How will the Storm fiasco affect the A-League?

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By Mike Tuckerman, 23 Apr 2010 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: A-League, football, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Storm Salary cap, NRL, Rugby League

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Jeff Lima in action during the NRL, Round 19, Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm match at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney on Monday July 20, 2009. Eels won 18-16. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox

The sensational news that Melbourne Storm are guilty of systematically rorting the salary cap will resonate throughout Australian sport. The Storm look done and dusted in the NRL, but what effect will their probable demise have on the A-League?

The Storm have been ordered to play out the rest of the NRL season, but with major backer News Limited already considering their future in the game before one of Australia’s biggest sporting scandals unfolded, the writing is now surely on the wall for rugby league in Victoria.

What effect this will have on the rest of the Australian sporting landscape remains to be seen, but surely questions will be asked of co-tenancy agreements at AAMI Park – the new rectangular stadium built to house not only the Storm, but also Melbourne Heart and Victory next season – even if taxpayers have already been forced to foot the bill for its construction.

But of greater concern for football fans must surely be the fact that the potential for salary cap rorting is a very real problem in the A-League, especially now that Football Federation Australia is beginning to implement new marquee player rules.

The sheer scale of Melbourne Storm’s cheating should ring alarm bells for every sports fan in Australia, not least because it occurred underneath the noses of an administration that has years of commercial and financial experience.

That’s hardly a point that can be made for the FFA, who at times have looked about as organised as a bunch of school kids on a class outing to ‘Dream World.’

If one of Australia’s most high-profile sporting administrations can be caught so unaware, then questions should be asked of the due diligence in place in the A-League – even if there’s no suggestion that clubs have ever defrauded the cap thus far.

One wonders if the A-League could even survive a scandal of this magnitude, with the competition already looking on shaky ground over the future of North Queensland Fury and the financial concerns that have plagued a host of other clubs.

But whatever the problems of Australia’s fledgling football competition, they hardly compare to the hammer blow that the NRL is about to take to its credibility.

You have to feel sorry for Melbourne Storm fans, who are blameless in this incredible fiasco, and how the NRL will continue to function effectively with the shamed outfit no longer playing for competition points in 2010 is anyone’s guess.

It’s doubtful whether Melbourne’s two A-League clubs will pick up any disillusioned Storm fans as a result of this mess – irate supporters are more likely to jump ship to new rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels – although I wonder if potential sponsors might think twice about pumping their cash into the NRL in the near future.

Whatever happens to the Melbourne Storm – and I personally don’t think that they can survive this crisis – it’s a sobering reminder that without diligence, this kind of catastrophe can befall any competition.

“FIFA cannot sit by and see greed rule the football world,” Sepp Blatter once told reporters, and how prescient those words seem in a world where already wealthy teams are not afraid to cheat the system.

This kind of fiasco could just as easily have happened in the A-League – as media, administrators and fans, it’s our duty to ensure that it never does.

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The Crowd Says (61) | Page 1 of Comments

rugbyfuture said | April 23rd 2010 @ 2:18am | Report comment

you seem to lack a knowledge of the differences between rugby union and rugby league, perhaps research should be afforded before any attempts at including speculation over support for a rugby club and a league club are written.

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- Sam said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:52am | Report comment
  
  Many supporters of the rugby codes follow both. There would be plenty of Kiwis who follow both league and union in Melbourne. I don’t necessarily think he is wrong, or that he doesn’t know the difference between league and union.
  
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  - mahony said | April 23rd 2010 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
    
    What he said – Roosters and Brumbies for me. Always been Roosters, and more recently a Brumbies follower. All my family do likewise and so do many friends back home in Canberra.
    
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    - Chris said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:43pm | Report comment
      
      Mahony – first time I have ever heard of anyone else who supports both the Brumbies and the Roosters! Nice to know I’m not alone.
      
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- AndyRoo said | April 23rd 2010 @ 8:44am | Report comment
  
  Rugbyfuture you seem to lack knowledge of the differences between Melbourne and Sydney. Their is not an alternative Rugby League team for people in Melbourne to follow the Rebels are the closest substitute product.
  
  Not everyones a hardcore code warrior.
  
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  - Nelson said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:10am | Report comment
    
    well said, AndyRoo.
    
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  - rugbyfuture said | April 23rd 2010 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
    
    i was refferring to the statement
    
    “irate supporters are more likely to jump ship to new rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels – although I wonder if potential sponsors might think twice about pumping their cash into the NRL in the near future.”
    
    not to any specific people
    
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AA said | April 23rd 2010 @ 2:36am | Report comment

The Storm won’t fold in Melbourne.

That’s just Sydney talk because that’s what they want.

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Michael C said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:03am | Report comment

I gather that the Storm…..read as News Ltd…….have a 5 year contract at the MRS. So, for now, News Ltd who still own the Storm needs to have a NRL presence in Melbourne playing at the MRS.

News Ltd as well has very much got stuff all hope now of finding private equity to take over the Storm.

