- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There are a lot of ways for an athlete to bring their sport in to disrepute – drugs, violence, alcohol and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time are just a few that come to mind.
It now appears we can add declaring bankruptcy to this list.
The latest chapter in the Nick D’Arcy saga is D’Arcy declaring bankruptcy, in a move that will see him avoid having to fork out the $180,000 he was ordered to pay Simon Cowley in a civil suit hearing earlier this year.
(Cowley is, for the uninformed, the fellow swimmer whose face D’Arcy smashed with a single elbow in March, 2008.)
In response, Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) Media Director Mike Tancred said, “There’s nothing in the team agreement which says you can’t be selected if you are bankrupt.
“But they would have to decide whether they feel that he’s brought himself into disrepute by taking this action.
“You’d remember we didn’t take him last time. We chose not to take him last time because he brought himself into disrepute.”
In saying this, the AOC is setting a dangerous precedent – that declaring bankruptcy is as disreputable as being convicted of a felony as serious as assault.
Before continuing down this slippery slope, the AOC would do well to remember that the Olympics were originally supposed to be for amateur sportspeople and, though this is no longer the case across the board, plenty of Australia’s athletes competing in 2012 will be there on a shoe string budget.
Some may have even declared bankruptcy once or more in the pursuit of being the best in sports which don’t provide significant financial gain. Sports such as swimming.
Sure swimmers such as Ian Thorpe and Stephanie Rice aren’t short a quid but for every multiple gold medal winning athlete at the top of the pyramid, there are thousands below pushing those at the top to be better and receiving next to nothing for it.
Though victory over Michael Phelps earlier this year is evidence D’Arcy is pretty close to the top of the swimming pyramid, his actions in 2008 have more or less ensured sponsorship and corporate dollars will go to the Australian women’s table tennis team before they go to him.
So let’s have a stab at his finances.
D’Arcy is a 24 year old student who swims fulltime. Even if he had a part time job as a bartender on the side to help make ends meet, does he sound like the kind of person who could afford to pay out $180,000?
Compounding the issue is the fact D’Arcy is due to pay Cowley’s court costs and interest, making the sum closer to $380,000 (according to the Sunshine Coast Daily).
Then there’s the fact that D’Arcy has to pay his own legal fees, a bill which was footed by his father. As a result D’Arcy has reportedly listed both his father and Cowley as his creditors in filing for bankruptcy.
All told, D’Arcy is said to owe something in the vicinity of $800,000.
Any other 24 year old student, with a criminal conviction, who owes close to a million dollars, would be advised that declaring bankruptcy is their only option.
But Nick D’Arcy is told he is bringing himself in to disrepute and has been accused by Cowley’s lawyer, Sam Macedone, of “walking away from this whole mess and this debt and this judgment that he owes.”
Perhaps Mr Macedone heard D’Arcy incorrectly. To clear it up, D’Arcy didn’t declare “I’m going on holiday”. He declared bankruptcy.
This is a situation where his bankruptcy trustee will in effect be a financial parole officer over him for the next three years. Certain assets may be forcibly sold to pay debts, overseas travel has to be approved and earnings can be garnished once they reach a certain threshold.
At the end of this three year period (provided it isn’t extended, which it can be for up to five years) D’Arcy will then have a credit report showing him as a “discharged bankrupt”. This is something banks just love when deciding whether or not to grant a mortgage to, say, a young man approaching 30 who is looking to buy his first home.
And bankruptcy is the tip of D’Arcy’s iceberg when it comes to paying for “this judgement that he owes”. He was given a suspended prison sentence, kicked off the Beijing Olympic team, kicked off the Australian swimming team and has seen his name become synonymous with thuggery.
All for a moment of madness, while on the drink, at the extremely impressionable age of 20.
But that’s all beside the point, because this isn’t a decision that requires the AOC’s compassion, just their common sense. And to decide that declaring bankruptcy is an action worthy of expelling D’Arcy from the Australian Olympic team – again – would bring the AOC in to disrepute.