Former Cronulla CEO Bruno Cullen says an alarming lack of governance threatens to bring the NRL club down, amid accusations cash payments were made to skipper Paul Gallen outside the salary cap.
Coach Shane Flanagan, who is said to have been aware of the payments to Gallen, is also accused of using a secret bank account off the club’s books, in revelations made by the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday.
Cullen, who quit just five months after being appointed to run the Sharks by the NRL in March as ASADA ramped-up investigations into their supplements program, described the situation at the club as “chaotic”.
“It was an invitation for things to happen, it was a disaster waiting to happen and all things have eventuated,” he said.
Emails were obtained in which former sponsor, Sami Chamoun director of security company E Group, claims cash payments were made to Gallen outside the salary cap.
It is believed payments to a number of players run up to $250,000 and were never properly registered as third-party player agreements.
“I know cash sounds terrible, and that’s something I won’t go there with that, but the arrangement was for him to make a payment to Paul, do the sponsorship and make the third-party payment,” Cullen said.
“Now whether he paid that by – and I don’t want to sound flippant – by cash, by cheque, by jars of vegemite, whatever, he made the payment.
“But the problem is more the documentation of that from a salary cap point of view, it wasn’t formalised the way it should’ve been.”
Accusation were also made that Flanagan operated a high performance unit bank account off the club’s books, despite the previous board ordering it be shut down.
Cullen was not aware of the account and asked if it was concerning he said: “definitely.
“You just don’t do things that way, no.
“Every dollar that comes into the club, and therefore every dollar that goes out of the club, should going through the club’s central account and be recorded and accounted for.”
Dozens of NRL stars have been issued with interview notices by ASADA, including 14 Cronulla players headed by Gallen, John Morris, Ben Pomeroy, Wade Graham and Ben Ross.
Cullen, says key staff members at the Sharks failed to ask crucial questions about the legitimacy and safety of the supplements regime introduced by biochemist Steve Dank in 2011 and that there are no records of who paid Dank for his services.
It was revealed the pharmacist whom Dank used in 2011 has been found guilty of professional misconduct and penalised by the Pharmacy Board.
Cullen said the survival of the Sharks now rests on the club righting the wrongs of the past and ensuring they do not make the same mistakes again.
“I’m not too sure whether they’ve learnt their lesson or not,” he said.
“Worst-case scenario, I fear for them and a whole lot of things about player suspension, players suing the club for loss of income, players suing the club for player welfare.
“Best-case scenario, they’ll be fine. They have the commercial development to fall back on.
“Worst-case scenario, they are going to have some huge challenges.”
Ray Micallef
Roar Rookie
Well said Crosscoder
Meesta Cool
Guest
OK.. I don't want to see any of our fans without a team, penalise the Sharkies by making them play next year for NO points, the precedence has been set. aren't you Sharkies fans glad that Meesta Gallop is well away from this mess!, his knee jerk actions would have destroyed yet another season!.. I was merely joshing about my suggestion 'make them play for no points', although it may assist the Drag Queens to get another Champions trophy!, but do we want another 'Clayton's season?, I don't!.. To all you Sharkies fans, stick by your team, managements and offenders have only tried to do what the NRL should have allowed them, Build a team and if needed pay a bit extra to keep them together. Isn't that what the fans want?, they certainly don't want to see what we saw, Greg Inglis turning out against them, when he never wanted to leave!. I have said it with regular monotony, If you bring kids through the system, you should be able to pay them what they are worth o the current market, No team should be able to poach and destroy teams who are at their mercy because of a 'silly Salary Cap System' , a system that no one can police and every club is managing to rort!. Brian Waldren knew this in 2006 and nobody listened (Still haven't). Raider's CEO is now pleading with the Commission to get some support in keeping his young players, WOW, that took him a long time!, many Roarers have been asking for this for years now!. If you glance around a few of the clubs now (Mine included), you wonder how in hells name are they affording to keep the players in their top 20. And some of them are forever making bids for players who want enormous pay packets... something is bent in NRL Land!.
