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NRL Scandals In Australia Continue, by Greg Tingle - 10th May 2010

Sports fans and punters, think the Australian NRL sports scandal is old news? Think again.

Media Man and Gambling911 have learned that a new wave of untoward matters are happening to the great game of Rugby League and other sports, and some of the rorts are even tied to charities. It's much bigger than "just" sports betting. There's even a Gold Coast - Surfers Paradise real life 'Underbelly' link. No wonder the formally named Conrad Jupiters Casino at Surfers' got ride of the "Conrad" tag.

Sports bets placed on the Melbourne Storm NRL for the "wooden spoon" may have been the recent trigger to recent Aussie sporting scandals, but we can now reveal that a number of Australian charities are being dragged into the investigation. It's long being known that charity and philanthropic sector ventures can be used and abused as a way to clean wash aka launder and shuffle around money. We've all heard the story of "two sets of books", and some punters will be acutely aware of ways in which extras can be given to players while in some cases, (technically), staying below the salary cap.

Two years ago a number of Australian charities were investigated for rorts, scams and the like. The former 'Just Enough Faith' came off worse for wear, with proof that head of the charity was using substantial money raised to pour down the throats of poker machines aka "one armed bandits" at a number of NRL Clubs including Balmain Tigers, where much of the like was established. Former supporters of 'Just Enough Faith' included Australian casino king, James Packer, head of Crown Limited, and famous Australian actor Russell Crowe, ironically now staring in Ned Kelly ... you know, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, so the story goes.

By the way punters, Gold Coast Titans are currently in the mix of new hot favorites for the "wooden spoon"! But, we're not sure what may happen to those chances in the coming days, such is the intensive scrutiny of the game, and named club.

Charity And NRL Clubs...Storm Linked Charity, Who Is Next?

An insolvency company has an investigation on the way re payments made to various AFL players by a charity linked to the Storm NRL salary cap mess.

Investigators for the league are probing the now-defunct Unity Foundation to work out if the charity was used to steer money to Storm players outside the salary cap.

Insolvency firm Vince & Associates confirmed that it has also quizzed AFL players about payments they got from Unity Foundation, a charity established for Indigenous teenagers.

The players include many Essendon players and at least one St Kilda head, Network Nine Network reported on Thursday.

"We're investigating the liquidation of Unity Foundation. Our investigations have identified some payments to players of Essendon and St Kilda and Melbourne Storm," Vince & Associates director Kylie Wright said.

"We're investigating all of the payments.

"We're contacting all of the relevant parties and giving them an opportunity to provide an explanation in relation to those payments."

Channel Nine reported the AFL and St Kilda politely declined to comment on the investigations involving the named charity.

Essendon top brass Ian Robson advised the payments to players appeared legit, although the Bombers were looking into the matter.

"From what I am led to believe from an initial two-hour glance the relationships are at arm's length of the Essendon Football Club and appear to be bona fide, but we need to do some more investigation," Robson said.

The NRL last month stripped the Storm of their 2007 and 2009 premierships and fined the club $1.6 million for long-term breaches of the salary cap.

Wooden Spoon Market Re Opens Despite Ongoing Scandals And Rumours

Centrebet, currently being seen as a strong purchase from a number of European - British gaming and betting giants, will re-open "wooden spoon" betting on the NRL next week.

The agencies revised market points deducted for salary cap breaches would not be considered, a decision that means the likes of underdog team Cronulla would again be the hot favourites to prop up an adjusted NRL ladder.

"We are just waiting on approval for some changes to the rules which will facilitate betting on the wooden spoon again," Centrebet managing director Con Kafataris said. "We want to be covered if teams lose points again. For our our purposes any points deducted for things like salary cap beaches would not effect betting on the wooden spoon.

The team finishing with the least amount of points in terms of wins and draws would declared the wooden spooners when we paid out."

Rumours have circulated this week among the betting agencies that another NRL team, Gold Coast Titans, could be stripped of points for a salary cap breach.

The NRL insists there has been no developments in regard to the Titans, who were cleared last month by the governing body's auditor Ian Schubert of an alleged cap rort relating to claims from the developer Alex Simpson that he had been commissioned to build captain Scott Prince a new $400,000 house free of charge!

The legal matter between Simpson and the Titans is likely to reach a conclusion soon with Justice James Douglas from Brisbane Supreme Court, tipped to make a ruling by next week.

Simpson argues he is owed $4.2 million by the Titans over the club's Centre of Excellence, which he was contracted to build until the project was fenced off in February over his failure to pay subcontractors. The Titans have moved with a counter-claim Simpson owes them more than $1 million.

Queensland's corruption watchdog, the Crime and Misconduct Commission, is meanwhile following up on a complaint about the police investigation by Burleigh Heads police into a break-in at the Merrimac offices of Simpson's company Simcorp in February.

Simpson has reportedly been interviewed by the ABC's Four Corners, whose team are preparing a program examining alleged corruption and rorting of the salary cap in rugby league.

