souths match. The police have said he is a person of interest, although he has not yet been contacted by the organised crime squad. The dots are easy to join. Hayson is friends with Manly fullback Brett Stewart and his brother, Glenn, who played for Souths last year. He is also particularly close to Foran, who played for Manly in the two suspect matches before moving to Parramatta this season. "There's no monkey business there," Hayson said. "Glenn was playing for Souths, so they're not on the same side … Because I owned a brothel, Stilleto, I am always going to be a good story. There's always implications and they [the media] will run with that until the last day of my life. I've known Kieran for a long time, like I've known a lot of the boys for a long time. Owning a brothel is like having a nightclub: you get to meet the good, the bad, the ugly. You have all walks of life coming through, doctors, lawyers and sometimes footballers." Hayson also accuses a former associate of spreading lies against him.

"People can say all they want, but this is the figment of someone's imagination," Hayson said. "It's a bloke who wears a rug, we all call him 'Wiggy'. I know who it is. He's been making stuff up for six months. When he's got it in for you he's got it in for you. It's been going on for eight to 10 weeks. Chinese whispers with my name everywhere. "It's disgusting, but I am used to it. I get the blame for everything. But I'm not worried about me. I've been friendly with the footballers for a long time, and I don't like then being dragged into the mess when they're fighting for their careers." But while we've got you, Eddie, let's address some of the mess. On Thursday, as news linking Hayson to the match-fixing investigation was surfacing, I specifically asked him to address the various claims being levelled against him. Did he have a bet on either game?

"I'm telling you I never had a bet on the Manly-Parramatta game," he insisted. "No bowlers [someone betting on another person's behalf], no commission agents, not one person bet a single dollar on my behalf." I ask him about claims he and a former jockey had invested $120,000 on the Manly-Souths game. "I will check. If I did, it was nothing substantial. There is no rort." Hayson was still checking his records to see if he had placed that amount on the Manly-Souths fixture. For someone who has made bets of this size his whole life, he says it's not a substantial wager. "And I had $100,000 on a game, big deal," Hayson said. "What's $90,000 going to do? If there was a match fix on, what would that do?"

There are reports that Hayson had $500,000 on the Manly-Souths match. Another report claims he had $700,000. "I am denying that, absolutely," he said. Various corporate bookmakers have reported there were no suspicious betting movements on either of the suspect matches. "If I had one bet of $500,000, everyone would know," Hayson said. "All this talk that it could've been with an SP bookmaker or whatever ... They're dreaming. If someone can find me one SP who will take a bet of more than $20,000, please let me know. If it went to an SP, they would filter it to all the corporates. Go and get the name of an SP bookmaker who's going to take a decent bet. I haven't heard of one for 10 years. There's the TAB and six or seven corporates." Hayson also denies that he had paid six players $50,000 each to fix one of the matches.

"I heard that one the other day, too," he said. "That I paid five Manly players and one from Souths. Why would I pay someone $50,000 to win a game? If $300,000 went to the players, you need to get $800,000 on. If that happens, everybody knows. We all know when there's a sting, because the bookies are the first to blow up and complain and demand an immediate investigation. We are now nearly a year on." Until I phoned Hayson 10 days ago, I had never spoken to him, but his reputation, of course, precedes him: the flamboyant punter and former owner of Stilleto, the upmarket Camperdown brothel often frequented by footballers. His relationship with high-profile sportspeople has often created suspicion in the world of footy. "It's always been happening, all the way back to the 'Joey' Johns days," he said, referring to retired Knights star Andrew Johns. "Poor old 'Joey' didn't do anything wrong in his entire life. I just knew before most people if he was playing or not. That's all. We would find out if he was playing before the bookies. He was either in or out. That's good information. What's wrong with that?"