Parramatta Eels: Club board and executives oversaw culture of salary cap rule breaches
THE Parramatta Eels board and senior executives have overseen a culture of breaching salary cap rules by rewarding players’ third-party sponsors with corporate boxes, explosive internal documents suggest.
THE Parramatta Eels board and senior executives have overseen a culture of breaching salary cap rules by rewarding players’ third-party sponsors with corporate boxes, explosive internal documents suggest.
Confidential board minutes from 2014 obtained by The Daily Telegraph show there was active discussion at the highest levels of the club about providing rewards — most notably free and fully catered corporate hospitality — to the third parties.
There are also revelations that tens of thousands of dollars in payments were made to departed star Jarryd Hayne by a Parramatta official last year, well after he left the club to join the San Francisco 49ers NFL team.
The Telegraph has obtained documents detailing five separate bank transfers to Hayne from an unnamed Parramatta football club representative totalling $39,000, well after Hayne left the club.
Bank statements detail five payments were made between January 27 and February 26, 2015 by a Parramatta official into Hayne’s account, including three individual payments of $10,000.
The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting that Hayne has done anything wrong. An Eels spokesman had no comment.
Hayne’s manager Wayne Beavis denied all knowledge of the payments.
“I don’t know anything about it. It might have been money owing to him. I don’t get involved with his personal stuff,” he said.
The 2014 boardroom documents, which were signed by club chairman Steve Sharp, state “the importance of servicing TPA (Third Party Agreement) providers accordingly with hospitality and player appearances”.
Any legitimate third-party payments to players must be on an arm’s length basis from the club. It is a breach of the salary cap rules if a club makes a payment on behalf of the third parties or does a deal to compensate companies for a third-party contract.
It is understood that corporate hospitality at the Eels’ home ground, Pirtek Stadium, is valued at up to $300 a head — meaning any third party given the benefit of this over the course of a season could reap a benefit worth thousands of dollars.
When The Telegraph put the allegations to Mr Sharp yesterday he said the minutes could have been “doctored”, before later appearing to back down on the claim.
Eels communications chief Josh Drayton later emailed a further comment: “The club denies these allegations show impropriety or wrongdoing in relation to the salary cap.”
The NRL’s official rules regarding salary cap on its website state: “Many players have third-party agreements that are outside the salary cap” but these must not “become a way for clubs or players to use sponsors or third parties to undermine the salary cap”.
The Eels have already paid a $465,000 fine for salary cap breaches in 2014 and ran the risk of having four points deducted for the 2016 season unless governance was fixed.
A deal with the NRL on this matter is still being finalised.
When The Telegraph made the NRL aware of these new developments yesterday, a spokesman would say only that the governing body was continuing a review of the Eels’ salary cap
“We cannot make any comment on the review until it is completed,” he said.
The formal minutes of a March 26, 2014, meeting of the Eels’ governing board suggest a culture in which the allocation of free “hospitality” and “corporate tickets” was being used as a virtual currency to compensate third-party providers.
In discussing football operations, they said: “Issues in relation to the salary cap and potential repercussions were discussed. The board noted the process of Third Party Agreements and the importance of servicing TPA providers with hospitality and player appearances.”
Minutes from the same meeting also noted “the importance of using corporate tickets for potential sponsors and TPA providers”.
Several of those present at the meeting — including Mr Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, John Boulous (now the club’s CEO) and the head of football Daniel Anderson — remain with the club.
These minutes, also signed by Mr Sharp, were adopted on April 23, 2014, verifying the statements made at the March 26 meeting.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Sharp said: “I find it extraordinary that’s in the board minutes. Of course I know that third-party deals are arm’s length.”
At one point he even suggested the minutes could have been “doctored”.
“You’ve made me aware of these minutes,” he said.
“I’ll have to call our CEO. We’ve had cases around that time (2014) when documentation wasn’t correct.”
Asked if he was saying his signature had been forged, Mr Sharp then backed away.
“I wouldn’t suggest someone has forged my signature at all (but) for what agenda is someone giving you those documents?” he said.
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