Is News Limited a fit and proper organisation to own a NRL team?

[Dr.J]

It has to be asked again, now that they will soon not be owning the entire competition.

What has happened at News of the World phone hacking scandal is very similar to Melbourne Storm scandal.

Senior News Ltd officials get asked: "You are ultimately in charge of your employees - does the buck stop with you?" Answer - "No, the employees do what they like and if (and only if) someone external catches them out, we'll sack them, but internally there is nothing we need to do to tell our employees how to function".

Given that News Ltd senior officials seem to deny any responsibility for corporate governance, how can they own an NRL club?

And even though the NRL doesn't take well to accusations of bias, how can News Ltd be trusted NOT to turn a blind eye to officials making decisions which favour the Broncos, for example, when as an organisation they turned a blind eye to the phone hacking of murder victims in the UK? (...as they did in Australia to letting their money get spent on salary cap rorting at the Storm).

How many strikes do News Ltd need before they are seen as an organisation which is not fit to be trusted with team ownership?

 

[besthalfbackPEARCE]

whatcha gonna do about it?

 

[DC_fan]

The anti-news ltd are having there say.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

whatcha gonna do about it?

He asked a hypothetical question - and a good one.
For mine, the answer is that News Ltd should divest themselves of their financial interest in top grade NRL teams.

With the bumper forecast for the new TV rights deal, there will hopefully be money to prop up any club with a temporary shortfall to see them through a period of hardship. This will hopefully even out the field in terms of the haves and have nots in regards benefiting from a sugar daddy a-la $torm, Bronco$ and LOL@50uFF$. (not that the LOL have benefited at all....)

 

[Perth Red]

They want out of Storm now they have to find money for them, its how to get them out of the Broncos that is the challenge! It's not like the Broncos need ther money, maybe the IC should bring in a ruling in a couple of years about conflict of interests in club ownership!

 

[Ulysseus]

A few of us mentioned this issue before the News of the world issue, particularly with regard to the manner in which the payments were hidden which basically indicated that the finances of the club were being handled by the select (and corrupt) few with absolutely no fail safe auditing occurring at any point.
When it hit the fan the amount of directors etc that knew nothing was astounding, raising the question exactly what the f**k have they been doing for the last half a decade.

 

[eozsmiles]

A bit of a left field suggestion but aren't News LTD the biggest baggers of officials going around? The DT has filled plenty of space over the last 2 years hammering Gallop, Harrigan and Finch. It's hardly turning a blind eye.

We are talking about Rugby League here. If Charles Manson wanted to buy a broke club the NRL would roll out the red carpet.

 

[Dr.J]

When it hit the fan the amount of directors etc that knew nothing was astounding

Basically what the neutral commentators are saying in the UK is that News Ltd senior officials need to plead guilty to giving the OK to law-breaking or plead gross incompetence. It is hard to believe that a company that seems to exist only to make money can let their money be used for breaking the law/rules and not ask where it is going.

Obviously no one has hard evidence of, say, salary cap rorting at the Broncos, for example, but we now have hard evidence that they are owned by an organisation that would stoop to phone hacking murder victims to improve profits. It doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[adamkungl]

A few of us mentioned this issue before the News of the world issue, particularly with regard to the manner in which the payments were hidden which basically indicated that the finances of the club were being handled by the select (and corrupt) few with absolutely no fail safe auditing occurring at any point.
When it hit the fan the amount of directors etc that knew nothing was astounding, raising the question exactly what the f**k have they been doing for the last half a decade.

Nah man it was all Waldron :sarcasm:

 

[Nice Beaver]

Were they ever fit to own a team?

Those scumbags did their level best to destroy the game. Kharma's a bitch and I am laughing my arse off at their plight right now.

 

[bileduct]

I don't trust News Limited in the slightest.

As the News of the World scandal developed over the years their "independant" investigators claimed that the lawbreaking was isolated to a rogue reporter.

They are masters of perception management, and in my personal view, a pack of liars.

 

[LESStar58]

It has to be asked again, now that they will soon not be owning the entire competition.

What has happened at News of the World phone hacking scandal is very similar to Melbourne Storm scandal.

Senior News Ltd officials get asked: "You are ultimately in charge of your employees - does the buck stop with you?" Answer - "No, the employees do what they like and if (and only if) someone external catches them out, we'll sack them, but internally there is nothing we need to do to tell our employees how to function".

Given that News Ltd senior officials seem to deny any responsibility for corporate governance, how can they own an NRL club?

