NRL’s treatment of Bob Fulton in Manly cap drama reveals a serious error in judgment
The disparity between the treatment of former Australian captain and original Immortal Bob Fulton and two fans on the hill raises serious questions about the judgment of the NRL leadership, writes PAUL KENT.
Opinion
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THREE days ago the NRL released a two paragraph statement: “The NRL today issued breach notices to two spectators who allegedly made offensive comments towards South Sydney Rabbitohs captain Greg Inglis in round two.
“A spokesman said the two spectators would now be given an opportunity to respond to the notices before any penalty was imposed.”
A day later NRL boss Todd Greenberg announced former Sea Eagles boss Bob Fulton would not be welcomed back to the game now the NRL had completed its salary cap investigation into Manly.
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Unlike the two spectators, Fulton got no interview.
Unlike the two spectators, he got no breach notice, no opportunity to respond to the allegations Greenberg soon went public with.
The disparity between the treatment of Fulton, a Manly premiership winning captain, premiership winning coach, one of the original four Immortals, a former Australian captain, former Australian coach and a former Australian selector and two fans on the hill raises serious questions about the judgment of the NRL leadership.
Leave aside for a moment your own thoughts on Fulton’s conduct.
The NRL is all about process these days. So much, it almost chokes to a standstill.
Two years ago Parramatta got busted cheating the salary cap.
“I would expect in the coming weeks that there will be a file handed to the agents’ accreditation committee which will look at any range of material issues,” Greenberg said about the 11 player managers implicated in the Parramatta salary cap cheating scandal.
Greenberg said that in July 2016. There have still been no charges laid as the NRL goes through its due diligence.
Somebody’s head should roll at the NRL over the extraordinary incompetence occurring at headquarters.
The lack of judgment has reached new levels.
How can a game defend itself when it affords two fans in the stands, alleged to have called Inglis a “black dog”, better treatment than a man who has achieved everything the game has offered over more than 50 years?
It goes to the highest level.
New Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie began his press conference on Tuesday by saying, “Look, I’m a lawyer and I have to say it is a pretty compelling case.”
Really.
If so, as a lawyer, Beattie would have known and respected the basic principle of fairness, which dictates any allegations are outlined with supporting evidence which you are then given the opportunity to defend.
Like the two blokes got at Penrith.
As a former lawyer Beattie, the game’s spokesman, should have known he was on unstable ground.
But no.
“I’ve been a Bobby Fulton fan all my life, I grew up watching him play for Manly and I think he is a legend in many ways, but no legend is above the game,” Beattie said.
No, but surely, at the very least, he is entitled to the same rights as two men in the stand.
Beattie can still fix it by addressing the serious mishandling of this entire investigation underneath him. While he says the evidence is compelling, he is speaking only to the NRL’s report, not whether it was thorough or accurate.
This is not a guilt or innocence argument. Most have already formed their own opinion on Fulton based not on the evidence — the NRL has released no details of the investigation — but on their previously held views about him.
There are other concerns about the investigation process, and not just that a legend of the sport was not entitled to the same basic principle of fairness as two men allegedly shouting racial insults.
Somebody within the NRL has attempted to cover its incompetence by selectively leaking correspondence with Fulton to suggest he was continually avoiding being interviewed.
Fulton’s text messages from the NRL end December 6, when he was away on holidays and asked not to be interviewed on Skype but said he wanted to do it in person, when he could have legal representation like all the rest that were interviewed.
The NRL’s findings were released on March 26.
Manly coach Trent Barrett was given an official warning from the NRL for not paying close enough attention to his players’ contract negotiations.
This, despite Barrett having no role in contract negotiations. The Sea Eagles work under a model similar to Penrith and St George Illawarra where the coach has an opinion on player talent but no role in their deals.
Barrett was coach in what the NRL say was the final two seasons of the five-year period Manly cheated the cap by $1.5 million.
The coach from 2012-15 was Geoff Toovey.
If Barrett was worth an official warning then surely Toovey was worth a phone call in any thorough investigation to determine what he knew.
“No one spoke to me at all about the investigation,” Toovey told NRL.com on Tuesday.
“I have no knowledge of what’s happened.
“When they started saying when the problems started to occur, I thought someone might ask me what the situation was.”
Originally published as NRL’s treatment of Bob Fulton in Manly cap drama reveals a serious error in judgment
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