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Rugby WA have been hammered with a $150,000 fine by the Australian Rugby Union for breaching player contracting protocols when recruiting players for the Western Force.
Following a meeting with ARU bosses last night, a statement said the Perth-based franchise had been forced to admit to involvement in several breaches of contracting protocols.
These included underwriting third party benefits to players, paying player wages in excess of the maximum permitted by state unions, inappropriate disclosure of player remunerations and offering third party benefits to induce a player to sign.
ARU CEO John O'Neill said a bigger fine could have left Rugby WA in dire straits, so instead the ARU has demanded Rugby WA perform an audit of its contracting procedures, and report back to ARU headquarters by year's end.
"The fact is there is little to be achieved by imposing a financial penalty on Rugby WA that is so large that it damages its ability to compete and grow the game in Western Australia," O'Neill said.
"I believe a fine of $150,000 together with the audit and access rights the ARU has secured is about right.
Under the penalties, Rugby WA has to provide the ARU with audit rights and access to its records and documentation relating to its player contracting activities.
Rugby WA will also undertake to review and improve its internal structures and controls.
"It is vitally important that the protocols relating to player contracting are observed and complied with at all times," O' Neill said.
"We will continue to be vigilant and aggressively police the protocols.
The ARU investigation occurred after reports alleged the Force had repeatedly gone outside ARU contracting processes in setting up its Super 14 team in 2005.
It was alleged in newspaper reports that the Super 14 club had made secret payments of more than $300,000 during 2006 to players in direct contravention of ARU protocols.
It was stated money was hidden in Force's annual accounts and did not appear as "player payments" even though it was paid to three Australia players on Force's books.
The club and officials denied making the payments, with Western Force CEO Peter O'Meara saying the Perth-based franchise had clean hands on the way they lured high-profile players to Force.
Rugby WA chairman Geoff Stooke said the union accepted the ARU verdict, was not going to appeal and regretted events had reached this point.
"The matters of concern to the ARU related to a period when Rugby WA was battling to establish a core playing group that would allow the Emirates Western Force to be competitive," Stooke said in a statement.
"We regret that events have led to this point.
"We had a fair hearing from the ARU and believe it is in the best interests of Rugby WA to accept this decision and move on.
"The ARU has revised its player contract protocols and this will provide greater clarity for the future."
The fine will be paid over three years.
© 2007 AAP
BLOODY GOWDEN!! MAYBE WE NEED A REPORTER HERE TO START LOOKING INTO THE AFFAIRS OF THE EASTERN STATE TEAM????
NOT TO BAD A FINE, OVER THREE YEARS, STILL MIGHT BE ABLE TO POACH NEW TALENT.
BLACK IS THICKER THAN BLOOD
Maybe we can start a collection of vDonations of vCash....
At least it wasnt $500,000......![]()
I just got home from work and put the tv onto foxsports news and saw that RugbyWA has been slugged with a $150 000 fine for breaching the prtocols in regards to player payments. Couldnt find anything about it on here just yet so i thought i'd put it up
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
thats a link to the story on the foxsports website
i would hate to see the smirk on Growdens face now. though he might not be as satisfied with the result as he might have wanted. Hopefully this will be the end of this issue and the media can start focussing back on the GAME!
disregard, it's in the super 14 section![]()
Does anyone else think this is all a bit funny???
I mean, lets say they did do something wrong, there has to be some sort of penalty, but does this really affect RugbyWA that much?
That money is going to go to the ARU. The ARU is in place to develop all Australian Rugby (including Rugby in WA). So in reality whatever they do with that money will benefit RugbyWA.
Not sure what alternative penalty they could have come up with. Only thing I can think of is that the fine should be split amongst the other Super 14 teams/unions. Because it is those teams that were affected by the "illegal" activities.
Don't make me laugh bitterly... You know the ARU are just gonna piss it away on a mungo..
Real shame this is going on. I bet if the Force were struggling, the ARU would be mega helpful, providing support to assist in any mistakes the administration are making. As it is, they're doing well and some people are after blood.
Ok, RugbyWA have messed up, they've found whatever proof... So help them out because if RugbyWA succeeds, Australian rugby succeeds.
Oh... and god bwess gweg gwowden for being bwave enough to uncover dis mystowy....![]()
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RugbyWA Press Release:
RUGBYWA ACCEPTS ARU VERDICT ON PLAYER CONTRACT PROTOCOLS
RugbyWA has today been informed by the Australian Rugby Union of its decision to impose a $150,000 fine in relation to player contract protocols. The fine will be paid over 3 years.
The ARU has contended that RugbyWA breached the protocols by making certain commitments to players during the formative stages of the development of the Emirates Western Force Super 14 team.
RugbyWA accepts the ARU decision and will not appeal.
Chairman Geoff Stooke said the matters of concern to the ARU related to a period when RugbyWA was battling to establish a core playing group that would allow the Emirates Western Force to be competitive.
"We regret that events have led to this point," said Mr Stooke.
"We had a fair hearing from the ARU and believe it is in the best interests of RugbyWA to accept this decision and move on.
"The ARU has revised its player contract protocols and this will provide greater clarity for the future."
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
i like the scoreboard sagerian
probably right about the ARU pissing the money up the wall as well. Have the ARU given Growden some sort of medal for his "honest" reporting????
There are two interesting things I think we should note tough:
1. The fine was imposed for matters of concern to the ARU related to a period when RugbyWA was battling to establish a core playing group. It seems to relate more to the players who were originally contracted with the Force as opposed to players like Giteau who were signed this season.
2. The ARU don't seem to think it is much of an issue. $150 000 is a weak fine, and the concept that a larger fine would prevent them from actively participating in the super 14 competition seems contradictory given that if they are evidently capable of finding money to 'lure' these high profile players one would think they were equally capable of finding the money to pay off some hefty fines...
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau."
hey....if we go broke we just go with cap in hand to the ARU......I mean NSWRU has done it twice and about to line up for a third...
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Nah we'll just hit firepower for some more money![]()
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau."
I would like to congratulate first the ARU for managing to get two bites of RugbyWa's money, through Kannar and now for old actions (you cant use one method for contracting but its ok to do it for LT). I would also like to submit that the ARU is amiss to the tune of $4 mill (JO'N talks about the holdi ngs going under $20 mill to $16 mill and says they need to close the gap quickly)and this $150k starts to reduce the gap.
Secondly, I would also like to congratulate the SMH for its consistent poor spelling of most words, but exclusively for RugbyWA. For some reason they keep putting space between Rugby and WA. Do they think that the two do not go together?
My last vote of thanks is to GG for his usualy style of journalism. Without this main distraction, the media would all be reporting the same story from the same angle with the same facts. Its also good to GG share his style with the guy from the Canberra Times and other apsiring writers.
Sorry to bash GG but he obviously needs attention.
Good luck to all those competing in their club matches in the semis this weekend.
BUT WERE FIREPOWER THE ONES TO PAY THE CONTRACTUAL $ DIFFERENCE????
BLACK IS THICKER THAN BLOOD