And even though the NRL doesn't take well to accusations of bias, how can News Ltd be trusted NOT to turn a blind eye to officials making decisions which favour the Broncos, for example, when as an organisation they turned a blind eye to the phone hacking of murder victims in the UK? (...as they did in Australia to letting their money get spent on salary cap rorting at the Storm).

How many strikes do News Ltd need before they are seen as an organisation which is not fit to be trusted with team ownership?

The talk has always been that Peter Maher and Gerry Ryan (both former non-News aligned Melbourne board members) were going to buy the club. Not sure how keen they are to deal with News given that they gave the the bullet but both those guys are minted and would be suited to buy the club.

I'm pretty neutral when it comes to who owns us. I just want a football team to support.

 

[Brutus]

Congrats must go to News Ltd and the Telecrap today for the most ridiculous article ever, in an effort drum up the GWS-RL thing in western Sydney.

Dean Ritchie ought to be ashamed of himself for writing such crud.

 

[docbrown]

Congrats must go to News Ltd and the Telecrap today for the most ridiculous article ever, in an effort drum up the GWS-RL thing in western Sydney.

Dean Ritchie ought to be ashamed of himself for writing such crud.

That was a shocking article.

Every team is offloading/transferring players and personel staff. What the hell is correlation between that and AFL?

I'd use it for toilet paper but even my shit dislikes it.

 

[nrlnrl]

Congrats must go to News Ltd and the Telecrap today for the most ridiculous article ever, in an effort drum up the GWS-RL thing in western Sydney. Dean Ritchie ought to be ashamed of himself for writing such crud.[/QUOTE

As Ralph Wiggum would say, "Ridiculous article in the Telecrap, that's unpossible"

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Congrats must go to News Ltd and the Telecrap today for the most ridiculous article ever, in an effort drum up the GWS-RL thing in western Sydney.

Dean Ritchie ought to be ashamed of himself for writing such crud.

Yeah, I read that on the net, a link to it was on the page for Supecoach.

They're vetting the comments heavily now, I can't get one through.

And I wish blokes like Brandy would just shut the f**k up and stop giving this needle-dicked AFL fan ammunition.

 

[eozsmiles]

I don't think any club owner would own up to cap rorting. I don't think any club benefactor would own up to it, I don't think any Leagues Club would own up to it. It's not golf. No surprise News said nothing until it happened.
I'm not sure whether an owner or club wouldn't encourage rorting if they can afford it or get away with it. No surprise News didn't say anything.
I'm don't how many owners would know exactly what the players get or how they get it. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if, as an example only, Benji was getting a sly $100g's from Harry, or Gidley from the White Knights, or Stewart from Delmege. Would the club even know? Would News know if Jayco paid Billy $100g's? Probably not.

Are News fit to own a club? Not really.

Are they any different to any other club owners or administrators? Probably not.

If News sell their share in the Broncos and it is bought by the Thoroughbreds or Singo will we have any faith that they won't turn a blind eye to cap rorting too? Of course not.

 

[El Diablo]

Congrats must go to News Ltd and the Telecrap today for the most ridiculous article ever, in an effort drum up the GWS-RL thing in western Sydney.

Dean Ritchie ought to be ashamed of himself for writing such crud.

he'll probably carry on with the same drivel when talking to John Grant on One tonight

he was a real dickhead on Monday night and Ricky Stuart actually gave him a bit when he started carrying on with crap

why don't we have any decent journo's at the DT?

 

[Jono1987]

Yeah, I read that on the net, a link to it was on the page for Supecoach.

They're vetting the comments heavily now, I can't get one through.

And I wish blokes like Brandy would just shut the f**k up and stop giving this needle-dicked AFL fan ammunition.

Agree it's annoying but at least with Brandy he's doing for a reason. He wants more assistance from the NRL for his Panthers. Dean Ritchie is just a plain old wanker. His articles are becomming more and more like Rothfields.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Agree it's annoying but at least with Brandy he's doing for a reason. He wants more assistance from the NRL for his Panthers. Dean Ritchie is just a plain old wanker. His articles are becomming more and more like Rothfields.

That's a round about way of asking for assistance. A look at the bigger picture is required by Mr. Alexander.

The article is rubbish simply because the fact is that support for AFL is dropping in Sydney faster than Paris Hilton's undies at a rave party. Ratings are rock bottom and the Swans crowds are the lowest they've been in 10 years. The're in a better position on the table now than they were this time last year but their average is down nearly 15%.

That neither of them mentioned the obvious points to their being ulterior motives. You've mentioned Brandy's..