don’t call it a shitstorm
April 22nd, 2010
Sometimes, at Errol HQ, we have to do unpleasant things. Well, not really. Usually we just make the interns do all the stuff we don’t enjoy, like stacking the dishwasher, fending off bill-collectors with sharp sticks and fetching us vats of Diet Coke when we are sleepy or hungover.
But today we have to talk about … the Storm. Oh man, we haven’t been this distressed/surprised/overwhelmed/confused since Britney got the crack itch and shaved off all her hair.
First things first: YES WE TOLD YOU THEY WERE EVIL. We tipped you all off aaages ago that the Storm, aka Globo Gym, were inherently untrustworthy and potentially the enemy of all that is good and lovely in this world.
But even we didn’t think things were this dramatic. $1.7 million in shifty salary cap breaches over five years. <insert Phil Gould WOW here>
We spent the afternoon huddled around watching the live press conference from the NRL – Intern John John even put on his serious hotpants (they’re pin-striped) – and we couldn’t decide whether we were more:
a) shocked by how harsh the penalty ended up being;
b) shocked at how insane the salary cap breaches were;
c) outraged that the penalty didn’t include taking the 2009 wooden spoon away from the Roosters (that was just Sassy);
d) just really really upset for David Gallop. Our fave sporting administrator looked truly devastated. We were both actually close to tears. We know DG enough to know he is an awesome bloke and he does NOT deserve this fuckery.
When Greg Inglis got in trouble with the law, we sent him comical chocolate-covered fruit flowers to cheer him up, but there aren’t enough fruit flowers in the world for this, for serious. NOT ENOUGH FRUIT FLOWERS IN THE WORLD.
Anyway. Here are some of our educated thoughtz on this.
OF COURSE IT WAS AFL
We could not be less surprised that people are suggesting Brian Waldron masterminded this. Of course he did. If there is one unarguable truth about rugby league, it’s that scandals always come out, and no one keeps any secrets. They are physically incapable of doing this. Sure, league players and managers and administrators can be shifty sometimes, but not to this extent, with this level of deceit, this successfully, and in this organised a fashion. As a rule, Rugby League is nothing but transparent, honest and a little bit … let’s just call it “un-slick”. It’s part of why we love it so much.
BUT WHAT ABOUT BILLY?
Whenever we get onto the topic of whether the players knew what is up, Sassy just stops and says two words: Jamal. Idris.
That’s right, remember when Jamal admitted that he didn’t know he had to pay tax? Our feeling is that you should never underestimate how clueless people can be. And be ‘people’ we mean ‘footy players, or Errol girls’. We do some really, really ridiculously dumb stuff sometimes.
Like John Kite taking his passport to the airport for a flight to Queensland. Or the time Sassy got out the wrong side of a cab in New York and the door got ripped off. Until we find out that the players were collecting giant sacks of cash from the locker room every Friday or something, we’re willing to think maybe not all the players knew.
We have a semi-insider’s view on what goes on in footy and we know that the game runs on gossip. But we are unsure if players openly talk about their salary with other players.
It’s entirely possible at least SOME of the Storm players knew, or had an inkling, of what was going on. But after watching the bloopers video from the making of the Indigenous All-Stars ad, can you really say you think Greg Inglis is right on top of his finances? Really?
We imagine when he rocks up to his accountant and his manager asks about his receipts he just answers “… what?”
THANKS, BIN LADEN
Why yes, we did just quote The Hangover! Thanks for noticing. Turns out this whole Melbourne shitstorm will screw everyone over. There’ll be no more masturbating on planes for anyone. As in, there’ll be no happy ending to this story (GET IT? HAPPY ENDING? It’s funny cause it means … you know).
For the record, we agree with the NRL’s plan of punishment. In fact it’s kind of delightfully diabolical the way they are forcing the club to go through the motions for the rest of the year with no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s very Bond villain don’t you think?
But let’s be serious for a minute.
If the Melbourne Storm loses all their premiership points earned so far for the 2010 season, but keeps going, then they effectively keep cheating because they already have a team that breaches the salary cap. Hello unfair.
If they keep going the way the NRL wants them to – with no points, and not winning any more points – then every other team has to risk injury and suspension playing a team that has no chance of winning the premiership anyway. The games are dead rubbers, crowds are lower, and everyone including the sponsors is sadpants. After all, how well can the Storm play when they’re not playing for anything? Maybe they will play on emotion for the next few weeks, but how will they be feeling come round 20?
