David Gallop's goof

[yebiga]

Which clubs approached Gallop for an amnesty? Did Gallop inform investigators?

Earlier this week, to deflect various comments made by B.Waldron, David fronted the media and explained that a number, perhaps he said 3 clubs had approached him for an amnesty in recent years, that this may or may not have included Waldron.

At this media conference, he claims to have told these pesky club officials that there would be no amnesty, that the NRL is staunchly opposed to an amnesty.

Now think AFL: 3 clubs approach Demetriou for an amnesty, would he not be honour bound to inform investigators and auditors of this request and would not an investigation be imperative. If Demetriou simply says no amnesty and keeps the conversation to himself is that not putting your head in the sand - would that not make Demetriou complicit through his neglect.

I think Waldron is a punce, but lets not get distracted by the black and white orchestration offered us by the NRL and various forces at News Ltd. If several or 3 clubs are asking for an amnesty, if Waldron spoke openly with the NRL re the rorting when he first took office at the Storm, if these are provable facts, then Waldron will be able to drive a truck thru any charges made against him. Worse still if he has any further evidence of NRL complicity.

Waldron need only worry about his representations to the ATO re the players payments. If these were fully disclosed than Brian has little to fear personally; professionally maybe a different story.

Gallop's confession that a number of clubs in recent years approached him requesting an amnesty requires much larger and more detailed disclosure.

Until Gallop starts naming names, clubs and details of what if anything was done following these requests Gallop can have no credibility and this whole Storm saga will undermine the entire competition.

 

[meltiger]

How do you know they didn't investigate?


Melbourne only got stung because the whistle blower gave away the location of the real book

 

[yebiga]

How do you know they didn't investigate?


Melbourne only got stung because the whistle blower gave away the location of the real book

Don't you think if your going to hand down draconian penalties it is imperative to be above reproach. If they did investigate say so, but why would a club need to ask for an amnesty? Really!

 

[western royboy]

There are a few things that do not add up on this story.

Firstly let me state that it is obvious that the Storm cheated the salary cap.

Once it was detected/revealed and the Storm board became aware as 100% owned by News Ltd (which is 50/50 joint partner owner of the NRL) they had no option but to go to the NRL and fess up to the lot.

If there has ever been bigger conflict of interest in the history of sport / current affairs in this country then I will go he.

I am not a Wally Waldron fan, and obviously he is at the centre of it, but I do agree with a lot of what he is claiming. It is convenient for News Ltd to identify and Villify some scapegoats. To then have the biggest media organisation in the world go after him is a joke. I have not read one unbiased News Ltd report on the saga so far.

Phil Gould like him or not is speaking the truth. Their is something inherently wrong if 100 of your players have to move overseas to play. This is not moving to a better comp just better pay. The NRL and its salary cap have serious flaws and it i killing the game. Instead Gould is attacked as a freak.

I would suggest there would be four to five clubs in the NRL that would have salary cap problems/ breaches.

A News Ltd journalist suggests the NRL Salary Cap Auditor couldn't find a breach if it was presented to him and the scenario played out would prove that.

News Ltd must exit the game a.s.a.p. for everyone's benefit. If that means the end of te Storm then so be it. For the record I am a Roosters fan and have been or a long time, and The Storm is the best team that I have ever seen.

 

[dr nick]

100 players? How many of those players would make run on first grade NRL sides are playing in the ESL. A dozen at most? And its not the high quality players, but more the players in the twilight years who have fallen back to pretty basic wages under the NRL, because the ESL salary cap is only £1.6m.

 

[nineteen eighty]

100 players? How many of those players would make run on first grade NRL sides are playing in the ESL. A dozen at most? And its not the high quality players, but more the players in the twilight years who have fallen back to pretty basic wages under the NRL, because the ESL salary cap is only £1.6m.

That's no longer the case. There was an article recently that listed the overseas players and a large portion would still be playing first grade. Here is an article from Warren Ryan that I reckon is spot on with regards to 3rd party payments and the salary cap. It's Gallop's pig headedness that doesn't allow him to move from his current position. He really does need to remove his head from his arse so that the game can start to prosper and not lose so many players to other comps.

Warren Ryan: NRL won't plug overseas player drain unless clubs are allowed to top up contracts

BY WARREN RYAN
19 Aug, 2008 10:32 PM
IN recent weeks, commentators have canvassed the opinions of all and sundry across the league landscape to see if both the game's revenue and the game as a spectacle can be improved.
Unfort unately, contributions like "the overseas player drain is a problem that needs to be sorted," or the classic "we've got to think outside the square," or some modern-executive speak, "we've got to create new revenue streams," are as useless as the people who utter them.

 

[Turbocat]

As an AFL supporter who has watched us go thru all this Cap in the 90's , we had the luxury of being a totally Provincial sport that has control devices like Draft Picks. Even after the AFL Amnesty 3 clubs didn't take it seriously till Carlton was smashed at the Draft table ensuring their next 4-5 years were at the bottom of the table. My point is that an Amnesty would only work if you then follow it up an adjustment to the way your Cap is administered. With no change any Amnesty would only give a very short term benefit

I see NRL similar to Soccer , you have the OS pressure which seems to me to be growing. Maybe at one stage it was looked at as some sort of Golden handshake for players that were near finished to trundle off overseas but the players going now seem far closer to their prime. Dollars talk and now to join the OS we have Union and now AFL chiming in. I can only see this happening more and more if you don't find a way to match these $$ deals.

Has anyone looked at some sort of variations for your Cap that would allow club to have Franchise players like the local Soccer does? Perhaps 2 or 3 guys , the main marketing guys from each club could then be kept in your game.

 

[dr nick]

There's a fair bit of scaremongering in that article.

from wiki:

Salary Cap

The Super League operates under a salary cap system that will calculate a club’s salary cap position at the start of and throughout the season[11].

* The combined earnings of the Top 25 players must not exceed £1.6 million
* Clubs will only be allowed to sign a new player if they have room under the cap.
* Clubs are allowed to spend a maximum of £50,000 on players outside the Top 25 earners who have made at least one first grade appearance for the club during the year.
* Costs for players outside of the Top 25 earners who do not make a first team appearance will be unregulated.
* Any player who has played for the same Club for at least 10 consecutive seasons will have half their salary excluded from the Salary Cap for his eleventh and subsequent seasons. This is subject to a maximum of £50,000 for any one club.

so I don't know how many $800,000+ contracts they can go throwing around to lure marquee players away from Australia. There's only about 1.6 dollars to the pound at the moment as well.

edit:

our friendly english chap in the other thread listed some Australians playing in the ESL
Brett Hodgson
Danny Buderus
Craig Fitzgibbon
Matt Gidley

so I think Warren can sleep a little easier now than he did in 2008 when he thought it was all going to fall apart.

 

[Monkster]

our friendly english chap in the other thread listed some Australians playing in the ESL
Brett Hodgson
Danny Buderus
Craig Fitzgibbon
Matt Gidley

so I think Warren can sleep a little easier now than he did in 2008 when he thought it was all going to fall apart.

Matt King is still in the ESL, theres a big loss to NRL.

 

[dr nick]

yeah thats true. Not the exodus some suggest

 

[moto748]

Guys, surely this talk about an 'exodus to the Northern hemisphere' is more to English and French union clubs (like SBW) than to ESL?