Eels Blogs

Whether it’s fair or not, I don’t think anyone can deny that there is a current media campaign against the club. Just about every journalist who has provided commentary has already slammed the Eels as guilty of breaching salary cap rules. I think it is fair to say that the media is hoping to influence the NRL regarding what punishment it hands down. Phil if you’re reading this, please don’t roll your eyes, I know that you’ve defended your craft for doing its job and I agree that the Eels should be held to account for any wrong doing it has perpetrated. HOWEVER, I will staunchly argue that the media has failed miserably at asking the hard questions regarding the whole salary cap system and the NRL’s ability to police it. If the Eels are found guilty, it will be the third time during the NRL era that the governing body has been externally notified that a club has been cheating. This suggests that the NRL has great difficulty in detecting illegal activities. Why hasn’t the media talked about this? Isn’t it their job to hold ALL authoritative bodies to account?                                                                 

To me, it looks as if the media has solely targeted the Eels because it is so ingrained in the current media culture to sensationalise the news and to capitalise on any drama in order to create a story. In this case, the Eels are by far the most obvious target that it is so easy to produce a story that attracts an audience. The media is more interested in tooting its own horn with headlines like ‘how we broke the story’, along with other self gratifying pieces like ‘why I think the Eels should lose points’. From a business standpoint this is understandable, and it would even be justified if the media also brought in other aspects into the discussion such as the role of player managers and what responsibility they have. But in many of the recent articles there is a common line: ‘there is no suggestion of any wrong doing by the players, their managers, or the third party sponsors’. In other words, the fault is entirely on the Eels and we shouldn’t even look at the other parties involved. That’s bullshit. It’s just as much the responsibility as anyone else that player managers ensure the deals their clients sign are legal. These managers aren’t stupid; if a club tries to orchestrate an illegal TPA you can be certain that the managers would be aware of it.                                                   

It is becoming more and more common that player managers are running to the media when a club fails to guarantee money to their player via a TPA. Since when is it the club’s responsibility to guarantee such deals? And why is the media giving voice to these managers assuming they all know what the rules are. The fact that the manager blames the club in these cases heavily suggests that they both devised a TPA in cooperation with one another whereby the onus should be on the club to guarantee the money, which is forbidden under the rules. If the deal is exposed, both parties would be at fault. And yet, as we saw with the alleged illegal Mossop payments, the player manager was directly involved but the media completely ignored the role played by Wayne Beavis. We saw a string of articles detailing what the Eels had done, which is fair enough, but nothing that cast doubt on Beavis’ involvement.                                                             

There have not even been articles that set out to clearly explain what the TPA rules are in order to help readers understand what exactly the Eels have done wrong. Whenever I ask people what exactly did the Eels do, no one has given me a clear answer but all say they should be punished. I would say that the journalists behind these articles don’t know themselves what precisely the Eels have done or what specifically the rules allow for. All of the journalists have coined the same phrase: ‘any deal must be at arm’s length to the club’. No one has gone deeper than that. It hasn’t been specified to what extent a club is allowed to be involved in organising a TPA deal for their player. I’ve heard arguments from both sides, on the one hand saying that only player managers can organise TPAs, but then others saying that clubs can be involved just as long as the deal is included under the cap (but then why would it be called third party?). If the media is going to accuse clubs of illegally organising TPA deals, it needs to make crystal clear what the rules are. But in this case, the water is very murky. This is where the media has committed its greatest crime. It has taken advantage of the lack of knowledge among its readers in understanding this matter so as to influence public perception. In a nutshell, the media has said that the Eels have done the wrong thing and is relying on rival fans, who are already negatively biased toward the club, to eagerly go along with the story because they want to see the Eels be found guilty. That’s just such poor journalism and really unprofessional. I can’t believe how low journalism has fallen. I know a lot of journalists come on this site looking for news and gossip, so for those of you reading this blog, why aren’t you doing your f****** job?!?