http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...s/news-story/01f5695aff20ef47c1f66a8847fd06df
NRL needs to take some blame for ignoring Eels warning signs
Parramatta director Andrew Cordwell told NRL investigators the game’s governing body must bear some responsibility for the Eels’ malaise and may have even been complicit in their salary cap flaws by ignoring warning signs emanating from the club.
Cordwell, one of four directors who avoided any sanctions as a result of the salary cap scandal which cost the club 12 premiership points and a $1 million fine, told investigators he believed that the officials who ultimately lost their registration had the Eels’ best interests at heart. His interview with the NRL integrity unit is among more than 700 pages of documents obtained by
The Australian, which provide a window into the scandal that has dogged Parramatta for months.
“I think I’ve already explained to you that life’s not black and white, that those guys over three years who were directors all that time had a massive task to clear up the group,” Cordwell said. “I’m telling you they did it ... and they cleaned up the leagues club, they’ve fought tooth and nail trying to get the criminal elements out of the PDRL (Parramatta District Rugby League) ... and these guys have the club’s interests and the NRL interests at heart.
“I’m absolutely convinced of that otherwise I’d have left the board and I have never been involved in a discussion to set out to breach the salary cap rules at all.”
Cordwell questioned why NRL head of club services Tony Crawford didn’t raise concerns when Cordwell told him he had joined the board to “keep the crooks out”, describing it as a “mild form of self-reporting”.
He also claimed alarm bells should have rung at Rugby League Central when former NRL chief executive Dave Smith complained to ex-Eels chairman Steve Sharp about the number of calls he received from another former director, Peter Serrao.
Both Sharp and Serrao were deregistered by the NRL. “I also know Dave Smith rang Steve Sharp and complained about the number of times Pete Serrao wanted to talk to him,” Cordwell said.
“Now, I don’t know what they talked about. I’ve got no idea what they talked about but don’t you think that might have raised a bit of an alarm bell as well — why is this director continually wanting to get in the ear of (Smith)?”
Cordwell joined the board midway through last year along with Tanya Gadiel and Paul Garrard, and they were immediately handed a charter for change. The trio, along with Geoff Gerard, were the four board members to survive the NRL’s investigation into the club’s salary-cap dramas.
The quartet spent last night mulling over their next move, with the prospect of an appeal shaping as a last resort for the club as it attempts to reduce the NRL sanctions, which were largely based on the testimony of former chief executive Scott Seward and ex-football manager Jason Irvine.
Seward and Irvine provided the NRL with explicit details of the way the club circumvented the salary cap by paying players cash generated through false invoices. In their response to the NRL allegations, the Eels requested the evidence of both Seward and Irvine be passed onto the police.
“Yeah, well it just gets to the point where you know, we’re starting to sort of like look at ... suppliers and you know, Scott sort of said, you know, at the end of the day he said to me, you know mate, we can put — I can put 10 per cent on the back or something on the back of bills and we can get it back that way and, you know, at the end of the day we’re paying for it and we fix up the bills,” Irvine said. “And that’s ... where it happened.”
Irvine revealed he would pass on cash to Seward, which in turn would be given to players. “You know, cash is king,” Irvine said.
Cordwell wasn’t the only Eels official frustrated with what he perceived as a lack of action from the NRL. In his interview with NRL investigators, Sharp claimed he tried to contact Smith on a number of occasions to discuss the situation only to be rebuffed.
“I kept asking Dave for a meeting ... and he kept saying, ‘Oh, I’ll call you next week, I’II call you next week,” Sharp said. “I was quite frustrated with Dave’s lack of openness and communication.”
Deputy chairman Tom Issa questioned why the NRL didn’t allow the club to “trade out” of trouble. Issa said he discussed the issues at Newcastle and the Gold Coast — both clubs are now owned by the NRL — with Crawford.
“And my understanding was the NRL allowed those clubs to trade out of some serious sins of the past,” Issa said.