The comments about disgruntled fans likely to go to the Rebels is pretty fair, however, much of it would have either happened anyway but not necessarily at the cost of their Storm ‘association’. Now, that may change.

I’m married into ex-pat Kiwi RU/RL family and Storm was already a wait and see proposition with the Rebels coming in.

re Soccer – HAL and it’s salary cap, I must admit driving home last night I thought that the HAL salary cap is looking more and more a cap in name only. I’m not sure how great the general commitment is to it within the code. But, whilst it’s the rules, then the FFA must police them or look foolish.

The AFL has had it’s issues about 10 years ago – - there’s still concerns around 3rd party arrangements. No one is immune. However, the thing the AFL does have is the regulated trade and draft arrangements rather than an open free market, and let alone, not an international free market. This is perhaps why some people might now look at a MVFC for example and (fairly or unfairly) start to wonder…….

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Bill Baxter said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:04am | Report comment

I believe that few Melbourne Storm supporters would jump ship and support Melbourne Rebels whether this latest situation had developed or not. They are different games with few similarities. Whilst not entirely agreeing with the Salary Cap it has a purpose, whereas the Rugby Union people can throw unlimited cash at players with the poorer clubs being unable to compete. The Salary cap if used properly helps create a level playing field. In any event the Union seaon is drawing to a close whereas the League season is still in the early weeks of the season, so the few who are unable to differerentiate between the codes could watch both and have a wonderful time, being totally oblivious to what game was being played.
As long as the venue was the same and the goalposts were in position, it would go unnoticed that there were at times teams in different strips, 4 more players on the field, countless scrums, countless reforming of scrums and much more kicking!!!!.

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rovingto2011 said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:25am | Report comment

well if they do go down it’ll mean less wear and tear on AAMI Park …

football and rugby league are so different, i doubt there’d be much affect at all. Different wage structures and less pressure to keep players on financial terms as we aren’t even trying to compete with the money on offer overseas at this point.

i know this is a big story for rugby league fans, but i was hoping to be able to skip the whole thing by coming straight to the ‘Football’ tab. But alas…

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AndyRoo said | April 23rd 2010 @ 8:51am | Report comment

But of greater concern for football fans must surely be the fact that the potential for salary cap rorting is a very real problem in the A-League, especially now that Football Federation Australia is beginning to implement new marquee player rules.

I actually think this will reduce the incentive to cheat. Only a few teams will be able to afford the new marquee spots plus the extra youth spots so their will be a natural disparity between teams but only too the effect of a few players. I think it’s a good comprimise in that a team that does have $ xm more than another team is probably only going to be 2 marquees and a couple of other players better than a poorer team

The problem in Rugby league was nearly all clubs could afford the salary cap so their was a big advantage and incentive to cheat, they set the bar too low. Instead of being a maximum cap it became the miniumum spend.

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- Rob Gremio said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:31am | Report comment
  
  AndyRoo, I think that your last point is really important. Most NRL clubs could afford the salary cap.
  
  In the A-League, some clubs (see Fury in particular) are having trouble staying afloat, and others are losing money hand over fist, so at this point the potential for rorting is probably low. Certainly, the marquee system is good for reducing the likelihood of rorts. For the coming season, we will have two “senior”, if you like, marquees, and one u/23 marquee, which means 3 players out of a squad of 23 are outside the salary cap, enabling more money to be spent on acquiring better squad players without putting pressure on the salary cap. It means that clubs like Melbourne can acquire a real marquee and still keep Archie Thompson outside the salary cap, meaning that the standard of the playing squad can be improved.
  
  This kind of thing actually reduces the incentive to cheat, as you have so clearly pointed out.
  
  however, it doesn’t mean that we can sit back and rest on our laurels either. As Mike says, we need the media and fans to be vigilent to ensure that what happened at the Storm doesn’t happen to any of the A-League clubs.
  
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  - AndyRoo said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:35am | Report comment
    
    Agree with everything Rob.
    
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  - whiskeymac said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:30am | Report comment
    
    re incentive to cheat
    did it happen because the need to be successful for the club in such an outpost for the game outweighed the potential for being caught?
    a bit like a player doing steroids?.
    maybe they thought that the punishment wld not have been so severe because the club was the sole representative down south and was backed by News.
    
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    - DaMan3000 said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:51am | Report comment
      
      “maybe they thought that the punishment wld not have been so severe because the club was the sole representative down south and was backed by News.”
      
      Not to mention backed by the NRL. Is it possible there was a measure of “support” from NRL for Storm to break the cap? They “got away” with it for 5 years and yet it seems there was one team or another in NSW getting caught and paying a fine nearly every year for the last 10 years…
      
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md said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:29am | Report comment

Everywhere else in the world, News Limited is a massive supporter of football. (Actually, it’s a massive supporter of making lots of money, which it can do with football because the global reach of the game is matched by the global reach of News Ltd). News is traditionally pretty scathing in dealing with failures, and this is a massive failure for News, in a non-core industry. There will be work done in the short term to save face, but News will extricate itself from NRL over time and will look to other content to replace it – including football. The Mark Vidukas and Marco Bresciano’s of the world will sell just as many papers and attract just as many eyeballs in Melbourne as the Billy Slaters and Cameron Smiths. Don’t be surprised if Frank is on the phone to Rupert already.

