As NRL investigates Eels salary cap payments, will action finally be taken to stop the cheats?
By Paul Kent
ONE of the criticisms of this current NRL administration is the league is run too much like BHP these days instead of a sporting organisation.
Make the bottom line the priority and to hell with the rest.
The joint is full of former businessmen or political staffers who don’t know a football from a watermelon but can spot a decimal point from 1000m. Don’t raid the petty cash tin with these guys around.
So this latest Parramatta imbroglio is a big test for the NRL. This, according to the form guide, is their area.
What are they going to do about claims of irregularities around Parramatta’s third party agreements, which look suspiciously like what we all believe they look like?
It’s alleged players have been receiving third party payments that have not been lodged with the NRL, as required.
Will they stand up as legitimate third party deals when the forensic blowtorch is applied?
Sadly, there is a long way to go before Parramatta’s administration is guilty of anything, and the sanctity of the salary cap is polished.
“If these allegations are confirmed then the NRL will take appropriate action to ensure the integrity of the competition,” the NRL’s Head of Integrity, Nick Weeks, said on Friday as he announced an investigation into the claims.
Weeks might as well be fishing for piranha in the Amazon with a teaspoon.
He is ill-equipped by archaic powers and a strong code of honour among thieves to undertake the kind of investigation necessary.
The rules actually hamper the League, not help them, which might explain why every serious salary cap breach continues to be broken by good journalism rather than any proactive NRL investigations.
All those other small fines and wrists slaps, they’re just accounting.
Third party cheating is the running joke of the NRL. It truly is an embarrassment.
The Broncos got busted last year when a whistleblower revealed missing money from the Broncos Leagues Club alleged to have gone in the direction of several Broncos players.
The NRL investigated but could not come up with a kill.
The Broncos were cleared because the NRL could not gather enough evidence for a conviction.
And mostly because the NRL could not compel former Broncos football manager Andrew Gee to give evidence after Gee resigned and the missing money was repaid and declared a loan.
What the NRL did then — which was nothing — was possibly worse.
Despite Gee’s lack of co-operation he was allowed to turn up at the Broncos’ season launch, an official function, and remains free to attend any NRL game he sees fit.
He should not be allowed near the game until he fully co-operates, or what incentive is there to help?
These latest allegations will test whether the NRL is serious about salary cap cheating or not.
After the Broncos foul-up, we will know conclusively whether the game has the capacity to deal with it or the willingness to change it.
We all know it is going on. I can tell you a dozen different ways clubs are cheating. From diverted leagues club contracts to the old brown paper bag, still the safest way around, it all goes on.
If the NRL does not have the capacity to handle the financial, political side of the game, then what exactly are they doing there?
Fans don’t care about a lot of this stuff, as vital as it is to the game’s wellbeing. The fans care about the game.
They could not care whether there is $50 million in the bank or 50 cents, but they care if the video replays take too long and wrestle is cruelling the spectacle.
They want to be proud of their game, and they want to believe it is the best game in the country.
Part of that is fairness brought about by the salary cap. If the NRL can’t get that right though, what are they doing there?
