Storm to take NRL to Court

[SilentBob]

[quote author=BErKeLEy_eAgLe link=topic=183306.msg262434#msg262434 date=1273720556]

yep, to play in the nrl don't you have to be invited ?

Umm, South Sydney Rabbitohs. Remember them? They were uninvited but got back in after they went to court so their is nothing to stop the Storm from doing the same thing to get back in if they were kicked out of the comp.
[/quote]

News Ltd won at appeal in the end and could have kicked them out, they just never took the option.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

[quote author=Chip & Chase link=topic=183306.msg262430#msg262430 date=1273719414]

This is just another example of the ridiculous conflict of interest that exists around News Ltd's continued involvement in the game at an administrative level. The sooner they are out the better.

Agreed and especially with your last comment however, I'm still not totally convinced that the proposed independent commission with the NRL clubs running the whole thing is the way to go about it. How can it be independent when the clubs are involved in the administration of the game.  I feel that the grassroots of the game will miss out as the NRL clubs I feel would tend to try and line their own pockets first before nurturing the grassroots of the game.
[/quote]
The clubs won't be involved in the running of the commission. The model proposed is that the clubs have to agree on nominations to the commission. That does not mean people on the commission are representing any particular club, or even all the clubs. Their job will be to look after the overall interests of the game at all levels. 

 

[Jethro]

Well I hope that you are right SER8 as that isn't the way that I read it was going to be.

 

[Canteen Worker]

This case shows the ludicrous state of the administration of the League and Melbourne.

The non-News Ltd directors are taking on this case and funding the action.

They are in conflict as two of the Storm directors (not consulted about the penalties applied to the Storm) are the same people who are on the NRL board as News appointed directors of the NRL. Talk about conflict of interests.

To take this action will cost millions from both the NRL and the non-News directors. Who would fund the action? (I can see the conspiracy theory starting that News are secretly funding it so that the courts can be seen to reinstate the Storm, against their supposed wishes!)

I note that News Ltd are threatening to sack these independent directors from the Storm.

What this continues to reinforce is that the whole compromise since SuperLeague has been one big farce and the quicker the game is in independent hands the better.

It goes with the joke that the TV scheduling is - with the TV companies holding the whip hand in what games are televised and when.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

News Ltd has refused to rule out sacking the independent directors of the Melbourne Storm after they threatened legal action against the National Rugby League.

The decision of the directors to try to recover two premierships stripped from the club after it was caught cheating on salary cap payments means Australia's biggest sporting scandal may now become the most sensational court drama of the year.

Any legal challenge pits the club directly against its owners, Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd, which strongly opposes any efforts to contest the punishment.

News Ltd is further embroiled as it also owns half of the NRL, the body which investigated the Storm and handed out the punishments. The Sydney Morning Herald understands two Storm directors who are employed by News abstained during Monday night's vote.

When asked if News Ltd would consider sacking the Storm board to prevent a damaging court battle, a company spokesman, Greg Baxter, replied: "We would have to look at that - we think this course of action [the legal challenge] is unwise. It will be expensive, it will take a long time to be resolved and we think the real priorities of the club are elsewhere.''

But the possibility of the Storm having their two premierships reinstated is fully supported by players and staff. Coach Craig Bellamy said he was aware of the action and declared the football department was behind the board: ''It's the premierships we want back. We accept we have to take punishment this year for what has happened.''

Lawyers representing the board have contacted the NRL and News Ltd but neither they, nor the Storm's chairman Rob Moodie, would confirm that a legal challenge would definitely proceed.

A source who has been in contact with a club director told the Herald that board members Peter Mahar, Gerry Ryan and Petra Fawcett began considering legal action last week.

"It's fair to say they were the directors who have driven this,'' the source said. ''The chairman had to be convinced of the merits of committing to a challenge but, after hearing lawyers say there were strong grounds for a challenge, he felt it was the right thing to do for the club and the fans, even if it brings them into conflict with their owners."

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Read Bellamy there. The sooner this ****wit is out of Rugby League the better, he offers it nothing, does not give a stuff about the game as witnessed by those attitudes above, and is a deceptive wanker.

"We want our premierships back" How about coming back legally and earning one you knobjockey

 

[ManlyBacker]

Read Bellamy there. The sooner this F**kwit is out of Rugby League the better, he offers it nothing, does not give a stuff about the game as witnessed by those attitudes above, and is a deceptive wanker.

\"We want our premierships back\" How about coming back legally and earning one you knobjockey

They used to go on about Bozo stretching the rules but Bellamy has been in a class of his own. From the grapple tackle, the chicken wing, the crusher, the use of  jiu-jitsu techniques and the sleeper hold, to sliding feet, to spoiling and what looks like deliberate maiming tactics in almost every tackle he goes beyond pushing the boundaries. The game won't miss him if he goes.

 

[Rex]

If the News Ltd Storm want to play this game, the News Ltd NRL might consider adding new penalties for the ever expanding breaches.  Such as deducting all known excesses from future years' salary caps, increased by a penalty.

Weidler was alleging tonight a new scam where the Storm put money into a charity who then paid four Storm players $25k each.  Players named (only Inglis & Cronk from the big four).

 

[hoax1210au]

The saying "Charity begins at home" couldn't be further from the truth with these token wankers

 

[Canteen Worker]

This is an outrage. They are basically saying - Yep we got caught cheating by $1.3 million but you didn't make the decision the right way using our board members on your board so we can have all penalties rescinded.

These directors think they can thumb their noses at the game and the other club and get away with the blatant and wanton cheating.

Do they really think that a judge will not use the News Limited statement that they have no problem with the decision and don't challenge it?