And if the Storm don’t play at all, that’s one game less per round. Teams would miss out on match experience and momentum, and the sponsors would be super sadpants.
And whichever ones happens, Storm fans – all ten of them – get nothing. We’re pretty happy for something bad to happen to that douchebag Melbourne fan with the cowbell, cause that is fucking IRRITATING, but we do feel truly awful for the rest of the Storm kids.
As much as we have always loathed the Storm, we want the club to survive. Because if nothing else, it’s providing an alternative to the horrendousness that is AFL, and that’s bloody important.
THOUGHTS PEOPLE. TELL US EVERYTHING YOU THINK.
kiki
sassy
lozzy
interns
first thing to make me giggle all day. its such a mess. and will continue to be until the true is truly known. i hope melbourne survive this if only for the good of the game and so we have something that isnt the worst game ever aka afl to go and watch on the occasional weekends we get it here. hells belles we just got that pretty new stadium! did the vic state gov know what was going on??? ps. can we burn waldron in the middle of fed square?
I feel very sorry for Melbourne (the city), Melbourne (the players), Melbourne (the fans). They played fabulous footy for the last few years. NRL have always wanted Melbourne out of the comp. Now they probably will have their way. The media will have their way. Brisbane and Newcastle have done worse. Very upset about the whole thing. It is a terrible day for Rugby League.
Hi ladies,
First time reader, first time commenter. But love your work.
Kx
This debacle is just more evidence to prove the game has made a turn for the worse. Money, money, money; it’s a greedy game full of greedy businessmen and easy-to-manipulate footballers who don’t give a rats about the fans.
Agree with you about DG – he cops a lot of flak but he loves this game and the hurt was painfully obvious during the press conference.
If the players have any sort of brains, this weekend (ANZAC weekend), they’ll come out and give it their best shot. They may not be playing for points but they’re certainly playing for dignity.
Rebecca RE: burning Waldron in Fed Sqr..
TIME AND DATE PLEASE!?!?!
I know it’s not just him but shit it feels good to blame someone that SURELY knew about this!
Thanks Errol girls, you gave me a few laughs out of this shattering situation, if it’d been anyone else i probably would’ve laughed at the idea of supporters crying but after finding out a few hours ago.. there’s not much else to do besides get maggoted at my local.. see you’d later after a few brews xox
we are sad
and we love billy and hate that our fav purple team are in trouble! we are mad with the administrators… we sort of like supporting the team everyone loves to hate..but tonight as we walked down to our own under 8s training… noone playfully ribbed us about our storm training bag..no it was just looks of sympathy and sadness for us..lol bit dramatic..but I have had calls all afternoon asking “how is harry” and “has harry heard the news”….
i do think the admins and club should be punished but by effectively taking our team away the fans lose big time…. ive spent a whole heap of money on storm gear for harry this year..so we can go to all the locally played games and cheer our team.. so it really really sucks!!
AND Billy…ahhhh Billy..words cant describe how sad we shall be if he knew wat was going on..I’ve really enjoyed him being Hazzys fav as he was so clean and wholesome
A very sad day for us …
why would the NRL want Melbourne out of the comp when they are both owned (half owned or the NRL) by the same company?
oh thankyou Kate! come back often!!
re getting maggoted – that is EXACTLY the response we would have if it was our clubs. WE ARE SENDING U LOVE.
eliescha – I refuse to believe that a man who goes to pony club could knowingly take part in fraud!
ha ha.. well Jase said “well he was a jockey”…… i would like to ask the media to never tell us if he was involved because it will just be a stomp my foot moment… Harry is wearing number 1 second year running just for Billy… oh and Cooper..phuleease tell me not Cooper! lol
PS I am LOVING the cat picture….
PPS Too too much footy tonight.. training for an hour, matty johns show and let haz stay up for footy show due to devastation…
firstly, love the photoshop! and the post. megalolz.
second, the whole situation is just awful. i can’t imagine how they thought they would come even close to keeping it under wraps forever.
i feel SO sorry for DG. he has the shittest job in the universe sometimes, and it’s never his fault!
but MAN the story kept me busy in the newsroom this arvo!
i just cant believe the players knew the extent of it. they are all decent people who do good things in the community and really believe in the club. if it was just for the money the devastation will be beyond too much. i am still hoping i wake up and this was all a dream.
