How will the Storm fiasco affect the A-League?
Columnist 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
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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- A-League, football, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Storm Salary cap, NRL, Rugby League
April 23rd 2010 @ 5:26pm
Betty B said | April 23rd 2010 @ 5:26pm | Report comment
Good point Mike, but there could be an opportunity for A-league when TV rights are negotiated. The NRL appeal would have dropped – given the inevitable lack of interest from Melbourne viewers – and that might open a window for the A League, particularly with the WC and Asian Cup as an intro. It desperately needs free to air games – without it, there is little wonder that teams like Fury struggle.
April 23rd 2010 @ 5:48pm
MV Dave said | April 23rd 2010 @ 5:48pm | Report comment
IMO there is very little shared support between MV and Storm so therefore neither MV nor MH will gain any extra support as a result of this scandal. There may well be some flow on regarding sponsorships, MRS negotiations etc. It would also seem very unlikely that Storm will be allowed to die as they are the only outpost for RL in Victoria. However if after 5 years of finishing bottom or near bottom of the table one would be interested to see what the support levels for the club would be.
April 23rd 2010 @ 6:21pm
Harvey the Scouser said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:21pm | Report comment
I too can’t see any linkage between this and the A-League.
I feel very sorry for the fans and those players have done nothing wrong.
April 23rd 2010 @ 5:57pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 5:57pm | Report comment
And what if it turns out all the teams were doing it. If Melbourne were doing it you can bet other teams were doing it. Would sponsors just leave the game on mass?
This is a huge precedent set by the NRL who surely must know that its not an isolated incident, is this just a warning to other clubs to sort it out now before they too get caught?
April 23rd 2010 @ 6:44pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
I’m not trying to stick the boot in, I’ve actually been a Tigers fan for 30 years, less passionate since the merge and football came along though. But I wouldnt want to see the NRL damaged, and this is where I find it a bit bizarre that the NRL would make such a big thing of it, especially when it wouldn’t just be Melbourne doing it.
IMO salary caps dont work except for keeping the overall wage sensible and if teams are being held back by the Cap then it is too low. Of course you cant let teams get carried away and all start going broke but the cap should fit the means of the highest team and not be pegged to the lowest team. Sounds like teams in the NRL should be getting more of the pie too. Interest in the game would increase if you had super teams IMO.
But you are probably right this has little to do with the A-League, although I do seem to remember Sydney breached the salary cap. Was this the season they won the premiership?
April 23rd 2010 @ 6:46pm
Jeff said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:46pm | Report comment
I somewhat doubt the A-Leauge has to worry about salary cap fraud – most clubs are too small to even pay what they are allowed to pay under the cap.
April 23rd 2010 @ 7:08pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 7:08pm | Report comment
Yeah most clubs, and so they probably wouldn’t. But do you think Clive Palmer wouldn’t be able to go above the cap or Sydney wouldn’t try and build a team worthy of filling the SFS?
April 23rd 2010 @ 8:42pm
Jeff said | April 23rd 2010 @ 8:42pm | Report comment
Frankly any club which counts John Aloisi or Jason Culina as a “Marquee” is probably not doing anything wrong as far as the cap in concerned.
April 23rd 2010 @ 9:25pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:25pm | Report comment
Jason Culina is a great player and probably playing for less than his market value. I’ve really enjoyed watching him and the Gold Coast play this year. If they had a bit of crowd support and less off field distraction they probably would have won this year.
Johhny was never going to be worth what he was paid but he did himself no disgrace in his second year.
Both players have had excellent careers, played in a world cup and are now trying to give something back to the game. I’m sure they have few regrets and feel no shame despite you trying to belittle them.
April 23rd 2010 @ 9:44pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:44pm | Report comment
And seriously, if you were Greg Inglis How pee’d would you be that people were saying that you were the best player in the world but you could only have $400 000 a year while Johhny gets to travel the world, play wherever he wants to go then comes home and gets $1.2 million a year
If there is any lesson in this it is that young kids should play Football, not League.
April 23rd 2010 @ 10:26pm
Dogs Of War said | April 23rd 2010 @ 10:26pm | Report comment
Depends if you like playing football. Not to mention that not everybody enjoys playing it, nor has the talent to play that game. I suspect Greg Inglis given his 110kg body size, wouldn’t really be the most suitable soccer player going around.
Not to mention, there is a lot to be said for being able to stay in Australia. As much as traveling the world sounds appealing, you can do that with your own cash. Doing that as part of a club is really work, and once you have done it a bit, you find it’s really crap to be away from your family and friends for those extended periods.
April 23rd 2010 @ 10:42pm
MyGeneration said | April 23rd 2010 @ 10:42pm | Report comment
Just to back up DOW’s point, Farqwar, how many 110kg soccer players are there? Different games have developed because there are different body types.
April 23rd 2010 @ 10:57pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 10:57pm | Report comment
He wouldn’t be 110kg if he didnt do so much weight training. There would be plenty of Footballers of a similar build, whether he would have the skills would be another thing entirely.
But to a Rugby League player it still must feel like the NRL is holding his earning capabilities back in order to keep the competition even. If he just loves the game, and the country, and would happily play for nothing then more power to him.
April 23rd 2010 @ 11:25pm
MyGeneration said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:25pm | Report comment
Average soccer player is about 76kg (according to my Google search, so I’m not claiming this as gospel), so I don’t think weight training adds 34kg. Soccer players of a similar build would probably all be goalkeepers, I’d think, so maybe he has demonstrated enough catching skills.
Yes, you might be right about the effects of the salary cap on players’ earnings, but the “lesson” you derived was plain silly. Inglis, and, for instance, Fui Fui Moi Moi are not players who were lost to the A League.
