if you do the crime you do the time, as they say, and we must abide by the decsions of the NRL and the adminstrators of sport at all times. and the hounds have come out slamming the Melbourne storm and their actions and labeling them cheats and that the punishment fits the crime but lets look at the case history and see if it relay does. also i will preface this with saying that i am a mad keen Melbourne storm supporter and support the storm and will support the rebels when they enter the Super 15 competition. i will probably also adopt the Melbourne heart as my soccer team, and i have a team i support in every code.
so a brief history of NRL salary cap infringements can be found here and you will see that maybe, just maybe the punishment may not fit the crime.
case one is going to be short and sweet. the Knights deliberately cheated during 2000, and went on to win the trophy in 2001. they were discovered in 2000, and then again in 2002. hold up........ the knights kept the silver wear?? and when you add the number up they come to arround $600,000 in a single season.
so case two dates to 2002, when the bulldogs were assumed to be headed for the championship and that they were going to take it out. well that was untill they got caught with too much money going to the players. so what was the plan by the bulldogs? to delibartly rot in the order of 2 MILLION dollars over 3 years. the bulldogs finished second in 2001 and 3 games from the end of the season 2002 were docked all of their points. interestingly though they were still allowed to accumulate points for the remainder of the season. yes a police investagion insued, but the Bulldogs contested and argued and pleaded innocence and tried to avoid their punishment.
now thier status for all 3 of the seasons stand and were only punnished in the current season. also because they had failed in 2001 to make it past week two of the finals they didnt win anything, but their status was allowed to remain. the penalty? $500,000 and their premiership points.
in 2007, the bullodgs didnt allow the nrl to audit thier books. the penatly - nothing
so the storm. yes they did the wrong thing but the numbers are simple. $1,700,000 over 5 years with $700,000 for the 2010 season. the penatly? a $1,500,000 fine, two premierships, 3 minor premierships (effectivly removing all of thier points and results for the 3 seasons) and their "removal" from the 2010 season. and why is this? because the NRL has a third party payment clause in their salary cap and it was rorted. the question is, is it just the STORM. look at the numbers, the punishment does not fit the crime. it is in excess of previous cases and it is because the nrl chooses to involve them selves in all payments. my biggest gripe? the fact that the bulldogs and the knights were allowed to exist and were not labeled as CHEATS by the rest of the competition. but it in my mind reinforces the NSW centric nature of the NRL.
i have just watched a comment piece by Fatty Vaughn of the NRL Footy Show. he labeled the team cheats and made some very explosive comments. did he make similar comments around the bulldogs who manged to keep most of their team together the following two seasons?
the numbers and facts speak for them selves. whilst news lmtd the owner of the storm are comitted to melbourne, it appears that the NRL is not. and what about those who stand to win hundreds of thousands on bets placed? it appears that this penalty has been rushed and has been announced without the completion of the inveestiagion, due to the infomration geting out and betting markets being activated. with the departure of the CEO, these irregularities were discovered and now a wholesale change in the administration of the club will ensue.
so any way. now its over to the authorities to do their job. the statements made publicly have some interesting repercussions in a legal sense, due to potential for mistrals should criminal charges be laid, with some parties already being named.
i will still support the storm and i am still proud of my team, regardless of the actions of the administrators.
post script added 4 hours after orginal posting
well i just re watched the video and to the storm players get on your phone to your lawyers and go after that wally from the NRL footy show. he has said that you as players are cheaters and do not deserve to play! well if you have had no knowledge of what was going on get at him! there we go. a really inflammatory comment to finish it all off
ANNOTHER POST SCRIPT!!
so people are saying in the media that it is the bigest rort in the NRL's history....... WRONG. the penalties yes the harshest, the offence, as demonstrated above, no the worst!
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