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- whiskeymac said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:21am | Report comment
  
  yeah i have to agree with Shodan. NRL may slip badly in Melbourne but in Sydney and Qld it wont skip much of a beat. it’s just another scandal it will ride out, like it did with the bulldogs, the johns others etcetera etcetera. in fact, its a white collar crime and most people dont really care much about them ie the mindset wl;d be ” they cheated, bastards, they got caught, fair enough, got punished,well it wasn’t my team,… who to tip this w/e” will probably be the extent of it. by finals time this will all be another footnote in the games history.
  
  loss of face today but not an issue by next week i bet. and it came out just before ANZAC… people will be distracted, it will slip down the news listings.
  
  i think its better for the FFA to get itself organised for the next WC and Asian adventure and upcoming HAL than dance on the Storms greedily self inflicted misfortune.
  
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  - rovingto2011 said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:31am | Report comment
    
    rugby league is a conga line of scandals… the people who like it in nsw and queensland always will. As for attracting Victorians to the sport? Good timing for the super rugby team down there …
    
    md has a point though as far as News Ltd’s willingness to support clubs. Burnt by the Bulldogs, now the Storm. Surely the TV deal should be enough of a commitment for such an established sport.
    
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    - M1tch said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:39am | Report comment
      
      I cant see News walking away from the Storm – they have spent too much money to wipe their hands of the club
      
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      - Mike Tuckerman said | April 23rd 2010 @ 4:21pm | Report comment
        
        News Limited were giving commitments last night that a rugby league team would remain in Melbourne. But given that they were already trying to sever their links with the sport, I just wonder whether the Storm are still viable and if not, whether Victory or Heart notice any knock-on effects one way or the other.
        
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      - Dogs Of War said | April 23rd 2010 @ 4:23pm | Report comment
        
        Mike, they were also seeking guarantees that the club would be artificial supported for the next 5 years as well, before they let go of the club (and also where looking at any owners who had the deep pockets needed to take over). So now it looks like they will stay in the game for a while longer. Where this leaves the IC I am not so sure. Personally I think we should get the IC up and running now, give News Ltd the 5 year guarantee, and lets see how it pans out from there.
        
        As for Victory/Hearts, it’s an entirely different supporter base. If there is any effect, it would be as minimal as could be (unless the Storm fold, in which case the ground hiring fees will go up as the stadium needs to pay for itself).
        
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Ben of Phnom Penh said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:10am | Report comment

I am curious as to what impact this will have on stadium negotiations for Heart. There is now some uncertainty as to the long term viability of Storm and hence the bubble dome administration may be less hard in hammering a deal as they’ll want to secure Heart’s full tenancy and reduce leakage to Etihad.

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- whiskeymac said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:24am | Report comment
  
  good point. i read they were having a hard time, maybe this will assist.
  
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Phillippe said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:25am | Report comment

Lol at the quote from Uncle Sepp, greed already rules the football world and its name is FIFA aka The Blatter Family Trust…http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/the-world-cup-fiasco-1.1002675

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- Rob Gremio said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:48am | Report comment
  
  No surprises here…
  
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JamesP said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:43am | Report comment

In answer to this specific thread – I think the impact to the A-league will be next to zero. We know many Victory fans are soccer fans, and similarly with the AFL and the Storm, but I believe very much here in Melbourne that the Victory and the Storm are mutually exclusive – i.e. they have practically zero shared supporter base. The stadium will be fine because you have the Heart and the Rebels coming in.

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- JamesP said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:54am | Report comment
  
  EDIT – we know many Victory fans are AFL fans
  
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- David V. said | April 23rd 2010 @ 1:24pm | Report comment
  
  There’s no evidence to support that, and plenty that support for the codes overlaps.
  
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- Axel V said | April 23rd 2010 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
  
  There are a number of people that support both Storm and the Victory, but the Storm dieing won’t change their behaviour would it? as they were going to see the Victory reguardless.
  
  The only beneficiary to a club that I can see from this is the Rebels being the sole Rugby (yes i know it’s union which imo is a better code) club in Melbourne.
  
  I thought it was obvious that the Melbourne Storm had advantages over the other clubs, as you’d think that the NRL would want the Storm to taste success and excitement to build the supporters in Melbourne. A bit like the Brisbane Lions in the AFL (although they were legally allowed to have a bigger cap than other teams), and I also heard that the Brisbane Lion’s players had other “part time jobs” that were employed by the club. It didn’t matter though because the aim was to build up the support in Brisbane and it has worked.
  
  I think the NRL are being too harsh on the Storm and are shooting themselves in the foot, what hurts Melbourne hurts Rugby League’s Australian ambitions. In all honestly I thought that the NRL would be in favour of the Storm doing what they did. Of course it’s unfair to the rest of the Rugby League club’s, but life wasn’t meant to be fair. Those 13 years of progress in Melbourne are undone by the news and punishment of 1 day.
  
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