And if I were Greg Inglis, I’d just stop at the fact that I’m getting $400,000 a year and be happy. I could travel the world on my own steam on that kind of coin.
April 23rd 2010 @ 11:53pm
Farqwar said | April 23rd 2010 @ 11:53pm | Report comment
Really, I couldn’t find much when I googled “big soccer players”. Any way off the top of my head most of the stoke city lads are pretty big if they made half their training weights I think they would be pretty large and some of they black guys in the EPL also, but granted most football players are smaller and skinnier than Rugby League, but I think Inglis has the kind of athletic physique that would go alright in football.
I think that most RL players are happy playing league for what they get but it always annoys me when someone like Thurston gets absolutely torn apart for having the audacity to suggest he would be happy to play something else for more money.
April 24th 2010 @ 8:02am
Andyroo said | April 24th 2010 @ 8:02am | Report comment
Yes kids these days, so silly and not doing a cost benefit analysis before they sign up for under 7′s
April 24th 2010 @ 9:14am
Farqwar said | April 24th 2010 @ 9:14am | Report comment
I’m sure their parents will have done it for them. $400 000 only goes so far in a big family.
Right, I’m off to the golf course with my son.
April 24th 2010 @ 10:56am
Jeff said | April 24th 2010 @ 10:56am | Report comment
Just on Inglis – he could be a fantastic goalkeeper. Youtube the Gasnier try in the Centenary test to see what I’m talking about.
April 24th 2010 @ 12:54pm
Farqwar said | April 24th 2010 @ 12:54pm | Report comment
I think Inglis could also play centre forward or centre back. He’s a big lad but he has good skills and is athletic. Upper body strength is important when jostling for position and if he was good at heading he would be awesome, think Cahill or Kennedy.
He would also scare the crap out of teams in the world cup.
Actually when I was trying to think of big Football players I couldn’t think of many Aussies, I wonder if the bigger kids in Australia do naturally gravitate towards League/Union/AFL.
April 24th 2010 @ 1:00pm
True Tah said | April 24th 2010 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
I suspect that Inglis would far stronger than most professional futbol players.
April 23rd 2010 @ 6:55pm
B.C Queenslander said | April 23rd 2010 @ 6:55pm | Report comment
I think it depends who the Storm supporters are, if they are people new to the code they may well be lost, however if they are from traditional league strongholds they may be more resilient and ride out the “storm” so to speak.
From now on for many, many years, if they survive, they will be weak, perennial cellar dwellers.
As an expansion team they will be an albatross, it might be best to let them go.
April 24th 2010 @ 12:15am
zach said | April 24th 2010 @ 12:15am | Report comment
What a massive white elephant the rectangular stadium has turned out to be. With A league and Super 14 crowds declining and now the prospect of no rugby league team in Melbourne, the Victorian government should seriously look at converting it to an oval pitch to try to recoup some of the taxpayers money. They would have to raise the pitch and you would lose some of the closer seating, but then they could play lower drawing AFL matches there. AFL matches are always guaranteed a crowd.
April 24th 2010 @ 12:34am
rugbyfuture said | April 24th 2010 @ 12:34am | Report comment
you watch and see super 14 crowds lift again
April 24th 2010 @ 10:14am
rovingto2011 said | April 24th 2010 @ 10:14am | Report comment
the stadium was always going to pull bigger crowds for Victory and Heart than it ever would have for the Storm. Hardly a white elephant…
April 24th 2010 @ 1:15pm
JF said | April 24th 2010 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Super 14 crowds aren’t declining. The Force are near the bottom of the table and filled their home ground (in AFL heartland) against NZ opposition last night. Melbourne is the major centre of support for soccer in this country and always draw decent crowds. AAMI Park will be a success with or without the Storm. The Rebels will be perfect tennants during the football season and the 2 soccer clubs will make even better use of it over the summer.
April 24th 2010 @ 2:52pm
zach said | April 24th 2010 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
Victory have been drawing crowds of 6000 for the champions league when they were the only team in Melbourne. Heart will really struggle as the second team and will draw support away from Victory. I predict average 10,000 – 15,000 average A league crowds overall for both teams – not much more than the Storm before the scandal. As for rugby union, how many does the Forces home ground hold in Perth – not many. The Rebel’s crowds will be smaller than the Storm’s were – they know this.
The only way to make the stadium viable is to reconfigure it to allow for AFL games to be played there, otherwise it will be a drain on the Victorian taxpayer for decades. AFL to the rescue again
April 24th 2010 @ 6:37pm
Ben of Phnom Penh said | April 24th 2010 @ 6:37pm | Report comment
some creative accounting there, Zach.
April 24th 2010 @ 10:52am
Zeroagainst said | April 24th 2010 @ 10:52am | Report comment
I was very interested in the Storms management comment that ‘everyone is doing it’. Is that just rhetoric or is there a bigger story here for NRL?
In terms of the future of the Storm, or the NRL, I think it’s drawing a long bow to say that there is any threat. The code survives major scandals every season but supporters and sponsors keep coming back.
How will it affect the A-League? At least it takes media attention away from the sorry state of affairs the FFA is in at the moment – an opportunity for Lowy to get the presuure on, make some changes and get ready to ride the media’s world cup wave.
Having said that, it seems the FFA is too stagnant at the moment to react.
April 24th 2010 @ 1:12pm
Axel V said | April 24th 2010 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
Sydney FC wins the inaugural championship of the A-league in 2006 and breaches the salary cap. They kept their championship, got a $44,000 fine and were penalised of 1 league point in the 2006/2007 season lol.
August 7th 2010 @ 12:13pm
Game Over Melbored said | August 7th 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
NRL can work just as a small competition geographically that plays to it’s strengths. Just do not expect too much out of tv license fees.
The AFL can have top perch, the NRL can just play in the heartlands.