Doggies Bro
Guest
Storm did the same thing if the sharks go Melbourne should go as well
Pete
Guest
Never knew sharks could drown.
V.O.R.
Guest
I sincerely hope for you Crosscoder that the fallout for you club is limited....it's not the fans that should have to suffer due to ineptness and lack of integrity displayed by those personnel that should know better. Time will tell.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
You make a statement" I think there will be a number of casualties found responsible for cheapening the Shark's brand'.What inside Info do you have at this stage,I am just curious.In view of the fact there are still a number of players to be interviewed this week from the club. Not even the NRL would know the totality of the interviews, at this stage. Please also remember there are players from other clubs,with no Shark's ties being interviewed.They have been well advertised in the media. If the Bulldogs can survive a Coffs harbour and a salary cap issue of such magnitude and the Storm with a huge salary cap issue,I have a feeling so will the Sharks.Doubling membership to over 10,000,200 sponsors all remaining on board,3rd biggest junior league in Sydney,a $300m development is not a bad starting point for a long term base.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Nowhere did I suggest there was nothing happening.We all know about the lack of governance at Cronulla . I clarified ill informed comments by people,that simply did not read earlier media reports about the salary cap issue with Cronulla,the fact that gym equipment was arranged by the coach(reported in the media earlier),that ASADA were not on the ball in early interviews.Is that wearing blinkers,or actually removing blinkers from ignorant comments? And I will also point out,every player has been named in the public avenue by the media ,whether guilty innocent or a mere bystander.Mud sticks. The determination will be made by ASADA,the penalties(via infractions by the NRL) not by me,not by the media hounds,not by bloggers, who see it as a short cut to get another team in. And the guilty will get their just desserts,and club/s will get decent penalties. We know about Govt pouring millions into things ,ask the pink Batts fraternity.We all know the Brett Stewart issue,where many here had him hung out to dry as did the press,so perhaps we should just let justice take its course,inseatd of pretending to be judge ,jury and hangman.
V.O.R.
Guest
+1 Spot on
V.O.R.
Guest
It would be a shame to lose Cronulla Sharks although the dispersion of their playing stock would see for a stronger competition. Personally I think they will see it through but there will be a number of casualties found responsible for cheapening the Sharkies brand. It will be a long road back to garner any respect from the rest of the NRL community should they be found to have had a drug cheat program.
V.O.R.
Guest
Yer, the government is pumping millions of dollars into investigating the use of illegal drugs in Australian sport because nothing is happening, it's all a figment of our imagination...fair dinkum, what's it gonna take for you mob to take the blinkers off?
marty
Guest
It'd be a shame if they were kicked out of the comp because they've never won a premiership
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
um .Fair dinkum some posters need to do a little research before putting on the high moral pose and break out into their anti Shark's sweat.. That is not to say there were no governance and mgt problems in 2011.The ASADA interviews are continuing and the players are cooperating fully.Decisions will be made after they have finished their investigation.Not decisions made by a feverish media,or some bloggers who appear to be whipped into a removal frenzy. Firstly the payments made over and above the salary cap,were advised to the NRL earlier this year,and the club was fined a total of $150,000 in penalties as a result.The difference is we know now one of the players involved.Did some bother to see that on public record? .It appears here from some of the comments,that they have not been keeping up to speed with that fact.And indeed the ABC made their investigative team to be right royal gooses,because the penalty was public media and club knowledge.Steve Noyce's media interview this afternoon confirmed that point.' The penalty showed a list of 5 or 6 clubs,and the sharks headed the list in value. .Also on public record is the fact the Flannogan ,organised for some 2nd hand equipment for the clubs gym.the club had previously used Fitness first's gym next door,but that agreement changed.That info was provided in the Sutherland shire leader ,as was his getting a 2nd hand boxing set up from Melbourne and having it trucked back to Sydney.He opened an account with proceeds from a golf day and luncheon FHS. Noyce further advised the monies in that account which was opened in 2012 not 2011 when Danks was around was closed early this year.So it is painfully obvious that as Danks had gone,no money from that account was used for any other purpose than to get badly needed equipment for a club with little money to do so. The NRL will conduct an Integrity investigation and the club is in full support of that. And to the ususual cynics ,Noyce in his interview today noted not one sponsor has dropped off this year(and all up that amounts to 200),and the club has more than doubled its membership.And further announcements are pending.' For those of you dancing on a suggested corpse of a club.It has now been established ASADA was not prepared properly for the initial Graham interview and that is why it was cancelled.D Smith could see no reason why the interview was called off,after viewing the transcripts... I like to get some balance ,as it appears here the balance is about as acute as the Titanic listing.
