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Tuesday was the greatest day the recent history of the Eels. For the supporters of that club and all the people involved from the grass roots to the CEO, the day of reckoning has finally come.
I have been involved in rugby league in one way or another in the Parramatta district for a bit over 20 years. For the last half of that I can’t remember a stable time at the Eels.
That stability can start today.
The NRL has identified systemic salary cap breaches going back to 2013 amounting to over $3 million. They have been fined $1 million, had all accumulated 2016 premiership points deducted, and been ordered to reduce the current year’s salary cap balance by $570,000.
It looks like the Eels’ 2016 campaign has been left in a pile of rubble. And it has.
But it has also seen the end of a group of directors and senior management at the organisation, levered away from power like prizing oysters off a rock on the riverbank.
The people vying positions of influence at Parramatta have been relentless over a number of years.
I recall walking past the Parramatta Leagues Club one night during the board elections. The Eels were playing a home game and the junior team I was coaching had an exhibition game on at Pirtek Stadium. I had to return to my car to collect some equipment and headed back past the club entrance.
“Are you voting in the election?” I was suddenly and unexpectedly surrounded by supporters of candidates for the board. They started to push flyers and various voting intention forms at me.
I was astonished. These people were vampires trying to suck out my vote – and I wasn’t even a voting member!
I told them “I’m not here for the board. I’m interested in junior football.”
It was a stark reminder for me of what has been going on at the place. Twenty-five different board members, four or five different coaches and CEOs in the past five years have been involved, culminating in the debacle that has become the 2016 salary cap scandal.
It hasn’t been easy for the NRL to gain information from the club. It seems they have had to rely on leaks to media while waiting patiently for replies to repeated requests from the board and management.
This polite see-sawing of request and rebuttal lasted months, until the NRL could wait no longer. The game’s Integrity Unit launched a three-month investigation, which began by raiding Parramatta’s offices to clone computers and obtain more than 750,000 documents.
What they discovered you already know. The club has been punished.
Fallout from the Parra salary cap scandal
» Parramatta only broke the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not get caught
» Parramatta fans don’t deserve Parramatta’s boardroom
» Parramatta need to bring back The Emperor
» The Parramatta Five win first court battle against NRL
» Press conference: Parra breached the cap by $3 million, players may be investigated
» Parramatta docked 12 points, fined $1 million for salary cap breaches
Is that punishment fair? It depends on who you ask.
I feel it is.
I was a match official for some of Melbourne Storm’s games in 2010 after they had been denied any opportunity to earn any points at all. The feeling at those matches was a strange sense of defiance mixed with a ‘why bother’ attitude.
I was at Eden Park when the Auckland crowd booed Cameron Smith at every attempt at goal. Part of that was because the Melbourne team was still intact, performing at their salary-cap-cheating best with all players available. This will be denied the Parramatta team, who will have to run out players within the salary cap for 2016.
I hope that it suppresses some of this vitriol from rival fans. That night in New Zealand left me feeling uncomfortable out on the field – and I was only holding a flag behind the posts. We can’t have that again.
The financial penalty is symbolic; it won’t hurt Parramatta. They are one of the NRL teams who have plenty of coin in the bank, being linked so closely to the leagues club. It could have been $1 million or $3 million – it’s the least of their worries.
De-registration of senior figures at the club is the most significant. Clearing out three members of the board and two members of the executive sends a signal that the NRL is serious about change of governance within the top tier.
Four board members remain to decide how to proceed from here. Appointing an experienced former CEO from another club or sport seems the most sensible, in the way that retired judges are asked to chair inquiries in this country.
The ‘Parramatta Five’ immediately took their grievances to the Supreme Court and won an injunction against their de-registration.
It remains to be seen how long this prolongs the inevitable. In reality, this is a desperate move of people who presided over salary cap rorting while collecting wooden spoons.
That describes how well their house was run.
Aside from all of this, the NRL holds the trump card. If necessary, and if there are consistent roadblocks put in front of them, the NRL could possibly revoke the Parramatta Eels’ licence to participate in the National Rugby League. Of course, this would be a last resort.
One of the game’s most powerful brands in the heart of Sydney’s biggest growing region must be kept in first grade. Still, it’s a handy card to hold.
2017 can be a new era with the last few years of “deliberate, co-ordinated and sustained” salary cap cheating behind them. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s here.
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