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Parramatta Eels to be docked 12 points, fined $1 million for salary cap breaches

(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
2nd May, 2016
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The NRL have announced the Parramatta Eels are to be docked 12 competition points, fined $1 million, and face mass sackings of senior staff for breaches to their salary cap for five of the last six years.

The club will also be stripped of the Auckland Nines title they won earlier this year – the first piece of senior silverware they had claimed since the 2005 minor premiership.

$250,000 of the fine has been suspended, with the Eels able to keep the quarter million “if the club accelerates the governance reforms recommended by PWC within an agreed specified time frame”.

Parra salary cap scandal
» Press conference: Parra breached the cap by $3 million, players may be investigated
» Will the Eels take the NRL to court?
» How Parramatta’s punishment compares to previous salary cap breaches
» Read the full statement from the NRL

Regarding the remainder of the 2016 season, the Eels will be able to earn points contingent on them getting their playing list back within the salary cap.

The squad are currently estimated at being $570,000 over the cap, so shedding one well-paid player could see the team earning points again in time for their next match – against the Rabbitohs, on May 13.

Speculation has run rife that injured star recruit Anthony Watmough is set to retire due to a knee injury, which would likely solve the problem.

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Changes to the playing list aren’t the only big moves in the wake of this announcement, with five Eels officials being issued show cause notices as to why they should not be de-registered.

Those officials are chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson.

The NRL did point out that these are preliminary findings and punishments, and “the club and officials will be given a reasonable time to respond to the proposed penalties.”

In terms of specifics of the salary cap breaches, some 750,000 pages of documents sourced from the club, its sponsors, players, third-party sponsors and officials showed the Eels had been:

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– Paying players undisclosed remuneration from its own resources

– Procuring third party agreements for players in breach of the salary cap rules

– Conspiring with club suppliers to inflate or issue fictitious invoices to raise cash that was then relayed to players

“As the governing body, we have a responsibility to act in the interests of the game for the long term,” NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said.

“At times, it gives us no pleasure to have to do so and this is one of those. But we have to take a stand on behalf of the fans, the club and the game.”

Greenberg went on to say this would be the start of returning the Parramatta club to its former status as a powerhouse.

“We will need to take a stand on behalf of the fans, the club and the game,” Greenberg said.

“This would be a tough outcome for many people, particularly the players and fans, but we believe it would be the start of a process to make the Parramatta club the powerhouse it should be.

“Unfortunately, we may have to go through this pain for the long-term health of the club and the game.”

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At the completion of Round 9, the Eels sat in fifth position on the NRL ladder, with six wins, and looked destined to return to finals football for the first time since 2009. The docking of all 12 of their points places them on zero points, at the bottom of the ladder.

More to come.

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