nathan chapman
Guest
Well said the eye im very worried bout roosters but ill still watch and support and to whoeva called me a bogan cuz i wasnt paying attention it must of taken a superior thought process to come up with that one do everyone a favour and keep your belligerant comments to yourself
V.O.R.
Guest
+1
Sledgeross
Roar Rookie
Correct, but insincere as the Storm, Cowboys and Canberra all had cash injections by their owner News Ltd the week before the "criteria" was judged to boos their bank balances. Your point about "local" players is also ridiculous. Very few first grade teams would have more than a few local juniors in their squad. Thats the way the NRL works these days so is not really a valid arguement. It is well documented the mediocrity of on field success. Thats well known, but regurgitate the fact if it makes you feel good. Bogans of differing types are generally at every club. Day by day cheating? Danks was at the club for approx 2 months during a season when the Sharks finished second last. Poor management led to Gallens 3rd party payments not being registered correctly, which resulted in the abovementioned fine by the NRL for salary cap breaches a few months ago. Really, your above points could be applied to quite a few clubs.
fishes
Guest
-1 It's funny you blame the Sharks for being 'boganesque' when you are the one who is bagging out honest NRL fans. Take a look in the mirror
V.O.R.
Guest
Yep, it's all just made up....All the players are completely innocent and so is management. Nothing has been proved and my gut feeling says that we will see golden halos systematically appear above the heads of all and sundry come seasons end. Enough of a personal vendetta against such a stand up club.
Celtic Bandaid
Guest
It might have something to do with Super League and the $45 million loyalty payment you got when the NRL was formed which Wests, Norths, Souths Illawarra and Balmain didn't get. If memory serves me correctly this certainly helped you meet the slanted financial criteria to join the NRL while your club stated that it was for the best., Or maybe it has something to do with none of your recent stars Gallen, Fifita, Lewis etc were born or raised anywhere near your shire of 300K and that they come from an area of Sydney that supplies 50% of the players 40% of the population and has only 2 and a 1/2 senior RL teams but you have one that is constantly propped up by the NRL and News despite being as stable as the reclaimed land it sits on. Or maybe its because after 47 years you will still never win a GF but still consider coming 4th a successful year. Or maybe its because your supporters pride yourself on your upper middle class boganesque surf culture not realising that almost every other Sydney club (even Easts) except Manly has some sort of working class streak that provides endearment to others Could be any of or all of these but also you need to remember that day by day your club, the coach, the players appear to have systematically cheated Go to the AFL- No loss.
Oracle of East Perth
Guest
True fans of the game don't want see things like this happen to any club. However, a perception around lack of governance at the Sharks has echoed through the Shire for a number of years and that perception is now reality. The culture and values of an organisation start at the top and are driven down via good management. Sadly the leadership and lack of integrity of certain individuals at the club could bring the club down. However, all is not lost. A wise man once said to make an organisation better sometimes you need to tear it down first. That man was Peter "Bullfrog" Moore. May he continue to rest in peace.
The eye
Guest
nathan the only thing the sharks need to worry about is stopping sbw offloading this monday night..the rest is rubbish.