The ABC, Fairfax Media and AAP are keenly chasing a number of leads by insiders in the world of media, agents, gaming and sports betting. Media Man is assisting when and where possible, despite many people being extremely hesitant to speak out. Strong rumors persist of a number of death threats being made to those who look to further expose additional Australian NRL and AFL footy clubs. It's appears only the brave and those of big heart, are likely to continue to blow the lid on the additional club scandals.

A Media Man birdie tells us there's some hidden clues in this latest report as to who and what may be linked in an untoward fashion, but for legal and other reasons we can't spell out too much as far as charity names and individuals at this stage of the game. Fairfax Media, namely The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, are tipped to the be outlets strongly following up, backed by solid legal eagles, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is fully expected to be regular providing TV, radio and website reports and updates.

Based on legal advise, Media Man is not currently releasing the name of a prominent Queensland based charity being probed in relation to the Gold Coast Titans.

*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911

*Media Man is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company

*The writer is a pro active member of Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and Virgin Unite

January 2009

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The National Rugby League (often referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is a professional competition for rugby league clubs in Australia and New Zealand, and is Australia's primary rugby league competition. It is the world's most attended rugby league competition and often considered the most competitive.

The National Rugby League was formed in 1998 following the merging of the Australian Rugby League and Super League competitions, and is currently contested by sixteen clubs. In a total of nine seasons, the title has been won by seven teams: Brisbane Broncos, Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers. The most successful team are the current champions, the Brisbane Broncos, who have won the title three times and are the only team to have won the title more than once.

History

Origins

For more details on this topic, see History of the National Rugby League.

The 1980s brought about much expansion to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, with new teams Canberra and Illawarra being introduced into the competition in 1982. Although this move brought out more interest in the competition statewide in New South Wales, it would spell the beginning of the demise of some of the traditional Sydney-based clubs. Following the 1983 season, foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of financial difficulties. In 1988, another three teams were introduced in the competition, including the Newcastle Knights and two Queensland teams Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. These new teams proved to be much more successful both financially and in popularity than their traditional counterparts and paved the way towards a push for a more nationalised game. This was further established in 1995, with the Australian Rugby League inviting four more teams from outside NSW to participate.

Establishment
With twenty-two teams playing in two competitions in 1997 crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty. On September 23, 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to control the competition in 1998 and invited Super League clubs to participate. On October 7 Rupert Murdoch announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998 and in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL and News Limited, was formed.

It was announced that the 1998 Season would have 20 teams competing, 19 Super League/ARL teams and the Melbourne Storm, who were owned by News Limited. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. News decided to close the Hunter Mariners and the financially ruined Western Reds, who were $10million in debt at the end of 1997, while the ARL decided to close down the South Queensland Crushers, who were also in severe financial trouble. At the end of 1998 News Limited decided to close down the Adelaide Rams and the ARL closed down the Gold Coast Chargers, even though they were one of the few clubs to make a profit during the Super League war.

Structure
A Partnership Executive Committee administers the agreement between the Australian Rugby League and News Limited as well as making major financial decisions.[8] Three representatives from each party make up this committee. A National Rugby League Board which is commissioned by the Partnership Committee is comprised of six delegates from each party is responsible for administering the competition. Both bodies nominate a Chairman to lead each board for a term of 12 months, with one Chairman representing the Australian Rugby League and one representing News Limited in any one year. These roles reverse each year.

The National Rugby League markets the premiership on behalf of the clubs as well as organising the draw and finals matches. Along with the Australian Rugby League, representative matches and the World Sevens tournament are also promoted by the National Rugby League as well. When the draw is finalised, teams are responsible for controlling and organsing their assigned home games. Clubs each have their own organisational structure but are also bound to the National Rugby League by a common set of rules in club agreements.

Competition format and sponsorship

Competition
There are currently sixteen clubs in the National Rugby League. Teams are divided into two equal pools of eight at the competition of each season, with each pool of equal strength based on that season's results. During the course of the regular season (which lasts from March to August) each club plays a total of two games against teams in the opposite pool, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for a total of 16 games for each club. Teams play six of those seven others in their own group just once during the season, and play the remaining club twice. In total, each team plays 24 games in the 25-week regular season and a total of 192 games in a National Rugby League season. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then points difference and then points percentage. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is declared minor premiers.

Qualification for finals series

Canberra Raiders and Newcastle Knights playing at Canberra Stadium in 2005.The eight highest placed teams then contest the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre System. This has been for every National Rugby League season with the exception of 1998. This system consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games over four weeks between the top eight teams in August and September until there are only two teams remaining. These two teams then play in the Grand Final, on the first Sunday of October. In the first week, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. From week two onwards, all finals matches are scheduled to be played in Sydney, either at Aussie Stadium or Telstra Stadium.

In 1998 the Grand Final was held at Sydney Football Stadium. Since 1999 the Grand Final has been contested at Telstra Stadium, the primary athletics venue during the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney. In June 2006, the NRL announced that the National Rugby League Grand Final will continue to be held at Sydney's Telstra Stadium until at least 2012, when it will be considered to be moved interstate if certain circumstances arose.

