Melbourne Storm stripped of Premierships for cheating

[Hawkmoon]

So what do all rugby league fans think of todays stunning news that the Melbourne Storm have been stripped of 2 premierships, 3 minor premierships and all of their 2010 points, plus fined $1.6 million dollars for cheating the salary cap for the last 5 years or so?

Perhaps, on a wider scale, what do people think should happen to sporting teams that breach the rules of their sport? We've seen what happened to McLaren in F1 and the New England Patriots in the NFL. Do administrators have the obligation to be harsh on the cheaters or should the fans be considered when punishing the guilty party?

Personally I think Melbourne got off lightly. A suspension from the premiership wouldn't have been out of the question considering the scale of the breach and the fact that it was both deliberate and calculated. Melbourne intended to cheat, came up with an elaborate system to do so and then went to great lengths to hide their actions. I would have stripped them of their titles, banned them from the league for a couple of seasons and declared all their players free agents. If that killed the team, so be it. There's no place in sport the likes of these people.

[Daniel]

So what do all rugby league fans think of todays stunning news that the Melbourne Storm have been stripped of 2 premierships, 3 minor premierships and all of their 2010 points, plus fined $1.6 million dollars for cheating the salary cap for the last 5 years or so?

Perhaps, on a wider scale, what do people think should happen to sporting teams that breach the rules of their sport? We've seen what happened to McLaren in F1 and the New England Patriots in the NFL. Do administrators have the obligation to be harsh on the cheaters or should the fans be considered when punishing the guilty party?

Personally I think Melbourne got off lightly. A suspension from the premiership wouldn't have been out of the question considering the scale of the breach and the fact that it was both deliberate and calculated. Melbourne intended to cheat, came up with an elaborate system to do so and then went to great lengths to hide their actions. I would have stripped them of their titles, banned them from the league for a couple of seasons and declared all their players free agents. If that killed the team, so be it. There's no place in sport the likes of these people.
Meh, it's league which is a purely bogan game so most on here won't care :)

[ShiftingGears]

So what do all rugby league fans think of todays stunning news that the Melbourne Storm have been stripped of 2 premierships, 3 minor premierships and all of their 2010 points, plus fined $1.6 million dollars for cheating the salary cap for the last 5 years or so?

Perhaps, on a wider scale, what do people think should happen to sporting teams that breach the rules of their sport? We've seen what happened to McLaren in F1 and the New England Patriots in the NFL. Do administrators have the obligation to be harsh on the cheaters or should the fans be considered when punishing the guilty party?

Personally I think Melbourne got off lightly. A suspension from the premiership wouldn't have been out of the question considering the scale of the breach and the fact that it was both deliberate and calculated. Melbourne intended to cheat, came up with an elaborate system to do so and then went to great lengths to hide their actions. I would have stripped them of their titles, banned them from the league for a couple of seasons and declared all their players free agents. If that killed the team, so be it. There's no place in sport the likes of these people.

I am very disappointed in them. Also consider the fact that NRL does not want to concede ground to AFL, which is also a factor in why the penalty wasn't more harsh.

I don't think the premierships will be retroactively awarded to Parramatta and Manly.

[GridGirl]

Melbourne are cheaters and have been disqualified. I think this revelation requires me to officially declare Leeds Rhino's 2010 world club champions! Wooohooooo! :D

On a more serious note, how could they cheat the salary cap for so long without anyone noticing? I don't quite understand this bit. In football I have carried out Premier League audits to check their specific rules are being adhered too. Surely rugby league must have some similar equivalent. :s

[Rollo]

Personally I think that the media in Australia is having a giant ****fest over this.

If you were to equate seriousness, or the importance of a news story with the number of newspaper column inches that was written about it, then what sort of results would you end up with?
Is the breach of the salary cap more important than say... rape?

I think that the NRL has far more important and thorny issues to worry about than this. Perhaps wikipedia might be instructive. This is a list of of off-field incidents involving rugby league players just for the year 2009.