Good point about risking player injury with dead rubber games, hadn’t thought of that. I can’t imagine how the whole dead rubber game situation thing is going to play out for the Storm hey- imagine trying to motivate yourself to train and play hard whilst knowing you definitely won’t play in the finals and even more simply, you won’t get any credit even if you do pull out a ‘win’. The punishment is needed but at the same time it can negatively effect other teams, fans, sponsors etc.
p.s ‘Storm fans – all ten of them-’ YES. LOVE. KEEP IT UP
You know, I do not follow the NRL except for you girls getting giddy for it each and every week. I am an AFL girl. What can I say, my first exposure to the game was a live match that happened to be a grand final. It was inevitable. Like Anakin, so conflicted about being a Jedi or ruling the world.
Sorry, where was I?
Oh yeah, not following the NRL. I seriously do not give a brass razoo about what happens to the team, the game, the competition. But I see that poor poor man, David Gallop, battered and down-trodden. He seems like a good man and I have no idea what he has done to deserve such a bad hand. Poor man.
Ugh this is devastating. I have no real affection for Melb but I respected them and now it turns out that their last several years have all been based on brown paper envelopes and accounting fraud. Stripping the premierships is the right thing to do but it leaves a gaping hole (literally and figuratively) in the history of this whole period of rugby league. Really sad.
I just fucking hate these greedy bastards who think that winning a couple of premierships is more important than being honest. I can’t even understand how someone could be so vile that they would defraud every single person who loves this stupid game by cheating like this. Even if they don’t care about the fans, surely they have enough self-respect to not perjure themselves and lie to all and sundry just to win football games. It’s unbelievable.
On another note, hahahahahahaha at your Twitter comment about Jamal organising my Dogs’ lame Avatar tie-in. That was probably the first smile I’ve cracked all afternoon.
hahah hilius, well its true – jamal loved avatar! and he really REALLY wants to be an actor.
as for the dishonesty, everyone keeps saying that ALL the teams are rorting the salary cap, but only melbourne’s been caught … if that’s true, then surely there’s enough money that the NRL would’ve just raised the salary cap by now. is that a stupid question?
that’s what i think! if there is so much money to go around then the salary cap would be higher. that seems like simple business sense. but then again everyone keeps saying how cash-strapped some clubs are.
i think the accountants for every club are going to be shitting their pants for a little while.
it just makes me so so so sad. for everyone. especially craig if he really didnt know what was going on. i bet he has ripped a door or two off. no offence to des. and his amazing mane.
I have tears!I laughed the whole way through the post
Today has been weird and dream like and I am quite emotional and this may be why I am literally peeing myself with laughter right now. awesome awesome post..
If you can’t laugh at your club then what can you laugh at
I am going to the after party on Sunday, I’ll let you know how coopsy and co are.
I may start crying when i see them…
Why has no one found waldron yet? Let’s be an angry mob and drag him through the streets!
*hey, I have been to games here (sydney) and melb used to get the same amount or more people at games than here. Sydney people are really not down with watching games live!*
also DG seems cool and all..ut seriously what is with his monotone voice? it is SO annoying to me… use some inflection PLEASE!
I wish I could send this to the NRL and Melbourne Storm to give them (Storm not NRL) a little look at how this has affected their fans. I just went upstairs to put Harry to sleep and found him nursing his NRL Easter egg that has the FOoty Ladder on it where u can swap the teams around each week.. He had re-arranged the ladder to put Storm on the bottom and I’m talking howling crying (he must have been holding it in all night) ..he said “now I can never move them up and down the ladder, they are stuck there”. I’m gutted that there is nothing I can do to fix this for him
There are always whispers that the cap breaches that have been discovered are the tip of the iceberg or whatever, but I find it hard to believe. Maybe some clubs are fiddling around the edges with third-party sponsorships, but if everyone is doing what Melbourne was doing and the market is more or less even, how did Melbourne manage to retain a million Origin and Test stars?
Also, most NRL clubs are amiably incompetent (this being one of the things I love about RL) and I doubt most of them are really up to organising a systematic, years-long cap rort. The person who writes the Dogs’ press releases can barely spell, so I think nowadays we’re a long way off from having the ruthless professionalism to hide millions of dollars in payments. Same goes for most clubs.
POOR HARRY. i am mad at the Storm for how they’ve fucked over their fans. especially their littlest ones.
“the person who writes the Dogs’ press releases can barely spell” – HAHAHA oh Hillius.
but yes i agree with you, i think this is an isolated thing. at least on this magnitude. i was preparing for some scandal but not this.
anyone else think DG looked genuinely upset? other scandals it’s been more annoyance or anger, but this time he looked like someone had shot him in the guts. he’s been betrayed big time.
