Life is not all about greed, Money Bill
By Paul Kent
July 27, 2008 11:17pm
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
SONNY Bill Williams' famous quote, in March, goes like this: "I was offered double what I'm on at Canterbury to go somewhere else and I stayed because I wanted to stay loyal to the club and keep the boys around, but to see him leave like that ..."
He is talking about Willie Mason, and Willie's decision to break contract and walk out on the Bulldogs at the start of this season to join the Roosters.
Sonny Bill did not finish there.
"It's tough because he was a player that I really did look up to and for him to leave like that ... I had so much respect for him ... from telling me to stay loyal and what not ... and for him to just pack up and leave like that was very hard to take.
"So, yeah my respect for him has diminished."
And so, yeah, Sonny Bill is exposed as a myth.
Slain by his own words.
Today he rises somewhere in another part of the world as the new poster boy for the Where's Mine? gang.
It gets worse. Williams' walkout on the Bulldogs ranks among the lowest, most treacherous acts performed by a footballer on his team-mates. He snuck out of town without telling one team-mate he was going. Mid-season.
Forget the PR spin from the media lackeys that have embarrassed themselves by trying to sell the line that Sonny Bill confided in two close team-mates before he left.
The Bulldogs players met yesterday and not one of them said they knew.
Two days before he skipped town, Sonny Bill sat with chief executive Todd Greenberg, incoming coach Kevin Moore and captain Andrew Ryan to discuss plans for next year.
Not a word.
Last week the Bulldogs allowed every fan with a Kiwi, Samoan, Tongan or Fijian passport into the game for free at Sonny Bill's urging.
Not a word.
Apparently all Sonny Bill can say is: Where's mine?
And his greed creates the most important test case in the NRL's 11-year history.
Here is a man being induced to break a five-year contract to take up a deal with French rugby club Toulon.
The French rugby clubs have the money to outbid NRL clubs.
They are owned by rich businessmen whose rugby clubs are almost an indulgence, a rich man's toy. Toulon owner, Mourad Boudjellal, made his fortune in the comic strip business and lavishes money on his team.
If the NRL blinks now the damage could be irreparable.
No, the game won't die. But if a precedent is set the best players can be poached without ramification, the NRL will wither.
It will become nothing more than a step up from bush football, dying from the top down.
The NRL and the Bulldogs have been seeking legal advice and today will begin to force the International Rugby Board to get involved.
Yesterday NRL boss David Gallop challenged the IRB to acknowledge what had happened and to prevent Sonny Bill from being registered.
In terms of the game, it is high noon.
If the IRB fails to impose its jurisdiction on the French Rugby Federation (FFR) it could be all over. This is a greater chance of happening than most realise.
The owners of French rugby clubs wield tremendous power within their game and tremendous political power outside.
Such is the extent, they often dictate to the FFR itself.
The English Premier League and Italian Serie A are perhaps the only football leagues in the world where the clubs dictate so heavily to the governing body.
For such reasons the NRL's greatest concern -- and it is one the Australian Rugby Union shares -- is that the IRB will not be able to govern the FFR.
The French clubs won't allow it, meaning Sonny Bill could be in the black and red sooner rather than later.
The ARU knows that if the IRB cannot stop the FFR from poaching Sonny Bill and he can't be held to a contract then the same applies to Matt Giteau, Lote Tuqiri and the rest.
The NRL's problem is unique in it provides the best athletes, even by rugby union standards, yet it does not have the money to keep them if it comes to auction.
Already in the past year Craig Gower, Mark Gasnier and Luke Rooney have scored large pay rises to play rugby in France.
Unlike Sonny Bill, none broke their contract to make the deal.
Gower is the only one to have yet played, but it sounds like a beautiful set-up. Twice the money for half the football.
When he returned briefly this year he told one friend he made six tackles all season.
He told a coach that he believed he had one or, at best, two years left in the NRL but in this league he could play another four or five seasons.
So the appeal is legitimate. It is the means that concern.
The NRL must fight the Toulon deal as far as it needs to go.
No compensation. No deals.
Sonny Bill plays for the Bulldogs or he plays nowhere, even if it means going to the highest international court to enforce his contract.
As for Sonny Bill and his wonderful ethics, he had us fooled with Willie Mason.
Now he has ignored one of the first pieces of advice every man of substance learns.
Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas.
All his unrest came after he signed with manager Khoder Nasser, the man that has managed Anthony Mundine's career with great aplomb.
Today he scratches.
