http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...er-to-keep-clubs-in-line-20160730-gqh6u4.html
Parramatta Eels crisis shows NRL will use state government to keep clubs in line
When Denis Fitzgerald was asked to leave the foyer of Rugby League Central where he was poised to conduct a one-man vindictive press conference, gloating over the sanctions imposed on five Parramatta officials for salary cap cheating, it symbolised the end of the code's ancient regime.
Fitzgerald, the former "Emperor of Parramatta", who set up the governance structures that allowed the later faction fighting and vote buying to develop, was forced to stand under a Moreton Bay fig tree in nearby Moore Park and address the TV cameras.
The NRL's action that May day cemented a giant signpost in the ground: the era when rugby league officials lived by the dictum "never tell a lie unless it is absolutely necessary" was over.
Any NRL club official who flaunted the rules and lied to the NRL integrity unit would be excluded from the game.
Furthermore, it sent a clear signal that the NRL would pressure the NSW government to achieve its ends. The code has joined the AFL as a sport that uses political power to force change.
The NRL had spent 20 years waiting for its chance to reform the Eels. The process of club reform started under former NRL chief executive Dave Smith with the restructure of the Gold Coast Titans, Wests Tigers, Cronulla Sharks and Newcastle Knights. The opportunity to reform these clubs presented itself through their destitute financial positions or, in the case of the Sharks, a doping crisis.
In these cases, the NRL was able to deliver regime change through its chequebook or the threat of fines.
The Eels were a much harder nut to crack. With the financial power of the Parramatta Leagues Club behind it, the Eels have never wanted for money. The leagues club will have to bail out the football club for more than $10 million in 2016. That's an amount that few leagues clubs, other than Parramatta, could afford.
The NRL's opportunity to force reform at the Eels was not through financial pressure, rather, Parramatta handed the league its opportunity through the shambolic salary cap scheme its directors had cooked up to try to return the club to the glory days.
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg has forged a strong relationship with NSW Premier Mike Baird. The benefits of that co-operative spirit were writ large in the government's decision to side with the NRL and dismiss the Eels board.
Shortly after the NRL's initial decision to stand the Parramatta five down, I forecast the intervention of Baird, writing in
The Sun-Herald in May that the NRL was likely to be the least of Parramatta's problems.
"It's not the first time the leagues club has been investigated by Liquor and Gaming, and with the NSW government's investment of more than $300 million into a new stadium adjacent to the club, you can be sure the Baird government will take the opportunity to cleanse the palace. Baird won't want a whiff of corruption near his sparkling new stadium.
"In short, the NRL's investigation and penalties may be the least of the problems facing those directors who straddle the leagues club and the football club."
The government's Office of Liquor and Gaming ultimately brought the guillotine down on the Eels board. It was a decisive step from the department but, ultimately, the job was made much easier for the department by the investigative report compiled by the leagues' integrity chief Nick Weeks and his team.
It took the NRL some time to achieve its ends, initially believing the salary cap breaches at Parramatta were the result of incompetence, rather than wilful cheating. But, ultimately, the integrity unit's investigation into the Eels led to financial penalties, the cancellation of registered officials and, finally, the appointment of an administrator.
It has been the best piece of work the integrity unit has done in terms of the degree of difficulty and the ultimate benefit for the game, contrasting with the 2010 ad hoc draconian punishment of the Storm for salary cap breaches much less than the Eels.
Whereas the stripping of multiple premierships from the Storm and the forced exit of half its roster could have been a death sentence for the Melbourne club, the NRL used the Parramatta opportunity to put in place structures that could restore the Eels to their former greatness.
One NRL official put it best, saying: "The lasting legacy from this untidy phase of rugby league history has been a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Eels to emerge as the superpower they were always supposed to be."
It is also a clear marker of a growing sophistication within the NRL and a willingness to pursue bespoke methods of dragging its more recalcitrant clubs into the modern world.
As to the future, the Eels fans are the big winners out of this mess. The club will emerge stronger for the experience and that is a big win for the league and for Baird's broader vision for Parramatta and western Sydney.
Comedian Brian Doyle joked that Baird could have used Fitzgerald and the Parramatta board for another, less popular government foray into sport.
"Rather than ban greyhound racing, Baird could have put the Parramatta officials in charge of it," Doyle quipped.
