Parramatta Leagues Club cleared of cap rorting ahead of historic vote
Adrian Proszenko
September 9, 2019 — 6.30pm
The Parramatta Leagues Club has been cleared of salary cap rorting after a year-long investigation by Liquor & Gaming NSW just as a fresh vote on constitutional reform is put to members on Tuesday.
Liquor and Gaming NSW took 12 months to investigate allegations that Eels players were given subsidised rent on properties owned by the leagues club. It is a contravention of the NRL’s salary cap rules for third parties such as leagues clubs to provide undeclared benefits to players. The allegations were in addition to the practices that resulted in the club being fined and stripped of competition points in 2016 for cheating the salary cap. However, the regulator found no evidence of impropriety at the PLC.
Coach Brad Arthur is among the Eels identities backing governance reform of the Parramatta Leagues Club.CREDIT:NINEVMS
There were also a raft of allegations levelled against PLC chief executive Bevan Paul including claims he used the club’s disciplinary process to exclude political opponents and that contracts were awarded without a proper tendering process. Liquor & Gaming NSW has also cleared Paul.
“I am very pleased that Liquor & Gaming NSW has comprehensively cleared our club and Bevan of any wrongdoing,” said PLC administrator Max Donnelly.
“However I remain disappointed that these allegations were leaked to the media, especially while the club was undertaking its governance reform process.
“It’s important for our members and the general public to realise that the external report that I commissioned last year found that all these allegations were misconceived and that most were plainly false.
“Today that view has been endorsed by the regulator after a very thorough process and as a result members and the public can be confident in how their club is managed."
Paul said that he was pleased that the lengthy investigation process had been completed and would no longer be a distraction to the positive changes the club had delivered over the past 12 months.
“I have always been confident that the investigation would clear the club as the allegations had been unsupported by any evidence other than the perspective of the individual’s interpretation of events and motives,” Paul said.
“It’s now important to focus on continuing along the road of improving the club’s facilities, growing and diversifying revenue, being good corporate citizens and supporting the Eels.
“Unfortunately enduring mud-slinging comes with the job but in this case all that’s been proven is that Parramatta Leagues Club is compliant with the Act and that observers, including the regulator, are now aware of the lack of substance to these kinds of claims.”
Eels chairman Sean McElduff described Tuesday’s vote on constitutional reforms to the PLC as “one of the most important meetings in the Parramatta Eels’ recent history”. The mooted changes, which require 75 per cent support of members, would result in the Eels being included in the PLC constitution for the first time and be the first step towards members voting for their own board by 2021. If the changes are pushed through, Donnelly will step down from his post within three months.
McElduff said the reforms would finally provide stability to the Eels after the club churned through six CEOS, five coaches, 25 directors and endured five breaches of the salary cap in the past decade.
Eels coach Brad Arthur, legendary former No.7 Peter Sterling and star players Clint Gutherson and Mitchell Moses are among the blue and gold identities backing the governance reforms.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/pa...g-ahead-of-historic-vote-20190909-p52phb.html
