http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...l-as-board-faces-sacking-20160718-gq8cog.html
NRL: Parramatta Eels lodge salary cap appeal as board faces sacking
July 18 2016 - 6:16PM
Chris Barrett
The sacking of Parramatta's directors is expected to be formalised at a board meeting of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority on Tuesday afternoon, with an administrator to be put in charge of the leagues club and a new merit-based Eels football club board likely to be appointed within the next eight weeks.
There was a "last days" quality about the Parramatta board on Monday as four directors – not including chairman Steve Sharp, who has endorsed the state government stepping in – convened via phone hook-up for possibly the final time.
The board had been due to meet with NRL chief Todd Greenberg and integrity unit boss Nick Weeks in the afternoon but that was cancelled after the foreshadowing of their fate at the weekend by Deputy Premier Troy Grant.
In what might be their last act of the troubled administration, a Monday deadline to seek leave to appeal the club's salary cap sanctions with the NRL was also met, with League Central confirming receipt of documentation late in the day.
But the chances of any hearing coming before the NRL appeals committee chairman and its chairman, former High Court judge Ian Callinan, now appear to have nosedived, with the incoming administrator to have the power to abort that process or decide to discontinue funding it.
Parramatta director Paul Garrard said the board had a responsibility to appeal the severity of the NRL penalty. The deduction of 12 competition points was not being contested but after advice from their lawyers, Carroll & O'Dea, the board is arguing against the $1 million fine, believing it to be excessive, and the removal of the Eels' for-and-against record for the first nine rounds of the season when the team was deemed to be over the cap.
"You can appeal on a number of different areas," Garrard said. "We feel the penalty is too severe. It could be mitigated by a lot of the very good governance work that has been implemented in the last 12 months. We're seeking mediation around the excessive penalties that were dished out.
"The $1 million fine ... we've got a responsibly to do that, to try and mitigate that somehow."
Garrard said the board was "naturally seeking advice to confirm the minister's powers". Under 41A of the Registered Clubs Act, ILGA can remove a board and appoint a temporary administrator if it has "ceased to be effective as a governing body".
The sacking of the leagues club board would, under the company constitution, also leave directors stripped of their positions on the Parramatta NRL club board which presides over the Eels.
It is understood a new football club board, appointed under a merit-based system, could be assembled within eight weeks under the direction of an administrator and the leagues club chief Bevan Paul.
While the installation of an administrator would be temporary there is a desire, reflected by Sharp's public stance in a letter to members at the weekend, for the tenure to be at least a year.
The ILGA board is due to meet at 2pm on Tuesday.