Hi, Girls
If anybody can tell me that News Ltd knew nothing is out of their brains. They pay the bills, they’re a multi-million dollar media monopoly (might as well be coz fairfax is shit) & they never checked the books??
From memroy, that’s now 3 NRL clubs done over the last 3-4 years under the watchful eye of News Ltd.
But, if the Storm is to be done for an extra $320,000 per year, let’s be “open & transparent” as you say the NRL is because this had nothing to do with player salaries per se.
It all had to do with payments to players like Cameron Smith (again, News Ltd). Let’s check all teams extra cirricular payments because they all do it.
Oh, f**k, the team is in MELBOURNE!!!! Now I see the logic.
But really does anyone deserve to have these players? Not making excuses for them, they cheated fair and square BUT these guys were rejects when they came to melbourne… Brisbane passed on Billy, no one would sign Greg and Craig helped to make them into what they are and then they get taken away from us..
We didn’t really buy in people and i think this is where RL needs to fix some things. Why would i want to pay my money if the players leave after a few years once there is some sucess… I think we”ll see many of these players go to England which isn’t good for anyone.
Something needs to be done to fix the situation for all teams.
Just dropping in to say, love the post, LOVE the photoshopping…BOOOOOO about the Storm…sad pants for me. I am not a Storm fan but gah…this looks bad on the whole for the NRL and that makes me sad. Sad pants
I feel nothing for any of them. I feel sorry for champions like BK and Monas who were deprived of their rightful swansong in the NRL. Does confirmation of what I always suspected make me feel better? Fuck no, it makes it worse! THINKING they were dodgy could be explained away as sour grapes, but now there is no escaping the “what if” scenarios that keeps one-eyed Eagles like myself awake all night.
You guys know I have the longest memory of all time for these things, so I’m feeling especially sorry for Mick Crocker after the way he took out Snake in the 2007 GF. Karma + Grubs is a dish that tastes so delicious, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
I first read the “sadpants” line as “sandpants” which when you think about it has the same effect on moral.
P.S. re the Globbo Gym reference. As I said on Twitter “Utter Brilliance” when I first read it off a twitter post it fell into place like a long lost jigsaw puzzle piece. It was so apt and true I would almost go as far to say that Ben Stiller had knowledge of the Storm when he was writing that movie.
*slap slap* *tssss*
I’ve never been a Storm fan but I do think the part of the penalty which will effectively leave the Storm on zero points for the remainder of the season is harsh – especially for the fans. I’d rather see the Storm stripped of their points to date but allowed to keep future points IF they can immediately restructure the team so they are legally within the cap. A bit like selecting the fantasy teams – with the salary cap as the limit. I don’t know, but there must be a better way for the season to progress without the actual fans being punished, which is all I can see this doing.
hazy my theory is that some people don’t going to games in sydney cause they don’t have to … they can loll about at home and watch it live on tv complete with ray warren being awesome in the commentary box.
Firstly, 2 amusing comments from the twitterverse (apart from those of oherrol… of course);
ScottDools; Man, did I ever pick the wrong day to get my “Melbourne Storm Premiers 2007 & 2009″ tattoo.
DomKnight; If good old Norths were still playing instead of Melbourne, I guarantee we wouldn’t have been able to afford to blow the salary cap
I honestly remember a game at North Sydney Oval where hardcore Bears fans were handing out photocopied letters (on plain paper) with an address and a phone number for people to call who were willing to donate $2k to the club. They figured they needed 5000 donors to keep them alive. Hilariously heartbreaking.
I think the Storm are done for. News Ltd on the way out and keen to distance themselves, they’ll lose players and probably their coach, they’ll lose momentum and their crowds will be pitiful, hence they’ll be kryptonite to sponsors next year – not to mention all those reviewing their contracts as we speak. Bring your associates into disrepute is never a good look (just ask that other wretched Melbournian, Carl Williams). We’ll probably see them in Gosford pretty soon.
At first when I heard Bellamy say they didn’t know about the rort, I scoffed. But the players – as they are on contracts – would have their salaries split in any case. All high paid contractors do it, no matter what profession they’re in. They’ll claim a yearly ‘salary’ in country… something believable that the taxman won’t investigate – and that’s what they’ll pay tax on. The rest will be paid into an offhsore holding company based in tax havens like Bermuda/Cyprus/Caymans etc in order to maximise their earnings – it’s feasible for these guys to not keep a track of what their actual yearly earnings are, let alone what everybody is on. There are companies that specialise in this sort of ‘salary splitting’ – look up Mauve Corporate Systems as an example. It’d be very easy for a club/chairman/sponsor/rich fan to top up the offshore account without a blink of the eye. And to be fair, it’s not the players or coaches problem as to whether they’re within the salary cap. They’ve got matches to win and mortgages to pay and families to feed/educate.