Sponsorship
Since 2001, the National Rugby League has been sponsored by Telstra. In the years beforehand, the premiership was simply known as the "National Rugby League". The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition

1998–2000: National Rugby League
2001–current: Telstra (NRL Telstra Premiership)

Competition rules and representative season

Salary cap
Main article: Salary cap
The National Rugby League adopted a salary cap based on the Australian Football League model in the early 1990s. In the NRL, clubs found to have breached the salary cap rules usually incur a fine. For example, six clubs were fined for minor infractions in 2003. These infractions are usually technical in nature and can sometimes be affected by third-party factors such as loss of sponsorship revenue affecting an allowance.

However in mid-2002, the Bulldogs were found guilty of serious and systemic breaches. In addition to a more substantial fine, they were stripped of their competition points accumulated to that date, and hence denied a place in the finals. As the club had been leading the competition table prior to the penalty's imposition, this was a shattering outcome for the club and its fans. Furthermore, in the 2006 pre-season the New Zealand Warriors revealed that their former management had rorted the salary cap in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. As a punishment the club was stripped of four competition points for 2006 and fined $430,000 Australian dollars. They also must play 2007 under a reduced salary cap.

Representative season
As well as playing for their club in the National Rugby League season, players are sometimes entitled to play in a number of representative competitions that are conducted at the same time. These competitions include the one-off ANZAC Test and Country Origin VS City Origin matches and the State of Origin series. In order for a player to qualify for a representative team in these competitions, they must firstly be eligible to be chosen for the side. In recent times, these qualification requirements have been relaxed which has seen a number of players representing teams which they would not have always been allowed to play for. This has caused some controversy given that some players have chosen to play for arguably weaker teams (hence making it easier to be selected) despite only having weak ties with that team both geographically and ancestrally, most notably in the case of Australian-born Nathan Fien being selected for New Zealand on the ground that his great-grandmother was born in New Zealand.

Media coverage

A 2004 match between Brisbane Broncos and the Bulldogs The National Rugby League premiership has ultimately been revolutionised by television, with there being a large shift away from daytime games to nightime games over recent years to better suit the contracted television networks Channel 9 and Foxtel. From 2001 onwards, the Grand Final has been held during the evening of a Sunday night.

With the admission of the Gold Coast Titans to the premiership in 2007, the number of weekly games has risen from seven to eight. Free to air broadcaster Channel 9 will broadcast a live game on Friday night in addition to a delayed match that has been featured for some years. A delayed Sunday match will also continue to be shown on the network.

The News Limited-begun Foxtel network which broadcast its first rugby league matches during the 1997 Super League season has broadcast the remaining National Rugby League matches since the competition's inception in 1998.

Players
Each club in the National Rugby League has a "top squad" of twenty-five players, which are signed under the Salary Cap (as described above). By and large, the players who play in National Rugby League matches are sourced from these "top squad"s. Occasionally during a season, however, the need may arise for a club to use players outside these 25, and in this case players are usually sourced from the club's junior ranks (such as the relevant Premier League squad).

Most of the players in the National Rugby League are of Australian origin, although there are increasing numbers of both New Zealand and Pacific Island-born players being selected by clubs. In recent years, Polynesian players have made up 75 per cent of junior representative teams in New South Wales. English-born players in the National Rugby League amount to very few, particularly when compared to the significant number of Australian-born players appearing in the European Super League. However the few English players who appear in the National Rugby League, such as Adrian Morley and Brian Carney, have noted that the National Rugby League provides a higher standard of rugby league than is played in Europe.

The players voted to be the best in each position at the end of the season are honoured at the Dally M Awards, with the player of the year awarded the Dally M Medal. The man of the match in the Grand Final is awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.

Statistics

The Bulldogs hold the record for the most consecutive wins, having won 17 matches in a row between 31 March 2002 and 3 August 2002. The Parramatta Eels set the records for the highest score and margin of victory in a 74–4 victory over the Cronulla Sharks on 23 August 2003. The most victories achieved within a season is 20, held jointly between the Parramatta Eels in 2001, the Bulldogs in 2002 and the Melbourne Storm in 2006. None of these teams went on to win the Grand Final.

Since the first National Rugby League season in 1998, a total of six players have topped the scorers list in a season. However, the only player to have won the title more than once is Hazem El Masri, the overall top scorer in the National Rugby League's history, having claimed the title in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. His tally of 342 points in 2004 remains the most points scored by an invididual in a season.

Nigel Vagana's 130 tries scored across all nine seasons of the National Rugby League makes him the most prolific try scorer in the competition's history. Nathan Blacklock holds the record for the most tries in a season, with 27 scored in 2001 for his team, the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Three players hold the record for the most points scored in a game; Hazem El Masri, Andrew Johns and Matt Geyer with 34 apiece. Only three players have scored five tries in a game; Francis Meli, Jamie Lyon and Nigel Vagana. (Credit: Wikipedia)

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