It makes me doubly pleased that we beat these morally bankrupt leeches fair and square on the paddock in 2008!

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225867012878

Details emerged last night that former Super League supremo John Ribot was a backroom driving force in the decision to launch legal action against the NRL. Ribot met with NRL boss David Gallop early last week and warned him of legal action if the decision to strip the club of two premierships was not immediately reversed.

 

[ManlyBacker]

STUNNING new revelations emerged last night that Melbourne Storm officials secretly paid skipper Cameron Smith $60,000 to renovate his home as part of a deal outside of his NRL contract.

The Daily Telegraph has also learned that the complicated web of player payments at the centre of the biggest salary cap scandal in league history was set to continue for four more years.

Documents found since the scandal emerged show many of the illegal payments to some senior players would have continued until the end of the 2013 season if salary cap auditor Ian Schubert hadn't detected them.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that at least two players signatures have been found on two separate contracts, challenging some players' claims that they knew nothing about the existence of multiple contracts.

All details of the cap rorting - including free boats, cars and Harvey Norman shopping vouchers - will be flushed out in court as part of the NRL's defence of legal action launched by the Storm's four independent directors yesterday.

Apart from his home renovation being paid by the club, Smith also had a guaranteed $100,000 deal with Fox Sports, while Greg Inglis was also given a boat valued at more than $30,000. Smith and his agent failed to return The Daily Telegraph's calls last night.

Details emerged last night that former Super League supremo John Ribot was a backroom driving force in the decision to launch legal action against the NRL. Ribot met with NRL boss David Gallop early last week and warned him of legal action if the decision to strip the club of two premierships was not immediately reversed.

Ribot also argued that the club should be allowed to compete for points this year.

One of the game's biggest player agents last night said he was greatly concerned about the possibility of the players' private earnings being made public in a court case. "They'll be the ones who suffer the embarrassment - not the officials who orchestrated the whole thing," the agent said.

"The players have already suffered enough from the penalties handed down without all their private information aired like dirty laundry. Isn't it enough that they've lost two premierships and all points this season."

Other deals are likely to be revealed in a court case including cash payments to at least two senior players to run coaching clinics in Melbourne.

These revelations will infuriate players at other clubs who have always done it for free to promote the game.

Up until now, the NRL has been determined to protect coach Craig Bellamy and his Storm superstars from having their deals exposed.

Storm players have all strenuously denied knowledge of the salary cap rorts.

 

[susan ridgepipe]

anyone who seriously believes players and coach didnt  know is delusional.to believe it was all being run by the brand new nuffy ceo after waldron left is silly.

on the legal case,dont think this is some massive suit chasing huge damages due to NRL wrongdoing.

it is merely an application in the supreme ct to have the decision regarding penalties reheard according to natural justice principles and allowing storm independent legal representation.if it is successful,which is likely,the nrl will reconvene and issue exactly the same penalty.a ridiculous waste of time and those directors know it.myers will do it mostly pro bono,the penalty will be the same,and the directors will look like they have done something to appease the melbourne peasants.with every new revelation of rorting they will look absolutely ridiculous.

somehow they had managed to garner some public support-this will totally finish of that fan support north of the border.

same situation aoccurred with les boyd years ago.he won the right to be heard again and they slapped the same sentence on him.

 

[Jethro]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225867012878

Details emerged last night that former Super League supremo John Ribot was a backroom driving force in the decision to launch legal action against the NRL. Ribot met with NRL boss David Gallop early last week and warned him of legal action if the decision to strip the club of two premierships was not immediately reversed.

The full link to the story:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/smiths-kitchen-deal/story-e6frexnr-1225867012878

 

[Canteen Worker]

This case is brinkmanship and nothing more. Sue's thread above is the issue. If News have any balls they will sack the directors and end this farce.

 

[Rex]

i.e. Most NRL players believe the Storm players lied in claiming ignorance and innocence.  And that was before the latest revelations.

Today's questions: How do you claim innocence and ignorance when you sign one contract for the NRL and a different contract according to what you're actually being paid? And what will News Ltd do with this new info given what Hartigan previously said with bravado about taking action against players who were aware of breaches? Or is Hartigan all meaningless hot air on this one too?

 

[missing_something]

The ATO's audit into players tax declarations which is expected to launch after the NRL finish their audit, will be very damning you would expect.

 

[Cletus]

If the News Ltd Storm want to play this game, the News Ltd NRL might consider adding new penalties for the ever expanding breaches.  Such as deducting all known excesses from future years' salary caps, increased by a penalty.

Weidler was alleging tonight a new scam where the Storm put money into a charity who then paid four Storm players $25k each.  Players named (only Inglis & Cronk from the big four).

They've got the story in the Herald today:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/investigation-broadens-melbournes-can-of-worms-just-opened-20100514-v4f0.html

Inglis, Cronk, White and Johnson received up to $25,000 each from the Unity Foundation - an indigenous charity founded by former St Kilda AFL players Xavier Clarke and Allan Murray that was put into administration early last year by the Queensland Supreme Court.

I can't believe how many rorts they had going on, by the end of this they'll probably be a couple of million over the cap.

 

[ads]

But if the penalties are ruled null and void, the NRL can then impose new ones but follow a full process. Seeing the breach is now bigger than they thought then maybe the penalties should go up!

 

[Dan]

I think the problem here is dirty laundry and the bel won't want it all aired. I personally believe this is noise that we won't hear gather too much momentum.

The storm may not be a patsy in the traditional sense but hopefully someone understands tthe greater good is on the line.

In my opinion

 

[robbiea]

I hope  the taxman really bends them over & reams those players good & hard..I'd be happy with some jail time for the cheats....