As for people saying it’s a sad day – I disagree. This is a great day. Every day that they weren’t found out was a sad day. It shows that that both Schubert has the ability to get to the bottom of things (eventually), even with limited resources and obstinate clubs, and that the NRL isn’t afraid of going after the biggest fish. David Gallop is Homer Simpson to Melbourne’s General Sherman. He should be singing ‘I am the Champions, of the wooorrrrrld!’ as he strolls through the foyer of NRL HQ tomorrow (although somehow I doubt it) – and there’ll be 14 other clubs (Cronulla surely aren’t rorting) with some serious bowel control problems at the moment… which is part of the reason why I think they’re loathe to award the premierships to the runners-up.
As for the naysayers – in no way will this kill league. It’s just the yearly brouhaha. We can reset the counter out the front of the NRL now. ‘Rugby League – now ZERO days since the last scandal’
And finally, great blog. Interns, wanking, several pop-culture references, misspelling the word thoughts after the word educated… Back on top form.
Hi Girls!
I’ve been reading Errol for awhile now, it provides me with a good weekly dose of footy hilarity and I also find it indulges my baser side of perviness. As soon as I heard about the cheaty mccheatersons, Melbourne Storm, I knew Errol would be on to it.
It’s such a shitty shitty (repitition to reinforce! just in case one shitty wasn’t enough) thing for the Storm officials to do and really just makes the wonderful code of rugby league look like a bit of a piss take. How they managed to get away with it for so long is beyond me. I love the game and don’t want to see it become a farce because ever emerging scandals threaten its crediability every week. It breaks my wee heart.
I really feel for the Storm fans/members and the boatload of club personel who had no idea that this was happening and are now paying the price and having to do the walk of shame because of a few (or many as the case may be) dirty rotten scoundrels.
Keep up the awesome work girls! I heart Errol as much as I heart watching that video when Gus steals Laurie’s chair. And oh do I heart that shit.
HI LAURA! HI FLORRIE! so good to see all these new commenters come out of the woodwork. even if it did take an epic drama to do so.
Tooves you are so smart.
S.M.R.T – I am so smart!
to be fair, that’s how I assume it works. I know Aussie players were some crazy tax-haven scheme in the UK where they didn’t get paid until they left the country, which meant they paid no tax. Rumour around the terraces at Wigan had it that Barrett was the last player to take advantage of it, just at the same time his wife got homesick. Allegedly.
The point being, the way these guys are paid makes it dead-easy for untraceable payments. And again, it’s not the players fault. Everybody wants a big house and a nice meal and a nice school.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I was in such a mood tonight after quickly reading an article at work, that I cancelled plans to meet a girl at the Courthouse (not sure its the one you errol girls go to, Newtown?) so my housemate and I could watch the footy show and discuss.
Its just such a kick in the guts for everyone who loves this brilliant game and can’t understand who would want to watch garbage such as Gay-FL or yawnion. How much more ammunition do we need to give those douchebags?
Reading comments like that one from ‘Harry and Me’ also makes me soo sadpants, and angrypants. My housemate suggested that, as an old bears-boy, there might be a silver lining in that they could be back quicker. But there ain’t any winners in this.
Its.all.just shit.
Brilliant. Errol at its best. I teared up though at the thought of poor little Harry and his disappointment and I guarantee that when he is an adult he will still remember how he felt today.
After much thought,wonders,what the hells and WTF’s….i’ve decided what upsets me about this whole OPERATION SHITSTORM is that it started with the top dogs in the club..Driven by power and greed and complete disregard of rules.
For me i like think of our clubs as MUMS AND DADS, and the players as the kids…when the players fuck up the clubs punt the players asses for the good of the game…but what happens when the club fucks up???
Enter DG….No doubt he is in for his most testing time as CEO, but he will strive to keep building this great game…
Melbourne knew the penalties of breaches as do all the clubs after the Bulldogs fiasco. So thru greed they have said FUCK YOU NRL…now the the NRL can return the FUCK YOU..
As always its the fans that will loose out and many kiddies tonight have gone to bed with heavy hearts only understanding this: MELBOURNE ARE CHEATS!! How sad is that??
As always i will look forward to oh errol, not only about this shitty saga, but for the rest of 2010 Season…As always you have bought a little bit of light into our lives on this dark day in Australian Sport xox
Oh, OhErrol.
