Melbourne Storm stripped of '07/09 NRL Titles for Systematic Salary Cap Breaches.

amacachi

thomond2006 wrote: »

I don't follow RL but this is a fascinating case.

Is the club's future in doubt?

Hard to know, one of the few teams outside of the usual home of the sport and the only one in Melbourne.

IH77

couerdelion wrote: »

I think the punishment is harsh in respect to nothing to play for this year, but I'm guessing that they will be still over the cap if players were being played from two sources(?)

They have also breached the cap in 2010 so I think it is right they are punished this year.

toomevara

thomond2006 wrote: »

I don't follow RL but this is a fascinating case.

Is the club's future in doubt?

Time you got on board...;) As of now no, I don't think there's an existential threat to the Storm, but I sense there's a long way to go on this and its not fully played out yet. As a fan I'd feel robbed and betrayed by my team had this been say Leeds and I'd have to seriously evaluate my support....

IH77

toomevara wrote: »

Time you got on board...;) As of now no, I don't think there's an existential threat to the Storm, but I sense there's a long way to go on this and its not fully played out yet. As a fan I'd feel robbed and betrayed by my team had this been say Leeds and I'd have to seriously evaluate my support....

They will lose a lot of their supporters over this alright, given it is Melbourne many of those will probably turn their back on RL altogether.

I still maintain they should be suspended from the comp for the remainder of this season. Why should other clubs have to play them for two competition points when they are still fielding a team that breaches the salary cap?

IH77

Sucks to be this guy

Xavi6

Major sponsor ME Bank has just dumped the club. That's gonna cripple them even more.

They'll fold IMO.

toomevara

Xavi6 wrote: »

They'll fold IMO.

I hadn't anticipated that, some sponsors are deserting the club, its looking increasingly like they'll go under. Amazing stuff...

From The Australian;

Melbourne Storm sponsors abandon club over salary cap rorts.

MELBOURNE Storm major sponsor Host Plus has joined Member's Equity Bank in a mass exodus from the club in the wake of revelations of massive salary cap rorting.

The two major sponsors' names were removed from the Melbourne Storm website within minutes of the decision by Host Plus CEO David Elia to scrap the three-year agreement with immediate effect.

ME Bank also joined sports fashion company Skins today in saying it was ending its sponsorship of the team.

Mr Elia described the relationship as untenable.

Caravan company Jayco and car maker Suzuki will assume the position of the club's major sponsors from this weekend.

The swift departure the club's main sponsors presents the real prospect that the team could fold, as conceded by club chairman Rob Moodie this morning.

Mr Moodie, who says he was unaware of the rorting but has nonetheless offered his resignation, said: “Some (Storm employees) will want to walk, some fans will want to walk.

“Some sponsors will obviously want to move on. We understand that.”

ME Bank was seeking urgent meetings with Storm management last night, but wasted no time this morning in deciding to end the $1 million-plus sponsorship that was to run until the end of next season.

Skins was also forced into action by the revelations, with the company running an advertising campaign using the tagline “cheat legal” that suggested using the product was a way to cheat legally rather than using drugs or taking secret payments.

ME Bank joined the Storm last season on the back of the success super fund Host Plus had had sponsoring the team.

ME Bank chief executive Jamie McPhee said they were extremely disappointed to discover the Storm had rorted the salary cap by concealing $1.7 million worth of player payments over a five-year period.

“As an organisation ME Bank believes in the principles of strong governance, transparency, integrity, and fairness and we seek to ensure that all of our corporate and community partnerships uphold these same values,” Mr McPhee said.

Other sponsors were assessing their options today, with fashion company Kooga saying it would make a decision by this afternoon whether to dump the club.

Car maker Suzuki said it would await meetings with Storm management next week before acting, but said it had enjoyed a good relationship with the club over the last three years.

hussey

ticket sales will drop next to nothing, who wants to see a team who cheated their way to the top and have nothing to play for ...

toomevara

Looks like there may be a fire-sale down Melbourne way...The likes of Greg Inglis and Billy Slater wont have to hang around long I'd imagine...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8639487.stm

mountain

Its hard to imagine that the players didnt know what was going on, they were getting money "on the side/under the table", i wonder will any of them be investigated.

On another note, it seems kinda comical that one of the ways of laundering the money was to put it down to the hiring of a marquee, sounds a bit "father ted" ish

wicklowwonder

any word on Gold Coast heard they also under investigation

thomond2006

I expect Melbourne Rebels will have a keen eye on all this.

Stev_o

thomond2006 wrote: »

I expect Melbourne Rebels will have a keen eye on all this.

If they have any sense they should grab Inglis for the year with a decent enough contract with the option of a extension at the seasons end if he isn't offered by a NRL club. But tbh no club will be able to fund Smith, Slater or Inglis their accounts will be stretched as it is.

Stev_o

What's got 26 legs but can't climb a ladder?

The Storm

What does a triangle have that the Storm doesn't?

