From memes to sports betting, AFL clubs blur the line between big business and fun

‘This is not a piece on the morality of gambling and gambling sponsorships in sport. What interests me, and where I’m getting to with all of this, is how they do it,’ Brandon Jack writes. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

I’m standing on the Skydeck, which is the corporate schmoozers section of the stadium. There are two guys in all black suits who look as if they’re either going to offer me some kind of hors d’oeuvre or ask me to leave. A photographer looks quantifiably lost as he looks up from the camera for a few seconds to watch the game.

I’m spending the day with the GWS Giants social media team, who have transformed Australian sports media. Several people so far have mentioned how weird it is that I’m writing on the team who does the writing. They walk by the desk clump, ask what I’m doing, I tell them, and they raise their eyebrows and walk off. I must admit I have a feeling like I am some sort of virus in a host body.