Here we go again...

[Force1]

Well, everyone seems to be blaming the SMH for exposing a few WF adminstrators for breaking rules.

If the WF are innocent why arent they saying so? Why arent they instigating legal action against the SMH and Journo involved.

Why? Because the SMH and the Journo are spot on.... Gerard Ryle is one of the countries leading journalists. He's uncovered a massive problem and other coverups at the Force and it needs cleaning up.

Dont believe me, keep read the SMH. They're actually trying to help Force members. Unless the office is cleaned up, the Force are likely to LOSE key international players. The SMH knows this, others know this, but members are being kept in the dark.

As members, we own the WF. We deserve to know that this business is being run fairly and honestly.

History has shown that clubs that break rules and act outside protocols end up suffering badly.

Force CEO and Chairman, come clean and show us some leadership and honesty!

[shasta]

Well, everyone seems to be blaming the SMH for exposing a few WF adminstrators for breaking rules.

Well not quite everyone, mate. Have another look.

Nice first post BTW. Nobody could accuse you of being a conformist.

I think a few of our members are confusing Mr Ryle with the sycophantic "Chief Rugby Correspondent".

[Force1]

I'd be cynical too, if the WF articles about breaching rule etc came from the Chief RC.. But G Ryle isnt a rugby man. Anyone in business knows he digs up stuff others are too scared to touch. He's won a string of awards. He's one of the rare honest journos around...Now thats rare!

Bottom line - the Force have problems. Dodgy signing and a few dubious deals and a major sponsor thats being investigated by ASIC isnt a good look.

And unfortunately the WF average Joe Bloe wont know till its over. Of course the WF management wont own up. But, I have a feeling they'll to have too soon.... watch the SMH over night - its game set and match to the SMH.

Lots of talk in Sydney tonight.
Come on Force Board, do something! The members deserve better treatment.

[shasta]

Lots of talk in Sydney tonight.

Sounds like a bit of inside info? I can't really imagine that The Force is much of a blip on the Sydney radar.

[Jehna]

He's won a string of awards. He's one of the rare honest journos around...Now thats rare!

And unfortunately the WF average Joe Bloe wont know till its over.

Firstly, winning a string of awards in journalism is not conducive to making you an honest journalist. Good journalism rarely has much to do with the truth. It's not about the truth. It's about developing and presenting a convincing argument that will cause controversy, speculation and bring in ratings and subsequently revenue. Don't give me this bullshit about being in it for the good of the people. He's an investigative journo. He's in it for the story not for the truth. And yes whilst i respect his achievements in journalism and the many awards he has won, those awards are equally as little about the truth as the journo's behind the award winning stories. It's an image game, not a truth game.

Secondly, be careful who you're calling the WF average Joe Bloe.


And onto a more harmless note, I'm working on my cheerleading skills And after tonight's game we need all the cheerleaders we can get...

[Force1]

Well check out whats just gone up at SMH...

Dont you think the WF members deserve an honest response? I'm a member and want one......

Force to front ARU over payments

Gerard Ryle
Friday, August 17, 2007




THE top two executives of the Western Force Super 14 team will be summoned to Australian Rugby Union headquarters and asked to explain secret payments the club made to Wallaby players.

In a statement issued last night, the ARU indicated it will also consider an independent inquiry into revelations in the Herald that the Force made secret payments of more than $300,000 last year in breach of the governing body's protocols.

ARU head John O'Neill said he and union chairman Peter McGrath would meet with Western Force chairman Geoff Stooke and the club's CEO, Peter O'Meara, to "put to them the ARU's significant concerns".

A date for the meeting has yet to be finalised.

"Subject to the outcome of that meeting, the ARU will consider referring the matter to an independent judicial committee," O'Neill said. "The integrity of the contracting protocols is paramount."


The Western Force made the secret payments to three Wallabies players throughout 2006, and possibly as late as January 2007, despite the club protesting that the payments relate only to its inaugural playing season.

The Herald can reveal that Nathan Sharpe was paid about $200,000, Scott Fava about $80,000, and Cameron Shepherd about $20,000. Former player Chris O'Young was also guaranteed that the club would find him outside employment worth about $20,000, and he earned most of this in a job secured for him by the Western Force.

Though the deals breached ARU protocols, there is no suggestion the players were aware of any potential breach.

