In breaking news, on Thursday April 21 the news was announced that the Melbourne Storm rugby league club has been basically stripped of everything the club has achieved in the past few years.
Why? You may well ask.
It all comes down to a serious breach of salary cap restrictions. The numbers are somewhat sketchy (I have seen at least three different amounts) but it seems that over the past five years around $1.7 million AUS has been paid above the salary cap to various Melbourne players. This is seen as a huge breach. The last time something like this happened in the NRL Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs were docked 37 premiership points, effectively stripping them of that year’s title as they were runaway leaders. In the AFL Carlton lost draft picks, which has seen them struggle ever since.
So what was Melbourne’s punishment?
First, let’s look at the history of the Melbourne Storm. They were formed in 1997 and won their first premiership just 2 years later, in 1999. From 2006 to 2009 they made all four grand finals, winning in 2207 and 2009, as well as achieving the minor premiership in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Quite an impressive history for such a young club.
But in 2004 a new chief executive started at the club – Brian Waldron. He came from the St Kilda AFL club (and so guess who else is being investigated as a result of this?) and took over. This coincides with the systematic breach of the rules. It could be coincidence, of course, but that is up to the police and courts to decide. It appears a whistle blower let the NRL know that there were 2 sets of books – literally, two sets of books, as in physical accounts books! – being kept at the club and that the second was hidden in a back room, detailing the real payments to players.
Waldron now id the CEO of the new Melbourne Rebels Super-14 side… at least, he was until his resignation in the wake of all of this. The owner of the Storm, News Limited, through its chairman, has described Waldron as the “architect” of this whole fiasco.
So now comes the punishment. And, man, is it a big one.
The club has been fined $500,000. They have been ordered to repay $1.1 million in prize money (which will be redistributed to the other 15 clubs). They have been stripped of all their minor premierships. They have been stripped of all points so far accrued in the 2010 season and will not be awarded any points for the remainder of the season, giving them the wooden spoon. And, most damaging of all, they have been stripped of their 2007 and 2009 premierships. Never before in the history of the sport (102 years) has a club been stripped of a title. The teams beaten for those flags will not be given the premierships, instead they will be declared vacant. Further, the police fraud squad is investigating, the Australian Taxation Office is investigating and forensic accountants are investigating. This could drag on for a long time to come
This will have 3 major effects. First , this season is now a shambles, with Melbourne playing for pride and playing to rob other teams of a chance without giving themselves a chance; how will players cope with that? Second, Melbourne is based in, obviously, Melbourne – the AFL capital of Australia. Without the Storm doing well, the franchise as a whole could fall in a heap and it could destroy the expansion of league elsewhere. Thirdly, and more positively, maybe some other clubs will start to look at themselves a little more closely and carefully and actually play within the rules. Rumours abound of at least 2 AFL clubs breaching salary cap rules and another NRL club, so investigations could be interesting and panic could ensue.
Fans have already started to leave the Storm in droves, and the talk is that this could affect league Australia-wide. Last year, while still not matching the AFL, League grew in television numbers and attendances; this could well see an end to that.
Personally, I feel the punishments are overkill, as a high precedent has now been set. But something had to be done.
This season now has a deflated feel to it. This sport has a deflated feel to it. It will be interesting to see how it rebounds after all of this…
And that’s this breaking view.
