ARU ruling on Giteau's contract imminent

[Swee_82]

His manager, James Erskine, refused to divulge any information, saying he did not feel like it at the moment.

Erskine said: "All I know is that Santa Claus is coming on the 25th of December."

I'm with Gerry. He sounds like a right knob-end.

[mudskipper]

John O’Neill’s preliminary stonewalling earlier this year may not be the final interpretation of the Giteau’s contracts; it could go to court if Giteau/Erskine really wanted to push for a release of his contract. Nobody would want this only weeks before the S14 season starts. However James Erskine may have a good case to put forward to ARU to have the force contract annulled.

However if he asks for a release directly through the Force and states he doesn't want to be a part of the team in 2009 its possible Force CEO Harris will see value in Matt Giteau moving on and enabling the club to move on in 2009.

There is no point making him stay if he really doesn’t want to be there… Sounds to me like he really likes the Perth life style and people but is questioning his professional and personal development at the Western Force…

But the attractive qualities of Perth aren’t the issue, it’s the past deals which Giteau clearly has a problem with.

As senior professional banker former force CEO Peter O’Meara would have been well adept in the standard practice of business auditing and risk assessment to attain an insightful business appraisal of the proposed sponsor, Firepower. As CEO it was his responsibility to conduct a financial risk assessment on Firepower and its ability to meet its financial commitments to the Force and players before recommending it to the board. This would or should have been done by an independent auditor to ensure impartiality. This is standard CEO corporation behavior. The Firepower sponsorship was always set up to be firstly as a third party player sponsor to securer star talent and then as a sleeve sponsor of the Force. A key part of the business assessment report would have been Firepower’s owner Tim Johnston’s business history. Johnston’s business history is colourful at best and additionally Firepower had no product in the market place so there was no established revenue stream. A comprehensive report on Firepower would have presented it as a flimsy business. Projections of possible earnings wouldn’t provide substantial evidence of future revenue and couldn’t be seriously admitted in the report. Surely if the business appraisal was conducted accurately Firepower would have been seen as a questionable business partner.

The substantial size of the Giteau deal would have taken some time to settle. However it’s petty obvious that the Force/Firepower plan was to target Giteau and spend what it takes to secure him, then target others. What was notably intelligent about the strategy of signing Matt Giteau was the Force had secured the previous year his best mate and playing halves partner Matt Henjak. The Force then had talks with Giteau the same year and clearly showed their interest to sign him when he came of contract with the Brumbies the following year. This is common knowledge. So the process took some time.

The whole Giteau deal was well orchestrated to win his signing. Giteau met with Force/Firepower parties and towards the end of the following season announced he had signed a record Australian player contract with the Force and Firepower, which was sanctified by the ARU. Giteau signed the multi-million dollar contract, got to play again with his best mate Henjak and as a bonus its was also his girls hometown, seemed prefect.



Matt Giteau was scammed as Firepower was never going to last for the period of his contract. Johnston’s scam could only last a couple of years at best before investors required answers. Firepower was never going to get listed on the London stock exchange; this was just a tool to accelerate investors’ greed.

This is where Peter O’Meara’s failing to disclose or ensure that a comprehensive company business assessment of Firepower was done and ensuring it was an equitable company. This fact doomed Matt Giteau’s financial agreement and many others.

Players don’t have the resources to conduct a professional auditing appraisal. Giteau and his camp would have believed Firepower was a sound company because the Force Board had officially approved them by allowing Firepower to be a key sponsor of the Western Force franchise an ARU affiliate.

I don’t believe some business assessment was not done, Peter O’Meara must have been aware of the likely hood of Firepower’s inability to meet its financial obligations to the Force over the next three years was high.

But all O’Meara needed was a figure on paper to secure Australia’s most promising talent on the market. All he needed was the commitment of a third party sponsor to provide this figure and Firepower would do. In reality a figure on paper is abstract, it isn’t cash and O’Meara knew this, he knew he would now have deep enough pockets to secure Matt Giteau and others signatures and he was right. Furthermore the Force wouldn’t be held responsible for the Firepower’s financial commitment to players, as it was a third party deal. No liability is always the prefect business deal and he had one. He just had to coordinate the deal between the parties and let them finalise the contract details.

This was Peter O’Meara’s gamble to build a successful Super 14 team quickly and then have a shot at the ARU CEO role, as the present CEO Flowers contract was soon to be finished. What O’Meara failed to see was Tim Johnston was scamming him. Johnston needed credibility and sort to obtain it through the great Australia passion, sport and sportsmen.

Johnston’s now knew he was in a position to use the creditability of the Western Force as an affiliate of the ARU and the Force star players to seek the investors’ dollars. Greed is infectious and it didn’t take long to take shape for Johnston. Firepower business was built on lies, which is well documented, and now its history an 80 million dollar scam, 40 million of it through a Perth brokering office. The Four Corners Transcript is below.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/conte...8/s2310031.htm

I don’t think Peter O’Meara is an immoral man but I do believe he chose a devious path to get a short-term result. If he set up a glorious new Super franchise surely he would likely become the CEO of the ARU.

O’Meara gambled the integrity of the fledgling club. His mistake was he left his professional business training at the door, the very skill he was employed to use to set up the new rugby franchise and protect its solvency. He failed to mitigate the risk of his business deal with the Firepower and presented Firepower to the Force board as a dependable sponsor.

