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Govern the A-League salary cap, or just scrap it altogether

16th April, 2015
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Former Perth Glory CEO Jason Brewer. Brewer resigned after taking the rap for the salary cap scandal. (Photo: Perth Glory)
Expert
16th April, 2015
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1350 Reads

Perth Glory will officially be disqualified from the A-League finals after accepting FFA’s punishment for breaching the competition’s salary cap. Yet this should not be the end of it. FFA need to address how they govern the cap or else there is little point having it in place.

After originally threatening Supreme Court action against FFA, within days Perth Glory accepted the resignation of CEO Jason Brewer and released a meek joint-statement with the governing body to confirm they will cop the finals ban.

It was a sudden turnaround, although completely the correct path of action, just as the punishment was entirely spot on. Thankfully Perth Glory lost their FFA Cup final against Adelaide United, saving the inaugural competition from a disastrous birth.

However, the wording of David Gallop’s statement, in which he claimed that Brewer had “acted alone”, along with FFA’s lack of transparency in how they determined the punishment, has clouded the investigation.

Firstly, the breaches have been ongoing for the last four seasons. Brewer was CEO at the club for just two years. The suggestion that he acted alone is clearly not the case. This has been building up for years, and it is extremely hard to stomach that only one person was involved.

Payments were made to family members, while third-party sponsorships, travel and accommodation costs were not reported appropriately. “Deliberate concealment” has been the term used. How on earth did Brewer conceal such breaches from an entire club?

We will likely never know the full details, just like we will never know how FFA failed to identify the discrepancies. It is also concerning that FFA only investigated after Fairfax Media‘s report in December about some of the dodgy practices, which turned out to be just a tip of the iceberg.

FFA may not be required to outline the specifics of the breaches, however it would help fans understand the difference between Perth Glory’s punishment and Sydney FC’s slap on the wrist from the inaugural 2005-06 season.

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The details of Sydney’s salary cap breach are still a mystery. All we know is that the club were not stripped of their title and that their initial punishment was downgraded to just a three-point deduction for the following season and a fine of about $129,000.

There were also allegations that the club had breached the cap by as much as $100,000 during the 2009-10 season, another year where they coincidentally won the championship.

Salary cap breaches are clearly nothing new in the A-League and they have to be stamped out.

There is no question that FFA needed to come down hard on Perth Glory, and the punishment is just. However, it does shed bad light on the past regime that allowed Sydney to keep their title.

That could be down to a lack of media scrutiny, but also the fact that the last thing the A-League needed in its infancy was a major scandal.

An overhaul of the FFA’s governance of the cap is necessary. Policing has to improve. Fans cannot depend on the media to discover when and where the next breach comes from. FFA cannot stop at punishing Perth Glory and expect the problem to go away. Past history shows that that does not work.

If FFA is to impose a salary cap on A-League clubs then they have a responsibility to govern it properly. Otherwise, what is the point of having one in place?

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The saga is not over. Not only is Perth Glory’s credibility smeared, but FFA’s ability to govern the cap is also under question. If they do not have the resources, then find them.

It is not FFA’s fault that clubs have breached the cap, and they should be applauded for their thorough investigation and prompt response. But it is their responsibility to catch the crooks, not the media. Who is to say other clubs have not found creative ways of their own to breach the cap?

The tenth season of the A-League has been tarnished. FFA made the correct decision in handing out a hefty penalty, now they need to follow up and investigate their own involvement in governing the salary cap.

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