It was a press conference where the biggest news – that Parramatta would be stripped all their 2016 points thus far, fined $1 million, and see five senior officials potentially lose their jobs – had already broken. But the address to the rugby league world regarding the Eels salary cap breaches was still compulsory viewing.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg fronted the rugby league media flanked by NRL Head of Integrity Nick Weeks.
“This is the day no one in rugby league wanted to see,” Greenberg began, but before getting too sad about the plight of Parra’s players and fans, he made sure to remind people that the actions of the club were “Not only disappointing, they’re a stain on our game.”
Parra salary cap scandal
» Parramatta docked 12 points, fined $1 million for salary cap breaches
» 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
Weeks revealed that the Eels were over the cap by “about $3 million since 2013 in aggregate”, in what Greenberg described as “deliberate, coordinated, and sustained” cheating of the system, a situation of which Parra’s board and senior executive were aware.
Greenberg again outlined the ways in which the club had manipulated the cap, using undisclosed player payments, sourcing payments from third-party sponsors, and using inflated or fictitious invoices from suppliers to pay players more.
And while reluctant to apportion any further blame, Weeks hinted more people may yet face sanctions, saying, “There’s a phase of this investigation to come”.
“There’s a piece of work that we still need to do with respect to some agents, and we’ll deal with players at that time too,” Weeks said.
He also said that there was evidence to suggest some players had been paid cash ‘under the table’.
But the emphasis was really on Parramatta as a club, with Greenberg making mention of what a shambles the joint has been in recent years, citing the club’s 25 different directors, six CEOs and four coaches.
“[The Eels] breached the salary cap in five of six seasons, and as we sit here we believe the club are over the salary cap for 2016,” Greenberg said.
“This has to stop, and it stops now.”
Weeks described the club’s attitude to helping the NRL sort out their salary cap issues as “Pretty disappointing”.
“We’ve had to do a lot of work, because the club hasn’t helped us out,” Weeks said.
“There was an opportunity to deal with some of these matters some time ago.”
And though it may seem the NRL are coming down the mountain on the Eels, Greenberg stressed that “The findings are provisional in nature”, and that “both the club and officials will be afforded an opportunity to respond”.
Both Greenberg and Weeks spoke to both the club’s players and board this morning to outline the situation, in a situation Greenberg described as “difficult”.
“[The players] were shattered. I really felt for the players this morning, and I was desperate to make sure that Nick and I faced them face-to-face this morning… I wanted to face them and I wanted them to hear it from us.”
However, he maintained the line “While you’re over the salary cap you can’t accrue points”, reiterating it a number of times.
In terms of why the Eels would be allowed to play for points once they were salary-cap compliant, as opposed to the Melbourne Storm in 2010 playing for no points, Greenberg said it was about offering Parra hope, as watching the Storm’s 2010 season was “soul-destroying, both for the players and the fans”.
“I didn’t make the decision on the Melbourne Storm, but I’m making the decision today,” he said.
“We’re part of the solution, we said we’d help them, and I want to help them…
“It’s a moment in time where Parramatta get the opportunity to start off the field again, and I hope they take that with both hands.”
steveng
Roar Rookie
Firstly, I'm not a Parra fan I'm a Rabbitohs fan! Secondly, we are all NRL fans and have to stick together and make the NRL know that we will not cop these sorts of breaches and at the same time make Parra accountable as much as the NRL for not policing Parra's breaches for so long and so many years. If the NRL is fair dinkum about policing the 'salary cap' then they would be doing a better job and these things wouldn't happen continually.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
They were 8th in 2009...
Ken
Guest
That's not true, nobody thinks the Storm won - it's rare for someone to mention the game in that time period and not give a nod to the Storm rorts. 28 years later Ben Johnson is still only remembered as a cheat, not an athlete. Lance Armstrong is a pariah and Marion Jones probably got the best of it by simply fading into obscurity.
pete bloor
Guest
For starters a tax return is reasonably consolidated so wouldn't be some magical panacea for the NRL and then you got the issue of I'm not sure the ATO is in the business of handing over your tax records to a third party just because they asked nicely and would find it useful.
yung
Guest
this
SpongeBob
Guest
With some peptides they may have even cracked 9th!
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Parramatta Eels: 2010 - 12th 2011 - 14th 2012 - 16th 2013 - 16th 2014 - 10th 2015 - 12th The price of success....
Andrew
Guest
I really shouldn't comment about one of the greatest eels player (hayne) but, some comes back to him. Most importantly....the 5 board members are morons. I've had 2 brain injuries, I would realise with cash, eventually it catches up to you if you don't do the correct things. Storm lost 2 Premierships, Dogs..no finals, Warriors..500,000 grand. Idiots...you're not gangsta's...Maybe you think you are in Parramatta.
Marco
Guest
Make the players give back the money is a valid point. They have received payments outside the rules. Why not pay it back. This would make player agents think twice about demanding more money. The clubs would have to be more responsible for player payments.
Emcie
Roar Guru
What are they supposed to do? Raid club officials houses looking for secret documents on a regular basis? Go through players receipts to make sure they're not spending too much? The NRL are bound by what they can do legally and they have to respect peoples rights. And I'm yet to see a successful plan for pre-empting systematic illegal behaviour specifically designed to circumvent the system in place.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
If the hand has it's fingers blown off
The Barry
Roar Guru
ALL clubs do third party stuff. They don't necessarily cheat them though. The rules around third parties are so flexible that I really don't understand why clubs need to rort them. Clubs can even introduce interested TPAs to players as long as they're not part of the process going forward. Anyway Parras rorting is beyond just TPAs.
Bobbo7
Guest
So if players are getting extra cash in odd ways, they can hardly be considered innocent in all of this. They had to know it was dodgy.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Well, if clubs are going to police themselves then we don't need referees. Self regulation doesn't work, never has, never will. The NRL has a responsibility to all teams to ensure all 16 play by the rules. Four teams have now been caught rorting the cap, and the NRL has caught none of them
Simoc
Guest
That's because sport is always in the moment. The NRL choosing to take Storms title away means nothing. They won regardless and we all know that is all that matters. Maybe ask Ben Johnson if he would have preferred not to win the Olympic gold on the day and rather never been heard of. Ask Lance Armstrong the same thing. He probably would have won anyway as most certainly Marion Jones would have in all 100m womens 100m events, she was that good. Cheating has an attraction obviously.
Renegade
Roar Guru
And it's also the club administration's job to ensure they stay within the rules. How pro-active were the Eels in doing this? If you have a lead foot and go-over the speed limit everyday without getting caught, eventually leading to a major accident one day.... is your straw man argument going to be "but the police didn't do their job by enforcing the speed"....? Yeah, good luck with that.
The real SC
Roar Rookie
They should pay the $1 million fine and demanding that Parramatta players should give back the money
steveng
Roar Rookie
The Broncos and the Cows are a 'protected spices'
steveng
Roar Rookie
There could be other clubs doing this also and the Eels players are no cheats its their officials! Don't start to be obnoxious and start a war with talk like 'play the cheats' its not the fans fault or the players fault!
JoM
Roar Rookie
In saying that, when the Storm were doing their cheating the runners up in the two grandfinals weren't given the win were they.