Wasn't really sure what to go with for the title of this blog, but frankly calling this club a joke is as good as any.
Since 2009 the amount of faction in-fighting that has gone public and leaks has made this club the joke of the NRL. Perhaps this was all going on before that but if it was it was kept much more behind closed doors.
That's not to say I'm suggesting we go back to Fitzgerald because that will be yet another in a long line of mistakes made by both the various boards in charge in that time and the members who voted them to those positions.
A lot of fans need to take a step back and stop looking at this as being a witch hunt or the media picking on the Eels, if this was the Roosters or any other club, I'm almost certain those on this board calling everything a media beat-up would be saying "see I told you they were cheats" and eating up everything that same media produced.
I don't care if you're one of Roy's boys, if you believe in Steve or if you're a Fitzy Follower these three factions have all shown that they would prefer to be the captain of a sinking ship than see the club succeed in the hands of another.
The only way this club will ever become a success is if those three and all their mates are removed permanently and the only way I can see that happening is if the NRL takes control of the club.
Unlike the Titans, Knights or Tigers due to the rich Parra leagues club the NRL cannot use financial pressure as a way to get control of the clubs board. They need to use other means be it a threat of a point deduction which they used to get governance changes passed by the board or by stripping the club of it's NRL license and things are getting to the stage where that should be a consideration.
The club has proven in the past 7 years especially that it cannot be trusted to get the board problems under control themselves and these continued board issues have in part lead to oversights in correct salary cap management.
It could also lead to board members who only care about staying in power deliberately rorting the cap to ensure they remain in power. For example Steve Sharp looks at things and says if he can get Foran, Jennings etc at the club then the team will be a success on the field which will in turn mean that when the next club elections come up he can point to that as a reason for his ticket to be retained.
Don't for a minute think that the fact that the clause in Foran's contract that he can walk away if their are board troubles was released just in time for the last elections, it was a ploy from someone on the board to ensure they remained in power basically saying "If you vote us out Foran will walk"
Just as all these latest documents were released by someone connected to either Roy, Fitzy or whichever other factions exist as a ploy to destablise the current board with the end result being Sharp and his board getting removed from power opening the door for whoever released it to seize control.
As much as the players and fans are the innocent parties in this and as much as it will suck for us, if the current allegations of deliberate rorting are confirmed than the only solution for the NRL is to repeat Melbourne's 2010 punishment and have the Eels play a season for no points, and then look into their legal options to revoke the Eels NRL license for quite frankly the good of the club as this factionised bullsh** needs to stop.
One more thing the NRL claiming to being unaware of these latest documents despite all the months of investigation show that their salary cap auditors are a joke, the 3 big cap issues (Dogs, Storm and now Parra) in non of them did the NRL find the incriminating evidence each one of them was someone at the club leaking the proof to the media and then the NRL chasing up on it. I'm sure this sort of stuff goes on at others clubs like the Roosters or Brisbane but they have the control and "professionalism" to keep in under wraps unlike the Eels who have been handicapped in that regard by the in fighting between the factions
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I've got no doubt the majority of them are.
But at the Roosters for example everyone knows you don't F*** with Uncle Nick.
If Parra had that mentality none of this would have come to light.
Accounting is about maximising your ability within the rules. You push the rules right to the edge to maximise your gain. You exploit loopholes and grey areas. You DONT blatantly break the rules, that's not clever accounting, that's just asking for it.
I've heard on the grapevine that to finalise the last breach the NRL demanded a Statutory Declaration from the club that they were unaware of ANY other possible breaches. The NRL now believe that was a deliberately false declaration and are not best pleased. Brace yourselves everyone, this is going to get quite ugly now.
If true
Then the NRL may not be the worse of the troubles ahead for this board.
pretty sure deliberately falsifying a stat dec will get the attention of the courts.
The way things r going, probably the only positive way forward in order to break the cycle of in fighting & instability would be for the NRL to take over the Parra NRL Franchise for a period of say 5 years to allow the Leagues Club Members time to sort out the on going cancerous political circus. Preferably with a caveat that no previous board member or employee be eligible for a future board or executive appointment before any consideration being given to hand the NRL Franchise back to the Club. A complete clean sheet renewal.