ABC’s Four Corners to investigate NRL’s financial woes
As the NRL struggles to come to terms with the economic effects of the COVID-19 shutdown, the ABC is set to investigate the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted by rugby league.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The ABC’s Four Corners is to launch a major investigation into rugby league finances and the wastage of hundreds of millions of dollars since the Super League war.
Producers have begun contacting many of the game’s key powerbrokers, including recently departed chief executive Todd Greenberg and former boss David Gallop, who left the game in 2012.
One of the game’s harshest critics of financial waste, long-time Roosters boss Nick Politis, has also been sounded out by the program.
Relive classic NRL matches from the 60s to today on KAYO SPORTS. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Ironically, it comes at a time when independent commission chairman and Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys is suing the ABC for defamation after its investigation last year of racehorse cruelty.
He, too, has been approached by Four Corners producers for this investigation.
V’landys has made no secret of the fact the game’s finances are in a “catastrophic” state.
“I have on numerous occasions said that I’m not worrying about the past, it’s only the future,” V’landys said. “We need to get the game on to a footing where it is sustainable for the next 50 years.”
It was recently revealed the NRL’s head office spends $500,000 a day on the administration of the game.
Chief financial officer Tony Crawford, heavily criticised over the distribution of funding to the 16 clubs, quit last week. Other senior executives are in the firing line as V’landys looks to slash costs.
MORE NEWS
Waratahs coach Rob Penney says Wallabies will reap benefits of emerging youth if they remain patient
Olympics Games 2020: AOC boss John Coates says Tokyo has potential to be even better than Sydney
Channel 9 boss Hugh Marks spoke of “the mismanagement of the code over many years” by a “bloated head office” and how the game had “profoundly wasted funds.”
His statements sparked the interest from the ABC.
Former Souths boss Shane Richardson and Cronulla Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta have also been approached by the program.
Four Corners and journalist Chris Masters famously brought down former rugby league boss Kevin Humphreys back in 1983 over the misappropriation of funds at the Balmain Tigers in an investigation titled The Big League.