Wigan Down to Tenth

[deluded pom?]

The ESL last night docked Wigan four points after salary cap breaches from last season. They said that Wigan were more than £200,000 over the budget. This now puts Wigan in tenth spot on the table.

 

[Mr Angry]

Were they the only ones? I saw somewhere there could be a few in trouble.

Ninth spot and only one win from the semi final bound teams.

 

[Mr Angry]

Wigan Warriors dropped from fourth to ninth place in the engage Super League after being docked four points for breaching the salary cap.

The Warriors were found guilty after a four-hour hearing in front of a three-man tribunal in Leeds of over-spending on players’ wages in 2006.

Wigan, who were deducted two points for breaching the cap a year ago, were found to have overspent by £222,314 or 6 per cent over the 50 per cent limit.

The punishment would have been worse but for a ruling two weeks ago that a decision to double the penalties would not be implemented until next year.

The club, who avoided a fine, have the right to appeal but chairman Maurice Lindsay said no decision would be taken until they receive a written judgement.

The Warriors splashed out a world record £450,000 transfer fee to Bradford Bulls for Great Britain prop forward Stuart Fielden last June, just 10 days after admitting they were up to their wage limit.

The League only agreed to register Fielden after Wigan gave assurances that sufficient players would be offloaded to keep the club under the cap.

The points deduction means Wigan are now 12 points behind leaders St Helens and just five above bottom club Salford City Reds.

http://www.superleague.co.uk/story.php?id=8254

 

[bartman]

Were they the only ones? I saw somewhere there could be a few in trouble.

There were three, but Wigan was believed to be the worst.

St Helens had a fine, it was around paying two players GB bonuses for making the Tri Nations squad put them over the limit.

Bradford were docked 2 points and copped it on the chin. I think the argument was it related to contracts that had been signed a fair while agao and also put them over the limit in previous years where they copped a penalty.

Wigan first argued that the new tougher double points penalties shouldn't apply to breaches arising from before that was agreed. So they probably knew they had problems, and were looking down the barrel of 8 points for this.

As I understand under the old/existing penalties there was a 6 point maximum deduction, and the new penalties would see a 12 point deduction.

I think the league is moving to a proactive assessment of salary cap from next year, rather than this in the past fiasco, where clubs are found out and penalised the season afterwards.

Hopefully this will costs Wigan a play-offs place, because they seem to have blatantly disregarded the rules mid-way through last year to ensure they avoided relegation...

 

[ExiledWool]

There were three, but Wigan was believed to be the worst.

St Helens had a fine, it was around paying two players GB bonuses for making the Tri Nations squad put them over the limit.

It was actually for the test against NZ that was arranged after all the financial planning had been done.

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

Hopefully this will costs Wigan a play-offs place, because they seem to have blatantly disregarded the rules mid-way through last year to ensure they avoided relegation...

sh*t oath, the signings of Fielden and Dobson certainly make it appear that way, not to mention the deferred payments. It really seems that they big 4 clubs have scant regard for the game and anyone else bar themselves at times. I will say that I don't think it would've or would ever be good for the league if Wigan went down, but thems the breaks as they say.

I hope Cas can get some sort of remuneration (cold comfort). They were the best team to ever get relegated whilst I have been following the English game, by a mile. I really think Wigan should be forced to lose players as well as they outbid Cas for Dobson.

And I was very confused in that they exceeded the cap by over 200K yet they only breached it by 6 per cent. How is that possible when the cap is 1.7mil?

 

[bartman]

It was actually for the test against NZ that was arranged after all the financial planning had been done.

Cheers for that Exiled. Pretty minor and understandable issue at St Helens, and I haven't noticed anyone begrudging them their small breach in these circumstances.

And I was very confused in that they exceeded the cap by over 200K yet they only breached it by 6 per cent. How is that possible when the cap is 1.7mil?

The thing to help not be confused is to remember that the percentage quoted does not relate to the figures in pounds.

The cap in Super League has both a maximum amount and a maximum % of club eligible income (set at 50%). So it's possible for a smaller club with less income to breach the 50% of income limit, but notget close to exceeded the maximum 1.7mil limit.

But for a larger club with income that allows their 50% to be at or close to the 1.7mil maximum limit, then and breach of either % or pounds will likely put them over the other measurement as well. That is, Wigan must have spent 1.7 + 0.2 = 1.9, and this represented 56% of their eligible club income (instead of 50%).

 

[deluded pom?]

I will say that I don't think it would've or would ever be good for the league if Wigan went down, but thems the breaks as they say.

Wigan have been relegated before and the game's still here. No team is bigger than the game (even if they think they are). Wigan exploited a pi$$ poor rule that allowed them to sin one season and not pay the consequences for another year. They took a gamble that the signing of Fielden would kickstart their season and got away with it. The ESL should have blocked the signing of Fielden when Wigan told the ESL that his signing would take them over the cap but that they would offload players soon after. Mr Lyndsay has no respect for the traditions and welfare of rugby league, only what benefits Wigan. He, like Chris Caisley before him, run straight to the courts if they think they've been badly done to. This is why every other fan in SL dislikes them.