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Australian sport in salary storm
Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith is shown here holding the National Rugby League trophy in 2009. The sport has been thrown into turmoil following allegations of salary-cap breaches which have resulted in the team being stripped of two championship titles.
MELBOURNE – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd blasted rugby league club Melbourne Storm on April 23, after the champion side was accused of breaching the salary cap in a fraud that has rocked Australian sport.
The revelations that Storm lied to the National Rugby League (NRL) about salaries prompted former chief executive and the alleged “architect” of the deception, Brian Waldron, to resign from rugby union club Melbourne Rebels.
Rudd said the NRL’s decision to strip the Storm of their 2009 and 2007 premierships and to fine the club heavily – the harshest treatment administered in Australian sport – was strong but fair.
“I know some Melbourne Storm fans may think it’s been harsh, but you’ve got to defend the rules of the game... and this seems to be the worst possible breach,” the Prime Minister said.
The Storm – who boast some of rugby league’s top stars in Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Cameron Smith – also lost their major sponsor ME Bank on April 23 as the bank ended their association with the club.
“Some fans will want to walk,” Storm chairman Rob Moodie acknowledged as he pleaded with supporters not to abandon the franchise. “Some sponsors will obviously want to move on. We understand that.”
Moodie, who said he was never a party to the deception, said when he asked for an explanation on salaries after the scandal broke he was told: “Everyone was doing it.
“This was about if we want to be competitive, everybody else does it, we had to do it,” Moodie told reporters, referring to comments from Waldron.
NRL chief David Gallop described the scandal as a “massive blow to the game”, one day after announcing that the Storm had cheated the salary cap by at least AU$1.7 million (US$1.5 million) over five years.
He warned that any other clubs found breaching the cap would be punished.
“We will continue to audit clubs as we’ve been doing... and the reminder to everyone is: those you think you can trust in your club now, may not be people you can trust in the future,” he told reporters in Sydney. – AFP