He ended up providing a respectable public platform for one of the all time great Australian scams. That's been neither professional nor responsible. In doing this he put respectable men in the room with a charlatan. He holds some responsibility for the outcome. The shame is the Firepower scam will always be apart of the Western Force, which is an exciting new rugby club full of promise.

Some of this is of cause general speculation nevertheless it makes sense. As the time line of events, the motivation of the key individuals and business logic, are all in sync.

No one here at has a copy of Giteau's contracts and none of us know all the facts…We will have to wait and see the outcome.

Now smote me Force fans...I won’t reply. I'll leave it at that...on this thread.

[travelling_gerry]

Dont bet that no one here has a copy of Git's contract.......

You may well lose. Theres always someone round.

[Burgs]

"...he did not feel like it at the moment..." FFS

If the hypothetical is true, for Giteau to get a transfer at this late stage there is no way that the ARU could then allow him to play Wallabies next year and have any credability remaining.
It's good enough for the other 130 odd players in Australia to have their contracts locked away and play by the rules.
And as for any suggestions of future Captaincy of either the Force or the Wallabies after this BS, you have to be kidding me?!?!

[Darren]

Nothing new here to smote, MudSkipper. How about a new button

You've said it all before - a couple times I think, and I'm sure you already know many peoples opinions on your opinions on this matter. There's no need for a multi-page reply - The only person responsible for any of Matt Giteau's decisions is Matt Giteau. We'll see soon enough how things pan out...

[Burgs]

You're getting excitable again Mud, any hint of him leaving and you knock it back a cog every time.

If the Brumbies Admin had any balls they would also come out and say that regardless of his availability there would be no position for Giteau in 2009 but would consider a position for 2010 and 2011 if he was still available.
This is one issue that there should be solidarity about from all four teams.
He honours his contract in '09 or he doesn't play S14 (and therefore Wallabies) that year.
It is totally the thin edge of the wedge time here.

[zimeric]

You're getting excitable again Mud, any hint of him leaving and you knock it back a cog every time.

If the Brumbies Admin had any balls they would also come out and say that regardless of his availability there would be no position for Giteau in 2009 but would consider a position for 2010 and 2011 if he was still available.
This is one issue that there should be solidarity about from all four teams.
He honours his contract in '09 or he doesn't play S14 (and therefore Wallabies) that year.
It is totally the thin edge of the wedge time here.

i suspect its the other franchises simmering resentment of the way the force recruited their players... yes i know there was no other way but honestly think they are still hurting from the player drain - particularly the Brumbies and the Reds.

[Flamethrower]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[brokendown gunfighter]

Dont bet that no one here has a copy of Git's contract.......

You may well lose. Theres always someone round.

there is nobody as round as Dave

[TommyM]

And as for any suggestions of future Captaincy of either the Force or the Wallabies after this BS, you have to be kidding me?!?!

Absolutely agree- If he does end up playing for the Force next year, he should most certainly be stripped of the vice-captaincy.

Irrespective of the truths or otherwise in this whole case, Giteau's behaviour has been reprehensible and extremely damaging to both the club and his credibility. I don't believe someone who can act like this (whatever the cicumstances) is someone you want leading your team, no matter how talented he may be.

I suppose the fact that Matt Henjak is his best friend should perhaps have set off some alarm bells about his character long ago...

[Thequeerone]

Do you know that is the most fascinating aspect of this entire saga - is how damaging this all is to his image and ultimately his ability to generate a buck - something endorsed by him now has less value to me than a couple of months ago and suspect it will be the same for others especially if he renegades on his contract in a messy way.

Really thought he was smarter than that - and Mr Erskine must be smarter than this.

[travelling_gerry]

Thats the trouble with going on holidays.

Matts probably sitting on the beach is USA thinking..I told them I would decide in 2 weeks....meanwhile his manager back home is creating havoc.

[shasta]

How does all this bullshit...................

As senior professional banker former force CEO Peter O’Meara would have been well adept in the standard practice of business auditing and risk assessment to attain an insightful business appraisal of the proposed sponsor, Firepower would have been seen as a questionable business partner.I don’t believe some business assessment was not done, Peter O’Meara must have been aware

Where you say O'Meara was KNOWINGLY bullshitting the players and their managers about firepower, fit with this statemant?

What O’Meara failed to see was Tim Johnston was scamming him. Johnston needed credibility and sort to obtain it through the great Australia passion, sport and sportsmen.

Players don’t have the resources to conduct a professional auditing appraisal.

Then why the f@ck do they pay player managers such big fees, genius?

I'll leave it at that...on this thread.

I f@cking well hope so!

[laura]

I'm with Swee & Gerry, Erskine certainly isn't doing Giteau's reputation any favours at the moment, especially when he's on holidays yet all the speculation and rumour and meetings with the ARU are happening while he (supposedly) is not present.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Erskine is being paid (by someone other than Gits) to keep the speculation going.

To me Giteau really isn't the type of person to just turn his back and if he does, so late in the game & so soon to next season, then I'm afraid he'd lose a fair amount of respect. But if he isn't saying anything because he has nothing to say & he intends to stay, then good on him for staying out of all the crap and just doing his thing.

[James]

That last comment that he made the old "I've rejected the offer, but its not what you think"

Is vaguely reminiscent of a guy/girl being caught cheating on tv shows. They always say its not what it looks like or its not what you think but it always is! Perhaps the tv-translation would have read "I've rejected the offer and I'm a bit of a tool".

Haha tv- what can't it tell you?