CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – APRIL 2013
Welcome to the first of what I plan to be regular updates for Sharks members and supporters. I think it’s important that everyone has a good idea what’s going on.
When I joined the Board of the Cronulla Sharks Football Club earlier this year, like all of you I was looking forward to a bumper 2013 season for our football club. We had every reason to be confident of success on the field following our finals appearance last year and some great new recruits joining the playing ranks this year. We also looked forward to the breaking of ground during the year on our ‘Woolooware Bay’ development - the residential, retail and lifestyle development on club-owned land that has transformed our financial outlook from uncertain to arguably the brightest in the NRL.
Let me assure you that despite the challenges that have sprung from nowhere in the past couple of months, I am still excited about our prospects for success in 2013. Nobody is going to pretend the ASADA investigation hasn’t had an impact on our Club. It has, and I will address that shortly. But to paraphrase the great writer Mark Twain, rumours of the death of our club have been greatly exaggerated!!!
We have a long list of reasons to remain positive about our Club:
- We have a great playing roster on the park and despite a couple of tight losses they remain a force to be reckoned with, a fact acknowledged by plenty of good judges inside the game.
- In the past month, and in spite of the recent white water, the club and the Board have built a highly experienced, first-rate management team to oversee all of our operations. We are focused on the long-term success of the Club, a future firmly anchored in the Shire despite some of the more colourful comments out there. The recruitment process has been led by Bruno Cullen, and includes the appointment of former West Tigers and Sydney Roosters CEO Steve Noyce as GM of Football, business and management professional Gy Wallace as Chief Operating Officer, and our latest recruit - finance and sports management professional Peter Legg as General Manager of Finance and Corporate Services. We thank Bruno for his efforts to date and we are delighted to say he will be staying on for the foreseeable future.
- Our negotiations for stadium naming rights and front-of-jersey sponsors are well on the way with companies with a national and international presence. We thank them in advance for their support and are hopeful of an announcement in this area in the near future.
- The Woolooware Bay development has been approved and will proceed regardless of any matters relating to the ASADA investigation. It will provide an ongoing benefit for our club and the Shire. This is in large part why we are able to attract the kind of quality individuals named above to the Sharks. Construction is scheduled to commence later this year.
So no matter what you hear the club has a strong long-term financial outlook, and there is no question – we will be here for the long term.
We have and will continue to give our players and coaching staff all the support they need. We are a Club that has had to deal with the odd challenge. We stick together and we get through whatever we have to get through. Now is no different.
ASADA
The ASADA and ACC joint investigation into drugs in sport has not only been the biggest talking point in the NRL and the AFL this year, it has been one of biggest news stories this year. Newspaper columns, TV and radio reports and social media posts have been everywhere following that joint press conference between ASADA, the Australian Crime Commission and the Federal Government on February 7. Everyone has had a say. To say it caught almost everybody in sport off-guard is an understatement. At the start of the year the Board would have thought it unimaginable that the club would be in the middle of it all.
Two months on and there is no getting away from the fact the ASADA investigation has impacted our club more than any other. There is a lot of uncertainty about the processes and timeframes being followed by ASADA in all of this. In all honesty we can’t predict how much longer the process will take. Some of what has been said and written about the background to the investigation could be called informed commentary, but much of it has fallen somewhere between rumour and guessing. You probably just want some answers.
The facts as best I can lay them out follow.
In the days after the February press conference our Board was told by ASADA and the NRL that not only were we one of a number of ‘clubs of interest’ to ASADA, we were the main focus. We asked the same questions you have been asking. Why is our club being singled out? What of the talk about other clubs? Why should we do anything until some hard evidence is produced? The responses made it very clear we were about to have some major issues land on our doorstep and we couldn’t just bury our heads in the sand. The Board was duty-bound to find out what had occurred and that is why we commissioned our own investigation.
The initial findings from the investigation confirmed a trail of management failures had occurred in 2011. As much as anyone would have liked, we couldn’t have ignored it. They related to the failure to meet standards that must be met by people in positions of responsibility for players who put their trust in them. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a little athletics club, the Australian Olympic team or our Club – people who put their hand up to do a job are accountable for their actions and inactions, regardless of how long they have been in the job or how well liked they are. These standards always apply regardless –with or without the current situation and the ASADA investigations.
All Boards – and our Board - must act at all times in the best interests of the club and the playing group. The decisions made by the Board since 7 February 2013, particularly those in relation to staff, have been made because we know what our responsibilities are to our players and the Club. They were black and white decisions. We will always do we what we have to do.
There have been lots of rumours. Lots of people getting mixed up by bits and pieces of things they think they know. We are frustrated that we can’t clear all of it up – but in the best interests of our players we are not going to get in the way of the ongoing ASADA investigation. But there are some matters we can sort out.
Firstly, no one should draw conclusions that any of the four staff members, no longer with our club, knowingly did anything to compromise our players with regard to their obligations under the WADA or ASADA code. That’s not why we made our decisions.
Secondly, there have been a number of questions asked about why the Board did not take action in relation to the issues that are the subject of investigation in 2011. While I was not a member of the Board at the time, I am in a position now to be absolutely sure the Board was not made aware of the issues until it was contacted by ASADA and the NRL in February 2013. Reports to the contrary are just plain wrong.
Thirdly, it is really wrong to suggest that the club has offered any inducement or “carrot” to motivate any player to decide to deal with his own circumstances in a particular way. And the club has not taken any step to insulate or protect itself from any responsibility it has to its players.
Finally, after becoming aware of the seriousness of the situation, the Board moved straight away to make sure the players and staff affected had independent legal representation to support them through the ASADA process. This was done to ensure each player had access to fearless advice from lawyers with years of experience in this specialised area, so they could individually decide their best course of action. That knocked out the potential for a conflict of interest between the Board and the players with regard to dealing with anyone’s own circumstances.
The Future
I wish there was a crystal ball that could tell us when the ASADA investigation will be completed and what the outcome will be for the Sharks. The reality is that nobody really knows the answer to these questions, and unless ASADA provides information publicly everybody is left guessing to a large extent. With that in mind, the best thing the Board can do is get on with looking after the players and the Club and provide every level of support the playing and coaching group need. That is our foremost focus and quite simply what we will continue to do. We will deal with whatever we have to deal with.
As I said earlier, we have a great playing roster on the park, an exciting development project underway that will provide ongoing benefits for the Club and local community, and now a first-rate management team to oversee all of our operations. Our first-rate new management team is a pointer to the great future of the Cronulla Sharks.
We have been faced with plenty of challenges in the past and we have always come through the other side a stronger club. If you strip away the ASADA issues, we have never been better placed to achieve success on the park and financial security away from it.
So I ask you to stay positive about 2013. Support the players. Support the Club. Keep looking here - I will keep you up to date with the important stuff as it happens.
Glenn Coleman
