THE Parramatta Eels executive and board of directors have been branded the world’s dumbest cheats following the NRL’s announcement of extensive penalties against the club.
The preliminary penalties, including the loss of 12 NRL competition points and a $1 million fine, follows an NRL integrity unit investigation into salary cap breaches at the club.
Top level officials at the Eels were slammed following the integrity unit’s discoveries of “deliberate and concealed” systematic salary cap rorting — and the chorus of rugby league figures rubbishing the Eels officials responsible has grown much louder following the decision of five officials to launch a legal fightback against their exclusion from any further involvement in the NRL.
Five senior Parramatta officials — chairman Steve Sharp, directors Tom Issa and Peter Serrao as well as CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson — on Tuesday night secured a NSW Supreme Court injunction prohibiting the NRL from acting on the preliminary decision to deregister them from the game.
All five were present for the club’s infamous board meetings in January and March of 2014 when methods for cheating the salary cap were openly discussed and written down in the official minutes of the meetings.
The Eels issued a statement on Wednesday saying the club have recruited former NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert to help the club find a way to fit under the 2016 NRL salary cap.
The statement said the Eels are working “as a priority” to be salary cap compliant and eligible to compete for competition points before their round 10 clash with South Sydney at Parramatta Stadium next Friday, May 13.
The statement failed to specify if the five Eels officials directly punished by the NRL remain at the helm of the football club.
The decision to challenge their deregistration has seen the five officials labelled “selfish” and “stupid”.
The NRL announced on Tuesday the league has had to take action against the Eels for salary cap breaches in five of the past six years.
Disgraced.Source:News Corp Australia
NRL head of integrity Nick Weeks said the club is $570,000 over the 2016 salary cap and has paid players more than $3 million over the salary cap since 2011.
It comes despite the Eels producing deplorable results on the football field.
They have been arguably the worst club on the field this decade, following their golden run to the 2009 NRL grand final.
Since then:
— 2010: 12th (10 wins, 14 losses)
— 2011: 14th (6 wins, 17 losses, 1 draw)
— 2012: 16th (6 wins, 18 losses)
— 2013: 16th (5 wins, 19 losses)
— 2014: 10th (12 wins, 12 losses)
— 2015: 12th (9 wins, 15 losses)
All they have to show for $3 million in salary cap rorting is two wooden spoons and an Auckland Nines pre-season trophy.
NRL legend Mark Geyer described the Eels as “stupid” on Wednesday morning — and he wasn’t the only one.
“How stupid have they been for the last four years,” Geyer questioned on Triple M’s Grill Team.
“2012, last. 2013, last. 2014, 10th. Last year, 12th. They’ve been rorting the system and still had nothing to come up with.
“You’ve got to cut the fishes’ head off at the top. They’ve done that. There’s still a lot of board members that are lucky to be there.”
Newcastle great Matthew Johns said the five Eels officials involved in the Supreme Court action must immediately stand down.
Big call.Source:News Corp Australia
“The big thing now that really concerns me is that at first the five board members where they said at first ‘yeah, we’re happy to stand down’ and now they’re saying ‘well, we might appeal it’,” Johns told Triple M.
“If they’re busy appealing it, for mine, they’re not busy trying to get the team under the salary cap.
“If you love the club fall on your sword and do the right thing.”
Geyer said of the five officials: “They don’t really love the club. What were they doing there in the first place”.
Eels great Brett Kenny said the board should be sacked on the grounds of stupidity.
“It was very disappointing,” Kenny told Fox Sports.
“I’m more so disappointed in the board that did this.
“To hear in the last six years they’ve done it five times, they should be sacked for being so stupid.
Mission impossible.Source:News Corp Australia
“You feel sorry for the players and the Parramatta fans, they’ve done nothing to cause this.”
Former Parramatta winger Eric Grothe Jr said it was shameful for the five disgraced officials to put themselves ahead of the club.
“Eels Board members & officials should stand down THEN take the matters to court,” Grothe posted on social media.
“Remove yourself first & foremost so points can be played for.
“I can’t imagine sleeping at night if staying put meant zero points on offer.
“That’s putting personal issues before the club. Pure ego.”
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said on Wednesday he hopes the Eels figures preliminarily deregistered from the NRL put the long term future of the club ahead of their own.
He said on Tuesday night the Eels would not be eligible to compete for competition points while those five officials remain at the club.
“I understand the next range of decisions for this club will be incredibly important for them,” Greenberg told Sky Sports Radio.
“They’re decisions only they can make. Clearly they have an opportunity to move forward now and make some assessments of the breach notice that was only provided to them yesterday.
“They’ve got to make some important decisions for the long term benefit of their club.
“I hope the next round of decisions are ensuring that they put the interests of their club first.”
The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday branded the Eels the “World’s dumbest cheats” in a headline inside the back page.
It’s hard to argue against that claim.
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