Oh, NRL.
What a shitstorm of clusterfuckery.
At least you girls made it funny.
But now — thinking about the after-effects and how it’s going to affect the League, it’s making my head hurt to think of all the ramifications.
Will the Storm superstars wind up going to England, because no one but the Sharks can fit them under the cap?
Or will borderline players be cut from rosters all over Aus so that other teams can snag players from the Storm, who will bring the work ethic that Bellamy enforced?
Because regardless of how the cap was rorted, Bellamy is one helluva coach.
Hmmmm — my Souths could use a new coach. Langy was only ever supposed to be a stop-gap measure, IMHO.
And there’s no salary cap on coaches, is there?
Anyway, it’s going to be amazing to see how all of this shakes down in the coming months and probably years.
Thanks for making it all amusing and easy to understand.
PS, that clip of Inglis saying ‘Whut?’ will never stop being funny. Much funnier than Thurston’s braying laugh.
seriously pissed off. I agree most players wouldn’t have known, after all we don’t love them for their brains. Interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Salary cap needs to be reviewed cause i’m betting storm weren’t the only ones. They were just better at it due to their innate evilness.
You’ve got to feel for the fans but you have to hand it to the NRL for being so harsh. They shouldn’t let clubs get away with it.
This is a system that relies on whistleblowers. Even if they are the only club that got caught they have been faced with shame and other clubs will think twice about their practices.
One more thing – will Melbourne’s 54-0 victory over the Newtown Jets in 2003 also be expunged from the record books. In hindsight – we wuz robbed!!!!!!!
yep I think the punishment is deserved, but it’s also so harsh to act as a warning to everyone else. the NRL probably thought they had sent the message when they took all the dog’s points in 2002, but obviously it wasn’t enough so they really wanna take care of that bizness this time.
The Dogs were able to keep their players by and large and got a premiership two years later. The NRL have learned from that.
Interesting to see Gallop say that the Storm will have to honour the contracts with the players (the ones that weren’t lodged with NRL HQ) AND they have to remain under the cap. I.e. the Storm will have to sack players and pay them out. I highly doubt the players will jointly take a pay cut as an act of solidarity to stick together with their mates. Could be quite a turnover of personnel next year.
I was going to turn into a Storm-hater after they ruined my full round of tipping last weekend. But all my hatred for them has now subsided.
I think the punishment is well deserved, but it’s ridiculously harsh to say “sorry you will be playing for nothing for the rest of 2010″. The people who will be the most affected are the players and Bellamy! I almost shed a tear when I read this…
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/bellamy-chokes-up-as-he-tells-players-the-bad-news-20100422-tg6u.html
I agree with fining them, stripping them of their premierships, returning prize moneys, sack all the people involved etc etc. But it’s another thing telling all the players who put in so much for the club week in and week out to just continue on with nothing to play for this season. It’s so awful
But the cheating also applies to this year’s contracts so why give the club the possibility of rewarding their cheating this season? Myabe they could have docked them 20 points which would have ruled them out of the top 8 but also allowed them to accrue points.
Not an easy decision to make.
I’m still going to have a little something something on the Sharks to win the spoon! I know it’s mathematically impossible, but I believe that they could find a way!
Yer i’m a Storm fan and i’m on th verge to make a “Waldron you noob” poster or card and ethier show it at the game or mail it to the storm. I feel cheated. Utterly dissapointed, more than how much cam smith was when he missed that coversion last monday.
OMG WOTS GONNA HAPPEN BETWEEN THE BROMANCE OF BILLY SLATER AND COOPER CRONK?!?!?
I wonda how bitchy Cooper Cronk is feeling this morning?
I think the fairest option, theoretically, would be to take the Storm’s points from the first six rounds, but then give them the opportunity to sack and payout players to get back under the salary cap and keep playing for points from then on. except that there’s no way the Storm could turn that around and organise it quickly enough to get back on the field and play for anything, you know? in practical terms it’s impossible.
so I think the NRL’s logic is that if they can’t play for points, it’s better to have them play for nothing than to cancel the games altogether. at least then they have a hope of getting SOME revenue from the games and honouring the other team’s sponsorship agreements.
it’s unfair that the other teams have to play a non-competing Storm now, but it would also be unfair to all the other teams if they had to have bye weeks instead and lose their momentum.
So, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place – the star lineup, the ability to retain them, scooping up Brett Finch just-like-that, the sad face playing and Cameron Smith’s kicking last Monday,etc etc
The Storm has never been the right fit for NRL because a) they are a franchise of News Ltd, not a club in the normal sense of a rugby league club, b) they were established for the sole reason of boosting News Ltd TV ratings in Melbourne in order to make Rupert richer, c) the club is a child of Super League’s failure to take over our game completely,and d) there have no local feeder clubs, no junior comps, and until recently no under-20s.
In other words, they are a product, not a team. Like the NFL.
Plus partisan hate: they won their 1st (and now only) grand final in 1999 against the flow of the game off a forward pass, a professional foul, and the joke of a penalty try.
A club with no history now has no future. Business is business. Just desserts.
No tears here.
Everyone keeps saying now they know why we had stars. They weren’t stars when they came to the storm. No one wanted them… the systems in place there through the coach etc made them who they are, now other teams get the rewards.
Also wasn’t the cowboys wholly owned by News ltd at some point too?
The Essendon V Collingwood game with have 100,000 people there this weekend, when , apart from GF’s has the NRL ever had a match like that? and you know what, they never will as long as they keep up the anti melbourne anti non nsw/qld feelings …
Bahahah his face makes it all okay, my all time favourite part of that vid HEART
Great post as always girls!
Today at school I had so many people asking me about what happened (is it weird I’ve earned a reputation as an nrl go-to girl at my school?) and mostly it was about the salary cap. I’m just wondering, what exactly falls under the salary cap? So the players’ salaries (no duh) but I remember reading something about FuiFui’s family’s flights & scott prince’s house etc so i am absolutely confuzzled about what is included :S
Just as an example, because Billy Slater does advertisements for suzuki or whatevz, does the money he earns for that fall under the cap?
Sorry don’t know if that question is relevant to the current situation and it probably isn’t worded that well but a lot of people, present company included, were wondering.
I really feel for the handful of melbourne storm members. I would be absolutely ropable if I were them and be sticking my hand out for my money back.
Once again, really impressed with the post
Everything rugby League that News Ltd touches goes to poo. The quicker they are kicked out of our game the better.
What an absolute ballsup!
The decision to kill off Melbourne for the 2010 season is probably the dumbest of a bagful of dumb decisions that the NRL Administration has made. One often hears stories about how thick rugby league people are. I used to think it’s just idle gossip. But, after a while it sure looks that way.
I would stick the blame fair and square where it belongs. NRL has a salary cap system that does not work. The clubs are pressured to pay marque players decent money to keep them. There’s a conflict there and the NRL hasn’t got the brains to work it out. The salary cap has always been a huge bone of contention. All Clubs have salary cap issues but not all will get the big forensic investigation because they are well connected.
Why do you think the comp is being flooded with good young Kiwi players. It’s because they are dirt cheap. They loosen up the salary cap so the likes of Billy and Smithy and Ellis can get the fat paychecks that they [their managers] demand.
The reason given for the cap is that it evens up the competition.
Frankly I don’t think that’s a reason I think it’s just an excuse.
Even so my sympathies are with the Melbourne grass-roots, the fans. They are the big losers. The players and administrators can trip off to other Clubs without a backward glance but the fans will be in mourning forever.
POP QUIZ
Who cried because she was thinking about the poor players and the poor die-hard fans who are being punished for doing nothing wrong?
This girl
Who wants to meet the people that did this to the club, the players, the fans and the game and spit in their faces and then scream non-stop for about five minutes?
This girl
Here I go: I’m one of those (apparently) ultra-rare thingies called Melbourne Storm members. The last few days have been a mixture of sadness and annoyance, but mostly anger at the small group of farkwits that completely farked us over.
Yeah, of course we paid the team we assembled more than we allowed to. Yeah they might’ve been a bunch of rejects from other clubs but that doesn’t really make a rats arse of a difference now.
I have no intention of doing something so pointless as handing back my membership. Provided the appropriate people are sent to work in salt mines I’m more than happy to keep giving the team my financial support.
I really really hope that players & Bellamy weren’t in on it. A lot of people are saying that’s a totally unrealistic hope, but come on – if it were your club you’d be hoping too even for the tiniest smidgiest saving grace. There was a really interesting interview with Mark Geyer re payments and such on the ABC’s AM program this morning, the 15 minute 12″ remix can be found over here. A bit different to his dear brother’s 3-buttons-undone appearance on Matty Johns last night.
