Parramatta Eels: Darkest day as officials pay the price for the salary cap scandal
IN one of the darkest days in the NRL, five senior officials at the Parramatta Eels were found to have engaged in industrial-scale cheating of the salary cap.
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IN one of the darkest days in the NRL, five senior officials at the Parramatta Eels, including chairman Steve Sharp and CEO John Boulous, were yesterday found to have engaged in industrial-scale cheating of the salary cap.
The NRL’s interim report — which revealed a total of $3 million in rorting of the cap by the Eels over four years — has even stung the NSW government into action.
NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant last night said he had personally requested that the “NSW Police examine the report’’.
In an unprecedented move, the NRL has issued “show cause” notices to Sharp, Boulous, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao and Eels football boss Daniel Anderson, asking them to justify why they should not be deregistered from the game.
The club has been deducted all its 12 points accumulated so far, with the prospect it will play for no points until it gets under its salary cap, which the NRL says it is currently over by $570,000 for the 2016 season.
The club was also issued a $1 million fine (with $250,000 suspended if the club quickly implements corporate governance reforms).
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said yesterday the actions of Sharp, Boulous, Issa, Serrao and Anderson were “a stain on our game”.
“The preliminary findings suggest the operation of a deliberate, co-ordinated and sustained system of salary cap cheating by the club,” Mr Greenberg said.
Shattered Eels players and fans yesterday were defiant in the face of the sanctions. Parramatta prop Kenny Edwards vowed: “Nothing will break us. I wouldn’t want to be another team playing us in the next few weeks.”
The NRL forensic investigation into the Eels, which examined a record 750,000 documents, was instigated two days after The Daily Telegraph revealed a series of Eels internal documents from 2014 that showed a culture of rorting the salary cap at the club’s highest levels.
Mr Greenberg said yesterday that the Eels were “the most poorly managed club in the NRL”.
The evidence backs this suggestion, with the NRL boss confirming previous revelations that the club had conspired to pay players under the table from its own resources, directly sourced third party agreements in breach of the salary cap, and issued fictitious or inflated invoices to raise money to make additional payments to players.
NRL Integrity Unit boss Nick Weeks said some of the payments had involved cash in hand. “Some of the resources the club has used to help fulfil promises made to players relate to cash,” he said. “That’s our assessment.”
The scale of the Eels’ estimated salary cap rorting over four years was of a similar magnitude to the Melbourne Storm’s 2010 scandal. “In monetary terms we estimate the club made promises of remuneration that haven’t been disclosed to the NRL of $3 million since 2013 in aggregate,” Mr Weeks said. This compared with $3.8 million in cap cheating at the Storm over five years.
Mr Grant said Liquor and Gaming NSW “would now examine the report to identify any breaches of the Registered Clubs Act”.
It is understood the body is interested in the ongoing role of the sanctioned Eels directors on the $80 million-a-year Parramatta Leagues Club board, of which Sharp, Issa and Serrao remain directors. The Registered Clubs Act requires directors to pass a “fit and proper person” test.
Greenberg undertook to fix the club on behalf of players and fans. “I know from talking to the players they don’t want to live under the constant threat of losing competition points,” he said. “They want Parramatta to become the powerhouse team that this should be. The job of rebuilding starts now.”
He added that the Eels had the ability to be a “super club” in Sydney.
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