Public Address | Cafe | Field Theory: The Old Marquee Scam

Naly D

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:59:58 +1200

Highlanders (a bloody Australian, for God's sake!)

What? Glenn Moore was born in Takapuna.

Yamis

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:13:01 +1200

There isn't a salary cap per se in the Super 14 in terms of how much each team can spend but each NZ team is owned by the NZRU, and players are paid according to what level they get up to, ie ABs, or just Super 14 team.

So for…

Steve Barnes

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:05:28 +1200

Well of course, a gentleman would not compete for money, it is theirs by birthright.
;-)

Kyle Matthews

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:52:39 +1200

It's a working class sport, as opposed to "Proper Rugby" as played by the best public schools in England. That is why it has a salary cap, we don't want the blighters getting above their station, what what?

Well, it was of course professional for many decades before proper rugby…

Steve Barnes

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:46:53 +1200

It must be written somewhere that Rugby League must be tougher, badder and generally worse than all other sports.

It's a working class sport, as opposed to "Proper Rugby" as played by the best public schools in England. That is why it has a salary cap, we don't want the blighters…

Kyle Matthews

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:15:11 +1200

Super rugby doesn't have a salary cap. Australia has limits on who much players can be paid (about $150K), with some exceptions (more for Wallaby players, plus each union has a 2 player marquee exemption), and I presume the NZRFU contracting of all NZ players provides some of the effects…

Yamis

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:26:18 +1200

Shit, apologies for the mistake.

I just called the ANZC a "top competition".

Yamis

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:25:43 +1200

You'd be surprised how many top competitions have salary caps Steve.

Super 14, ANZC, NFL, NBA, and IPL are a few.

Steve Barnes

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:19:52 +1200

Wage caps?. Bloody Socialism I tell you, they'll be asking for sport to be amateur next.

Tom Semmens

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:12:32 +1200

And the decline of NZ rugby continues at an alarming rate... Our Super teams teams are so poorly coached compared to the top Aussie and South African teams one scarcely knows where to begin in recounting our failures... No wonder the All Blacks start so slowly these days, they are…

Yamis

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:03:26 +1200

I definately think that there should be some allowance for players developed by the club. To be fair though even though there isn't most clubs do do a heck of a lot to bring through young guys because if they don't they will miss out on all the best young…

Hadyn Green

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:34:26 +1200

Seems wrong that the rules punish them for that.

He's the one playing for the massive salary. Why not take a pay cut for a few years to help that team the "made him" and then go for the big contract after that.

And fuck the "I developed thisplayer so…

LegBreak

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:52:49 +1200

I reckon there should be a cap on transfers, not wages.

That would stop the situation you get in football where the likes of Chelsea and Man City go out and buy ready-made teams, taking the competitiveness out of the league.

But these marquee players at the Storm were developed…

Blake Monkley

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:41:15 +1200

By allowing them to play on this year still 700k over the cap isn't the NRL endorsing other teams losing against a team that still has an advantage?

Richard Llewellyn

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:13:40 +1200

Have you got a reference for that? It would be very strange for a salary cap to not be determined by the actual amount of money paid over the year to all the players.

Yeah, sorry, thats what I meant – meaning that the market determines the actual salary of…

Kyle Matthews

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:38:28 +1200

my understanding is that the cap accommodates market-value of a player

Have you got a reference for that? It would be very strange for a salary cap to not be determined by the actual amount of money paid over the year to all the players.

There are creative ways to…

Richard Llewellyn

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:59:55 +1200

I'd be very surprised if other clubs are not finding creative ways around the salary cap (much in the same way All Blacks in the Haden-era used to find ways around the shamateurism constraints), but I guess the sheer scale of this one is the shock.

While the idea of…

Yamis

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:18:24 +1200

On what laws may have been broken I'm not sure, it could be to do with misappropriated funds which was meant for one thing and used for another. Not sure though.

Regarding the players knowing I find it a bit hard to believe that the top ones didn't know.

Surely…

Yamis

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:13:40 +1200

Crowd attendances had bottomed out in 2004 at under 9,000 per game.