- Canberra Raiders star Todd Carney went on a rampage in Goulburn, damaging property, jumping on a car bonnet and damaging the entrance to a Fone Zone store. He received a 12 month suspended jail sentence, was ordered to undertake alcohol counselling, and was banned from the local Government area for 12 months.
- Anthony Watmough was accused by a Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles sponsor of punching him and harassing his daughter in a derogatory manner at a season launch party.
- Brett Stewart was charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in the stairwell of an apartment block after a club function. A magistrate issued an apprehended violence order (AVO) against Stewart.
- Anthony Cherrington sent to anger management counselling after violently assaulting his girlfriend.
- Cronulla Sharks Greg Bird was convicted of recklessly wounding his girlfriend, and was later sentenced to 16 months jail with a minimum of eight months. The verdict was quashed on appeal.
- Leon Pryce and Stuart Reardon were convicted of assault in a UK court and were ordered to do 100 and 200 hours community service respectively.
- Jake Friend was charged with drink driving after being caught by police in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.
- Trevor Thurling of the Canberra Raiders was charged with drink driving after being involved in a motor vehicle accident in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs on April 9.
- Willie Mason was fined $2,000 by Sydney Roosters after being photographed urinating in a public place.
- Cronulla Sharks player Reni Maitua returned a positive drug sample for clenbuterol.
- Cronulla Sharks captain Paul Gallen was fined $10,000 for using a racial slur against Tongan St George Illawarra forward Mickey Paea. Gallen subsequently apologised and resigned from the club captaincy.
- Melbourne Storm players Brett Finch and Cooper Cronk were each fined $5,000 for urinating in public.
- Brisbane Broncos player Joel Clinton was fined $50,000 for breaking the club's code of conduct and inviting a woman to his hotel room in Sydney.
- Hull Kingston Rovers' Ben Cockayne pleads guilty to assault, along with friend and fellow rugby league reserve player for the Castleford Tigers, Steven Hayward. Cockayne receives a 12 month sentence, whilst Hayward receives a six month sentence, both of which were suspended for two years.
- Sydney Roosters' Jake Friend and Sandor Earl under investigation for allegedly assaulting a woman at a Sydney nightclub.
- Wigan second-row Gareth Hock is suspended pending results of a 'B' sample following results of an 'A' sample confirming the presence of benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of cocaine.
- Five players belonging to York City Knights were suspended for a breach of club discipline at a function in Leeds, along with the club's director of rugby.
- Cronulla Sharks player Brett Seymour is fired by his club for another alcohol-related incident, his second such sacking following his dismissal by the Brisbane Broncos in 2006.
- Sydney Roosters coach Brad Fittler was reported in the Townsville Bulletin for drunkenly trying to gain access to the wrong hotel room while wearing only shorts. The incident occurred at the Holiday Inn in Townsville at 3am. Fittler consequently fined himself AUD $10,000 and apologised for his behaviour at a televised press conference.
- Sydney Roosters player Nate Myles was suspended for six weeks and dropped from the State of Origin team after defecating in the corridor of a luxury resort hotel whilst drunk. The club was also fined $50,000 for repeated offences.
- Cronulla Sharks player Greg Bird appeared in court charged with five counts of assault after allegedly attacking a woman in a Cronulla night club in January 2008. He was subsequently cleared by the court.
- Melbourne Storm player Greg Inglis was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend.
- In August 2009 six Australian Celtic Crusaders players were ordered to leave the United Kingdom after the UK Border Agency identified breaches to their visa conditions.
- Sydney Roosters' Braith Anasta was king hit without retaliation in a Sydney hotel.
- Sydney Roosters player Setaimata Sa was charged with assault, resisting arrest, criminal damage and failure to leave a licenced premises, after a drunken episode in a Sydney hotel.
- South Sydney Rabbitohs player David Fa'alogo and coach Jason Taylor were both fired after an altercation at an end-of-season function.
- Wests Tigers player Daine Laurie was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
- Sydney Roosters player Stanley Waqa was charged over a knife-wielding incident in which a young woman was wounded in Sydney's east.
- Huddersfield Giants player Paul Whatuira was arrested and underwent a psychiatric assesment after he allegedly assaulted two men.
- Brisbane Broncos player Tonie Carroll was detained by police on Sunday 28th November following an alleged altercation with a woman, believed to be his partner.
- Cronulla Sharks' Paul Gallen was issued with a criminal infringement notice for urinating in public near the head of a drunken friend.
- Sydney Roosters' Jake Friend was arrested and charged by police following an altercation with a taxi driver.
- Newcastle Knights rugby league star Danny Wicks was charged by police in relation to drug supply offences.
- Canberra Raiders' rugby league star David Shillington was arrested for drink driving after testing more than twice the legal limit.

Sexual assault, property damage, drink-driving, knife-weilding, wounding, assault, cocaine possession, drug supply charges, urinating in public...

Guess what, I bet that this "scandal" involving what basically amounts to an artificial financial breach in a civil case, will probably score more column inches that all of the above combined. When an incident like any of the above happens, it is usually hushed out of the media and we hear of "privacy issues". Bascially what we have here is a case where the media itself if it equates the value of what is newsworthy by what it reports, has suggested that this is more important than criminal activity.

**** that for a joke. :angryfire :

[Mark in Oshawa]

Rollo...I read all of that...and I thought Rugby was a hooligan's game played by gentlemen. It used to be....apparently NOT now.

700 guys in the National Hockey League, and maybe two a year get a charge against em for anything....I am proud of my buddies the hockey players. They can be dingbats..but not like those hooligans.

The NFL has similar issues, but the Commissioner will ban guys like Roethisliberger (the QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers) for 6 games just for having his name in the news with possible charges.

[Daniel]

mark, you're thinking about Rugby Union. League is more of a thugs game than union.

[Hawkmoon]

Lot's of stuff.

You're right of course. A little salary cap rorting pales into insignifcance compared to the behaviour of many of the players. I worry about my eldest boy's fascination with rugby league and sincerely hope he never plays the game. It's not the sort of culture I want him immersing himself in.

[AndyRAC]

At least the Governing body had the balls to punish them. Here in the UK, in Football, teams are spending money they don't have (aka financial doping), and virtually nothing is being done. Take Portsmouth, if they were an ordinary business, they'd have been closed down.