Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you roy Masters, one of the few journos in RL worth his salt.
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DAVID Gallop is a weathervane, twisting in the winds of expectation. The NRL chief executive considers it a cruel observation and is mollified only marginally when it is argued that it's impossible to simultaneously satisfy the competing demands of so many conflicted parties.
After all, at 10.30am today he will meet representatives of NRL players who seek to see the code's income and expenditure flows, which depend upon another meeting later in the day between Telstra and News Ltd, which is a half-owner of the NRL. Telstra has refused to pay up on its $90 million sponsorship/telephony deal with the NRL because News Ltd has undermined the value of the rights by showing NRL action on its website and allowing Fox Sports, which it also half-owns, to do the same. In other words, a part-owner of the code has jeopardised income to its employees by competing with a sponsor.
Gallop agrees Telstra is not having the same fight with the AFL and V8 supercars because they aren't owned by News Ltd. So who is he siding with in two NRL legal actions? He has taken Telstra to the NSW Supreme Court for non-payment of the monies and joined with Telstra against News Ltd in a Federal Court case over how much footage the "fair dealing" provisions of the copyright act allow non-rights holders to show.
"The withholding of our payment is not justified on any legal basis," he says, picking his words carefully, as if they might rebound as he spoke them. "The only way it can be seen is an attempt to exert pressure because of the common ownership of the NRL and Fox Sports. It's a commercial tactic without any legal linkage."
So, of all the winds which buffet Gallop, the only one he answers to is News Ltd? "I was part of the decision to get the NRL to join with Telstra and not join Fox Sports," he says, seemingly affronted. "That demonstrated the independent position of the NRL."
But didn't he first seek approval from the NRL partnership board? "Yes, I got approval from the full partnership to take action against half the partnership," he says, shrugging his shoulders as if someone had just told him the new phone books had arrived.
The other half of the partnership - the Australian Rugby League - has been unsurprisingly mute about both legal cases. ARL chairman Colin Love, a lawyer, believes a dignified silence is the proper way for partnerships to operate. Newspapers are not the forum for boardroom disputes, according to Love. Yet earlier this year, when the Herald raised questions with News Ltd over its future plans to exit the code, News Ltd lampooned ARL directors as dinosaurs, likening them to Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle, fighting a long-gone war.
ARL director Nick Politis is certainly very overt in the hot furnace blasts he directs Gallop's way via regular phone calls. Politis, a shrewd businessman, warned Gallop Telstra would not pay up. Gallop insists Telstra first offered the "cheque is in the mail" response. "I believe Telstra gave an assurance they would not link the two issues - fair dealing and payment of the contract," he said. "They certainly told us initially the non-payment was an internal accounting problem."
And what about all those ABC callers protesting about live NRL games being moved to Fox Sports 3 in order for the News Ltd-owned company to force subscribers to pay more? Doesn't all this establish it is time for News Ltd to exit the game, despite the Federal Court's Justice Allsop describing criticism of its commercial linkages as "rhetoric"? Gallop says, "I'm the shopkeeper and it's up to the owners to work out their futures. "While there may be some issues around the potential for conflict of interest, for a start people need to imagine a competition without the Cowboys and the Storm, who are supported by News."
But how interested are the players? "[Players' association boss] Matt Rodwell has difficulty confirming the numbers for the meeting," Gallop says.
Yesterday, Gallop was dressed in casual shirt, jeans and riding boots because he was guest speaker at a University of Technology, Sydney, evening lecture. "I didn't think they wanted to see a stiff in a suit," he explained, making it clear he wasn't dressing for the weather, despite any icy questions. Asked the topic, he said, "Sport and the law. Quite appropriate, don't you think?"
LINK
DAVID Gallop is a weathervane, twisting in the winds of expectation. The NRL chief executive considers it a cruel observation and is mollified only marginally when it is argued that it's impossible to simultaneously satisfy the competing demands of so many conflicted parties.
After all, at 10.30am today he will meet representatives of NRL players who seek to see the code's income and expenditure flows, which depend upon another meeting later in the day between Telstra and News Ltd, which is a half-owner of the NRL. Telstra has refused to pay up on its $90 million sponsorship/telephony deal with the NRL because News Ltd has undermined the value of the rights by showing NRL action on its website and allowing Fox Sports, which it also half-owns, to do the same. In other words, a part-owner of the code has jeopardised income to its employees by competing with a sponsor.
Gallop agrees Telstra is not having the same fight with the AFL and V8 supercars because they aren't owned by News Ltd. So who is he siding with in two NRL legal actions? He has taken Telstra to the NSW Supreme Court for non-payment of the monies and joined with Telstra against News Ltd in a Federal Court case over how much footage the "fair dealing" provisions of the copyright act allow non-rights holders to show.
"The withholding of our payment is not justified on any legal basis," he says, picking his words carefully, as if they might rebound as he spoke them. "The only way it can be seen is an attempt to exert pressure because of the common ownership of the NRL and Fox Sports. It's a commercial tactic without any legal linkage."
So, of all the winds which buffet Gallop, the only one he answers to is News Ltd? "I was part of the decision to get the NRL to join with Telstra and not join Fox Sports," he says, seemingly affronted. "That demonstrated the independent position of the NRL."
But didn't he first seek approval from the NRL partnership board? "Yes, I got approval from the full partnership to take action against half the partnership," he says, shrugging his shoulders as if someone had just told him the new phone books had arrived.
The other half of the partnership - the Australian Rugby League - has been unsurprisingly mute about both legal cases. ARL chairman Colin Love, a lawyer, believes a dignified silence is the proper way for partnerships to operate. Newspapers are not the forum for boardroom disputes, according to Love. Yet earlier this year, when the Herald raised questions with News Ltd over its future plans to exit the code, News Ltd lampooned ARL directors as dinosaurs, likening them to Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle, fighting a long-gone war.
ARL director Nick Politis is certainly very overt in the hot furnace blasts he directs Gallop's way via regular phone calls. Politis, a shrewd businessman, warned Gallop Telstra would not pay up. Gallop insists Telstra first offered the "cheque is in the mail" response. "I believe Telstra gave an assurance they would not link the two issues - fair dealing and payment of the contract," he said. "They certainly told us initially the non-payment was an internal accounting problem."
And what about all those ABC callers protesting about live NRL games being moved to Fox Sports 3 in order for the News Ltd-owned company to force subscribers to pay more? Doesn't all this establish it is time for News Ltd to exit the game, despite the Federal Court's Justice Allsop describing criticism of its commercial linkages as "rhetoric"? Gallop says, "I'm the shopkeeper and it's up to the owners to work out their futures. "While there may be some issues around the potential for conflict of interest, for a start people need to imagine a competition without the Cowboys and the Storm, who are supported by News."
But how interested are the players? "[Players' association boss] Matt Rodwell has difficulty confirming the numbers for the meeting," Gallop says.
Yesterday, Gallop was dressed in casual shirt, jeans and riding boots because he was guest speaker at a University of Technology, Sydney, evening lecture. "I didn't think they wanted to see a stiff in a suit," he explained, making it clear he wasn't dressing for the weather, despite any icy questions. Asked the topic, he said, "Sport and the law. Quite appropriate, don't you think?"
