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.
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:
– 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.”
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.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Really? the NRL did not request the resignation of a single director or manager from the Storm yet it demanded that 5 leave from Parra and they got greater financial penalties in proportion to the financial alleged roarting committed and the only supposed award that they received in this hole period was the Auckland 9's trophy that was taken from them (not that anyone cared). So how did Parra get off lightly in comparison to the Storm? Parra willl probably be sued n coming years for not following due process so the fact is that Parra will end up a lot worse off than the Storm. The Storm gained fans that they will never lose because of those 3 premierships that were stripped from them Parra has not.
81paling
Roar Rookie
And there is a team on the Peninsula who are going to lose to them twice. Hehee!
81paling
Roar Rookie
no
81paling
Roar Rookie
Don, could you please give that spreadsheet to the NRL and show them how to use excel because what you are saying makes sense it should be simple but, not only did player managers miss it but, so dd the NRL.
81paling
Roar Rookie
DingoGray, apparently it then goes to insurance if he retires they then handle the contract which is why it must be mediaclly and legally signed off and that will take time.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Will, Steve's answer is not good enough for you because the NRL investigated 750k pages of Eels documents from a 3 year period, the Eels have 20k fans they send emails to on a weekly basis that is approximately the same amount. As for the the 3rd party agreements, undisclosed remuneration and inflated invoices paid to players, what are they? are they even significant? do you know? if so tell us please, Otherwise Steve has a perfectly valid point, players do not watch every cent going to and from their account and nor should they have to. Lets stop playing with the grand standing statements of the NRL and get specific.
81paling
Roar Rookie
I know that it is silly but, I can not find any reference about the salary cap being introduced to make the competition fair prior to super League. I am really interested in this but, everything that I read states it was introduced to stop clubs going broke. Please let me know if you find anything that contradicts that.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Christo that is not a logical conclusion because speed limits stop people from killing themselves and other the slary cap was introduced the stop League's club officials from sending district Leagues clubs broke with over ambitious payments to players they could not afford, no one would ever be killed ever.
81paling
Roar Rookie
The NRL is hoping this will not happen but, base on history it is the smart thing to do, because it is how both the Dogs and the Storm won premierships in following years.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Remember that when the independent directors of the Storm launched litigation NEWS stepped in and fired the lot of them, NEWS had something to hide. In this case Parra has nothing to hide so the NRL must try to get their fans to turn against their board because the NRL has no legal right to remove directors from an independant organisation that they do business with and they know it. They need the Eels to stand aside and accept this judgment because if they do not then Storm fans might start asking questions also and if you check what Roy Masters wrote it appears they have and will be launching a legal challenge of their own.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Will I am desperatley trying to find where the extra charges are and what they are since the findings of the investigation that began in July last year? At that point the NRL were only going to remove 4 points from the Eels yet now they have found a reason to remove 12 points from the Eels despite PWC recommendations being implemented by the Eels. Whilst I enjoy a good lynch mob mentality I would just like to be able to yell something remotely relevant when we hang them high as I have not seen anything yet.
81paling
Roar Rookie
accept for the Dogs, Warriors and Titans.
Al
Guest
Your right, didn't think of that.... Seems impossible to fairly distribute points... Thanks parra...
Muzz
Guest
Very good point, Joe. I'd love to know the Australian captains opinion on the punishment handed down to the Eels
The Barry
Roar Guru
They should be getting a new one at the end of the year...
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Bahaha true
Squidward
Roar Rookie
?
pete bloor
Guest
As a fan if your willing to suspend ethics, and clearly most are in the "innocent fan" defence, shouldn't you be encouraging your team to insert a dummy board to systematically cheat and build a great team knowing you will only ever have one empty season? Retrospectively taking away a premiership doesn't actually take it away, you still got to feel the elation of the grand final and the regular season wins in real time, and then once the empty year is over you have a super star team with an us against the world mentality many of which will cut salary to keep the team together to avoid being seen as a mercenary. The Eels have pulled off a master stroke here
pete bloor
Guest
But the team they will have after getting under the cap was still constructed with the benefit of ignoring the rules. I think they've copped very little penalty for it. It might not be a lettuce slap but it's nothing above a floret of over cooked broccoli. If you really wanted to have a penalty let them play for points then take the average $ figure they were over double it and apply it to the number of years they were over for plus the remainder of this one. the amount they are forced to be below the cap is then paid each year in the retirement fund so that the NRL playing base is still technically whole. Sure the fans are innocent but if your the beneficiary of ill gotten gains you have those benefits taken away right? It's like you get to launder guilt in the NRL by delivering the benefit to the fans and then saying hey you can't take it away from little Johnny...
Matthew Johnston.
Guest
As I said to the Storm, after we lost the Premiership to them after they got done for the cap. Don't worry about it I am an Eels supporter. And I support the Storm on the cap. Reply "thanks for the support and consideration". And I am proud of my club Parramatta.