Nor was AFL chief Andrew Demetriou surprised by the links between the supply of drugs and organized crime.

"Organized crime is very pervasive," he told the Canberra media conference. "They find vulnerable players. They infiltrate," said the AFL chief.

"And all of us here today would say that today is the day we draw a line in the sand. We address it, we tackle it. Sport is too important in this community."

But Demetriou denied that Essendon Football Club went to the authorities with its illicit drug taking suspicions as a result of the ACC investigation.

The ACC's report draws on past international cases to warn of a potential link between the involvement of crime gangs in sport and match-fixing.

"Overseas experience has demonstrated that organized criminal groups involved in match-fixing are increasingly targeting sub-elite athletes due to the ease with which these individuals can be 'bought', the lower levels of scrutiny from integrity authorities at sub-elite competitions, and the potential long-term value of these athletes to the criminal group," it said.

President of the World Anti-Doping Agency John Fahey said that it's not surprising that the problem has surfaced in Australia.

"It is very clear from Interpol and we have a close association with them in WADA, that the suppliers, manufacturers, traffickers of the performance enhancing drugs are the same people who are connected with the illegal drugs, the same people who are connected with match-fixing and illegal gambling so I guess it's not surprising that it now surfaces in this country," Fahey told ABC radio.

Sports betting

The Deputy Victorian Police Commissioner, Graham Ashton, said soccer, cricket and tennis were most at risk of match-fixing by organized criminals because they attracted big offshore bets.

"The increasing betting pools mean that we need to take preventative action now to make these sports more resilient to this threat," he told reporters.

Former South African national Rugby Union coach, Jake White, now a mentor for the ACT Brumbies, thinks it would be difficult to fix a match in rugby.

'The one thing that's magnificent about rugby union is that it's such a difficult game to even think about match -ixing,'' White told The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

''In other games when the margins are nil-nil results, or a team concedes one goal ... rugby is such a fluid and dynamic game that it would stick out like a sore thumb if you even try to do something that's match-fixing," he said.

An Independent Senator in the Australian Parliament, Nick Xenophon, wants an immediate suspension of all sports betting until all investigations are complete.

"These extraordinary findings require an urgent response to protect the integrity of sporting codes that millions of Australians love," Senator Xenophon said.