Anyhow I’ll still be heading along to all the Storm games I can get to this year (I’m a rotating shift worker you see) and going bananas for the team. I’d love to see the new stadium opened with the ceremonial tarring and feathering of Brian Waldron, and then having him launched into the Yarra by means of a large catapault. I think we could even get some AFL fans in to watch that.
Finally I really really hope Ryan Hoffman wasn’t caught up in all this shyte as he’s my favouritest of favourite players because he slogs his guts out every week and doesn’t get all the exposure the superstars do but makes such a difference to the team.
Thankyou and goodnight.
I wonda how bitchy Cooper Cronk is feeling this morning?
I wouldn’t want to be his cat.
SO MANY COMMENTS. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH.
after all the adrenalin wore off, today i felt very very sad and down. i couldnt sleep last nite thinking about the whole thing.
i went to the dentist today and he is this awesome Iranian dude and he asked me to explain the whole drama coz he didnt get it…and people…i shit you not…I CRIED. IN FRONT OF MY DENTIST.
while in the waiting room i had been reading the Herald and was just so overwhelmed by all the drama and how far reaching it is and how this betrayal affects everyone in league and it got the better of me. i am so lame.
by the way, theres a silver lining in this whole thing and that is that it’s brought so many new commenters out of the woodwork. this is awesome and pls make sure u comment more often, we love you!!!!
It just upsets me that now people are saying some people/clubs up north play their players outside the cap by putting them on a certain poker machine and putting their extra payments through it.
That breaks my heart, what we did was wrong but if this is happening then everyone should be made to pay.
I do think we’re being made an example of but unless people come out and blow the whistle on these other teams it’s just going to continue… We need to fix the cap so ALL players are paid a good amount and NO team has to do any of this fuckery and pretty much stab fans in the heart.
NRL cap is 4.1 million, yes? the AFL is 7.4 or something …. So not fair for any NRL player who we all know work harder and are generally just better than AFL players
well Hazy the issue with the cap is, people keep saying we should raise it, but there just ISN’T the amount of money available to have one like the AFL. effectively we are only a 2 state game, the AFL is pretty much nationwide apart from the Northern Territory. that means bigger crowds, memberships, merchandise etc etc….which adds up to more money in the game.
every time people bring up the salary cap argument i always ask WHERE IS THIS MONEY COMING FROM. clubs already struggle to break even, let alone make a profit. they aren’t rolling in cash that they are keeping from the players.
although obvs i agree that our players are better than fumbleball players.
amen they deserve better than AFL players haze! but yeah the biggest question is where does the money come from? I agree with the idea of a salary cap, so you have to then find a way to make the cap larger.
and it’s hard because australia’s a small market and league only really covers two states, so the ultimate answer is if clubs want to pay their players more, they and the NRL as a whole need to Make More Money and manage it better.
if the AFL can spend more per player, it’s cause they’re better managed, more business-oriented and make more money.
the salary cap is there to create an even playing field across the teams right? so make it that – each team nominates their 26 man playing roster at the start of the season. pay those 26 players a base salary – the same for everyone. that gives the player an income should they be injured. then pay the 17 who line up each week a match payment – this is an incentive for the player to work and train harder to ensure they make the team and get that payment. if all the players are earning the same – clubs cant entice players with money that may push other players out and players will stay at a club for loyalty because thats where they want to play – not because someones paying them more.
on top of that if a player still wants to earn more – let him go out and find his own sponsorship deals with sponsors not already directly associated to the club – that way if he leaves – he can take his sponsorship deal with him. it might also be a way of tricking the players into behaving – a sponsor is not gonna want someone representing them with a reputation for bad behaviour or causing scandals.
Oh man, the day i turned on channel nine news and heard this my heart broke. I’ve been a storm supporter for 5 years, and all those years we’ve been cheating, and every single good thing i went to in those 5 years (3 Grandfinals in sydney, accommodation and flights paid for by me) have been stripped from me. But ill never forget the memories and the amazing feelings i received from our wins. I have 2007 and 2009 memoribilla, that would be worth quite a lot now
I hope all the other cheating teams get court, and get a penalty as shit as this. I want them all to feel as I do, so then they can all stop having a go at me for supporting a ‘cheating’ team, and to go to games which mean nothing. Then everyone will understand the about of love i have, and wont spit at me when I turn up to support my team.
If i find out the storm threesome (brett finch, ferocious bitch- cooper cronk and billy slater) knew about the salary cap cheating, pretty sure my heart would shrink, and id turn into the grinch that hated NRL.
But i dont mind about GI. he can go leave. As long as those three and cammy, and new crush matthew duffie survive, ill be happy