Warriors average crowd in 2004 was 10,171. 2006 was when the arse fell out and it was 8,829 (was 16,842 in 2003 when they were going well). Interestingly last year when they were pretty awful throughout they averaged…

Scott A

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:41:44 +1200

I'm betting the Storm didn't run those payments through it's normal salary books and tax wouldn't have been withheld from it as it was paid to the players.

The ATO loves getting high-profile people on the ropes; I hope the players getting the marquee money are getting in touch with…

Bruce Wurr

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:51:08 +1200

serves me right for not doing research I guess! I would like to see the salary cap lifted a bit higher though to prevent the loss of players to other sports, without bankrupting the clubs either.

I just hate it that a sport I love constantly goes through turmoil. Like…

Hadyn Green

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:43:47 +1200

they're preventing players from making money outside of playing a game of rugby league – e.g. sponsorship, endorsements etc.

I don't think that's true. For example Sonny Bill Williams used to have a deal with Nike.

Bruce Wurr

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:55:32 +1200

The salary cap is a great idea......and there has definitely been a clear breech here. It's certainly one of the closest competitions in the world because of it.

But playing devil's advocate here – there is a wider concern with the control of news ltd and it's involvement with the…

Bevan Shortridge

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:33:06 +1200

The "marquee scam" was intelligent in that the payments were small but were paid every home game. Moreover this is a simple fraud where money just "disappears". So the only people who need to be involved are the players, management and a bunch of accountants

So this is a new…

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:47:28 +1200

The Imperfect Storm...
all those league star-sized hailstones
will wreak havoc on the glasshouses

the League of Extra-rort Gentlemen
scratch a wintergreened underbelly

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:27:47 +1200

Tend to agree, but if the players didn't know what was going on (a big assumption I know), then it keeps them playing for the rest of the season, and therefore more marketable at the end of the season.

It would be complex, but if the players are found to…

Mike Graham

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:24:37 +1200

I'm surprised that they didn't strip them out of this year's competition entirely...

Tend to agree, but if the players didn't know what was going on (a big assumption I know), then it keeps them playing for the rest of the season, and therefore more marketable at the end of…

John Fouhy

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:05:00 +1200

I think the further investigations will look into whether any of them were complicit. The story I read (letters stored at the CEO's house promising other money on top of the the official contracts that were submitted to the NRL), certainly indicates that they should have been suspicious at least.

…

LegBreak

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:54:41 +1200

I'm surprised that they didn't strip them out of this year's competition entirely.

That would’ve been fairer in some ways.

But it would’ve detracted from State of Origin, and they wouldn’t want that.

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:51:11 +1200

The fire sale wil be at the end of the season, and other clubs will be offloading their breaches then too.
They've been allowed to honour this year's contracts.

This makes sense, as long as it's found that the players haven't done any wrong. Melbourne has the money, so it's…

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:44:50 +1200

And I see their lead conspirator in the fraudulent behaviour is now head of the Melbourne Rebels Super 15 expansion team, surely he cannot carry on in that role.

He's been suspended and they're making a public announcement this afternoon. Expect him not to be seeing out his contract.

Why…

Naly D

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:28:26 +1200

The fire sale wil be at the end of the season, and other clubs will be offloading their breaches then too.

Just look at what happened to the Bulldogs, and considering the Rebels had allegedly already been chasing Slater, Inglis and Smith [you'd be dumb not to] and there's no…

Daniel Wilton

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:20:29 +1200

Suddenly the market will be flooded with talented players and a few teams who may have cap room and a few injuries (coughWarriorscough) could get a 1-year contract bargain.

I am not sure the warriors would want them, they would be like that kid who is forced to go to…

Graeme Edgeler

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:51:36 +1200

The Police angle is interesting; can't really see what general law they've broken...

Well, I don't don't about specific Victorian criminal laws, but false accounting would seem to fit if it was in New Zealand:

__Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who, with…

LegBreak

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:23:16 +1200

The fire sale wil be at the end of the season, and other clubs will be offloading their breaches then too.

They've been allowed to honour this year's contracts.

The Police angle is interesting; can't really see what general law they've broken

Tom Semmens

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:05:51 +1200

There seems to me to be a very good chance the club itself will fold. And I see their lead conspirator in the fraudulent behaviour is now head of the Melbourne Rebels Super 15 expansion team, surely he cannot carry on in that role.

Public Address

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:05:51 +1200

Discussion from blog post.