Footy fans give AFL nude photo leak a rude nickname as single email revealed to have sparked scandal

AFL fans have given the mass leak of nude images this week a crude nickname as the way the naked photos came to the notice of footy clubs and the league has been revealed.

The AFL has been thrown into disarray following the emergence of the nude photo scandal, which was allegedly uncovered by a single email sent to a club that included explicit images of one of its most prominent players. 

The club is not based in Victoria.

Then, at around 6am on Thursday, the 498 megabytes of content within the Google Drive titled ‘AFL Nudes’ disappeared after it had been widely distributed online for at least 24 hours.

The drive purportedly features genuine nude photos and deep fakes of current and retired players.

Foot fans have dubbed the scandal ‘DikiLeaks’ in reference to the infamous WikiLeaks organisation, which was founded in 2006 to publish controversial material provided by anonymous sources.

Before the images were released on the internet, a single player from an AFL club outside of Victoria was targeted

The footy photos leak has also drawn comparisons to the 2014 celebrity nude photo dump that was crudely called ‘TheFappening’.

Unlike the 2014 leak, which involved hacking into Apple iCloud accounts, this situation seems to involve images shared through social media apps or potentially a ‘sextortion’ scheme, raising questions about the authenticity and origin of the images.

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While some photos and videos are recognisable and date back to different periods, others are shockingly explicit or clearly manipulated. 

With the assistance of Google technicians, the AFL confirmed that the images were removed early on Thursday morning, approximately 30 hours after the league was notified.

What remains of the link now is the alphabetical list featuring the names of players who have been caught up in the scandal.

‘The next step is having the Drive and link removed with Google,’ an AFL spokesperson told the Herald Sun.

Cyber criminals use private images and deep fakes to extort money from famous identities, as they did with the infamous 2014 release of naked images of celebrities

The images were shared in a Google Drive link and while the images have been removed, the players’ names remain (pictured, with stars’ names obscured)

This list of the big names involved has also sparked panic and anxiety among players, player managers and the wider footy community. 

One star who chose to remain anonymous revealed that his first call was to his wife to explain the resurfacing of old photos. 

‘It’s a gross breach of privacy. It’s just not fair,’ he said. 

Recognising the severity of the situation, the AFL Players’ Association promptly reached out to all past and present players involved, condemning the scandal as an appalling breach of privacy. 

‘We will support our impacted members though our legal and wellbeing services. This is a police matter and we will continue to assist as necessary,’ the AFLPA said in a statement.

It is understood that individual clubs are also directly handling the situation with their former players who have been impacted by the scandal.

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