Three points

toomevara

This, from the Herald Sun, is quite an eye opener. The implication is that rorting is widespread, also insightful on how it was/is done...For example, assigning a particular player a particular poker machine so that all money generated by it goes to him...the mind boggles. The 'overs' system and the fact that its increasingly clear that some players were well aware of precisely what was going on...A mucky business and I don't reckon this will stop at melbourne...

Explosive files detailing secret payments to Melbourne Storm players exposed.

John Ferguson, Nick Leys From: Herald Sun April 24.

EXPLOSIVE new documents detailing secret payments to Melbourne Storm players were handed to investigators.

Acting Storm boss Matt Hanson surrendered documents, kept at his home, that detail allegedly illegal third-party payments to three players.

But they show that in at least one case the player was told all payments would be kept within the salary cap.

Sources said police also spoke to auditors investigating the paper trail left by several Storm officials.

The Herald Sun believes Storm and the NRL were handed the dossier, which detailed illegal payments that rose to as much as $700,000 this year.

It is believed the secret dossier was originally kept at home by former Storm CEO Brian Waldron, who quit his post at the rugby union Melbourne Rebels in disgrace.

It is the first hard evidence of this year's alleged rorting. Details also were surrendered for 2008-09.

The documents are believed to describe how the third-party payments were made; in one case, everything the player was to be paid was through this illegal system, believed to include sponsorship. It is believed the letters give the impression, or state explicitly, that Storm will guarantee the payments.

The dossier is likely to be central to inquiries into how Mr Waldron allegedly masterminded Australia's biggest sporting scandal by breaching the salary cap by $1.7 million over five years. The controversy has brought the club to its knees as sponsors quit.

The Herald Sun believes details of the payments were shuffled between Storm's offices and the homes of Mr Waldron and Mr Hanson.

Storm sources said the rorting centred on the illegal third-party payments and fake invoices. Some players were allegedly paid in $15,000 increments, special game day bonuses being dressed up as third-party hospitality payments.

The Storm board was kept in the dark. Club chairman Rob Moodie warned yesterday it was touch and go for the Melbourne-based rugby league team, but he was hopeful strong backing would keep it afloat.

He said Mr Waldron told him salary cap cheating was widespread. Asked why he had breached the code, Mr Waldron allegedly said: "Because everyone else did it."

Storm's fate was in the balance after super fund Host Plus and Members Equity Bank pulled sponsorships thought to be worth $1 million-plus.

Minor sponsor and clothing manufacturer Skins also withdrew backing.

Of 18 sponsors, only Harvey Norman and Jayco have been categorical in support. Suzuki, Makita and sportswear company KooGa were considering their positions.

A spokesman for Gatorade, which has sponsored Storm for 12 years, said the sports drink company would "not be making any drastic changes".

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said he expected the City of Melbourne to continue its $35,000 sponsorship.

Sport Minister James Merlino met the NRL and club owner News Limited, publisher of the Herald Sun, to discuss Storm's future.

There was speculation the scandal would spread to other clubs.

A senior player manager said the scandal was just the tip of the iceberg for the NRL: "Waldron said everyone is doing it. Well, he'd be right.

"They call it 'overs', as in 'he's on overs' or over what's been registered. I can't imagine any club in the NRL that's not rorting the system: there would be plenty of the other 15 clubs who would have CEOs and boards now issuing instructions to clean up their act," the manager said.

He said one well-used trick was for a club to assign a particular poker machine to the player and allow all its takings to flow to him.

Another was for a sponsor or third party to be asked to pay an extra amount that might be put in an overseas bank account.

"But if the manager came around with a bag of money a few times a year, who would know?" the manager said.

He said Storm and, previously, the Canterbury Bulldogs, had been caught because of a whistleblower and not because of NRL auditing.

Diamondmaker

Allegedly there was a whistle blower involved and the timing just in time for s competitors launch next season....hmmmmmm

Also the players had to have had some knowledge and players will be investigated apparently also...

toomevara

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Also the players had to have had some knowledge and players will be investigated apparently also...

Indeed, it emerges they were given cars, boats and shopping vouchers...Now I doubt that many of them still believe in Santy Claus, so I'm sure they must have had a pretty clear idea where it was all coming from....

The Aussie

reminds me of Scotty Prince at the Titans and his free/cheap house, how wide spread is this rort???

couerdelion

I think this type of 'rorting' is pretty widespread through the game in both Australia and England.Everyone's heard stories of how Player x's wife is paid as a cleaner at the rugby club without ever actually working there.Id expect more stories to break before the end of the season.

Diamondmaker

Slightly un related but looks like Izzy F may sign for the Melbourne Rebels.

toomevara

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Slightly un related but looks like Izzy F may sign for the Melbourne Rebels.

No bloody way! Massive loss to the game if he does, and what'll they do with him in union? Wing/centre? bah.....

The Aussie

toomevara wrote: »

what'll they do with him in union? Wing/centre?

No 13, give him the space he needs, would be wasted on the wing, what a wreaking ball he would be and skill to burn, Bastaraeud from france would look like a chubby school boy compared to him

Diamondmaker

toomevara wrote: »

No bloody way! Massive loss to the game if he does, and what'll they do with him in union? Wing/centre? bah.....

Looking very likely now, 48 hrs away it could be !