The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Sharpe took on a consultancy with a club sponsor, Executive Traders, when he left Queensland to join the Force in 2005. The arrangement was said to have been registered with the ARU, as required. Executive Traders hires and sells mining equipment. It is also a joint-venture partner with another Force sponsor, the controversial fuel technology company Firepower.

But the Herald understands Executive Traders, which declined to comment yesterday, was not a club sponsor in 2005 nor in 2006. And an ARU spokesman said yesterday that the Sharpe arrangement was not registered with it until June 2007. It pertains only to the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

The secret arrangements made by the Western Force date back to the formation of the club, when it was desperate to recruit top-line players. During early 2005, the Force recruited several players and guaranteed to find them paid employment, and even outlined the amount the players would receive.

The club then went further and guaranteed to pay these players the amounts if the employment fell through, which is what occurred. The Herald understands the payments are not shown within the Force's "player costs" for 2006, as reported in their annual financial statements. Instead, they are hidden within another part of their profit-and-loss statement.

The Force have not made their 2006 annual report available on their website, and the publicly available 2005 report has had financial statements omitted. Under the protocols, teams are generally only allowed to pay players $110,000 a year, in addition to a set of agreed extras such as cars and housing allowances. International players also receive additional wages from the ARU. Furthermore, no state union is to be involved in facilitating, procuring or arranging third-party deals as an inducement to sign any player without ARU approval.

The revelations about the secret payments have escalated an existing ARU inquiry into player contract negotiations that began in June. That inquiry followed the publication in the Herald of a copy of an employment offer prepared for NSW forward Al Kanaar that showed potential third-party arrangements. Kanaar was to be paid $30,000 a year to become an "environmental adviser" for one of four companies. One of the companies was Firepower. The other three were Woodside Petroleum, BHP and Rio Tinto.

Force chairman Geoff Stooke told the Herald earlier this year that the club was not involved in underwriting third-party deals to lure players to Perth. He said O'Meara had confirmed to him that he "always complied with the ARU player contracting protocols of the day with respect to third-party arrangemen

[travelling_gerry]

Well.....in my opinion...... (insert disclaimer here.....these are my opinions and mine only and not those of my employer who has nothing to do with RWA)

If the Force had to add a sweetener to get some wavering signatures of some very nice guys to come to the west then so be it.....its not like the member unions over east weren't doing their best to scuttle the Force before they even started....

I would think that if you were to ask the players in question if they made the right choice by coming to the Force then you would have a resounding YES....


$300,000?? damm...thats almost as much as the WAFC rips off us each week we play at Subi....

I would suggest to Gerard Ryle if he want to dig up a story he investigate the WAFC on how they can get a 99 lease on a stadium.....get the government to build it for them then rip offf Rugby WA each and every week as a hostile landlord....

[shasta]

Well check out whats just gone up at SMH...

Nice one Greg....err Jaqui..... err....Gerry? Wot was your name again?

[Force1]

Not sure that the business or sporting world would survive that well if bribes, under the counter payments, hidden payments and the like were ignored and given the green light.

Heard of laws relating to accounts, disclosures, protocols and governance?

These exist to support the Force. Without them, we're stuffed. The bods in Sydney will eat us alive if we dont work within the system.

The end result - players dont get paid, the get pissed off and they leave the Force - I dont want this to happen but its going to happen....

[Jehna]

I'm with gerry...

And of course the ARU are going to look into the allegations. They don't really have a choice do they when the media are making a song and dance about it all. I mean they're in enough shit as it is atm with the reputation of rugby in Australia. If they are seen to do nothing then it will look just as bad and probably delight the media even more. At least if they hold an inquiry they can shut the critics up for good...well...at least until they find something else bullshit to report on

[Jehna]

Not sure that the business or sporting world would survive that well if bribes, under the counter payments, hidden payments and the like were ignored and given the green light.

Heard of laws relating to accounts, disclosures, protocols and governance?

Seriously? Do you live in the real world? This is exactly how business works. And don't even pretend that the law does anything to regulate it. Lawyers are the worst adherents to laws relating to accounts, disclosures, protocols and governance...and yes...i WOULD know...that's my field.

[Force1]

Exactly! Lets get this crap out and in to the open. Journos will pester us until the WF management own up. Lets just spill the beans and get on with it.

The days of doing business in the 1980's is long gone. Dont bring them back to the WF!

Save our team...

[Burgs]

There is nothing new in that article that hasn't already been stated by SMH and just another excuse to portray RWA and, specifically by extension Firepower in a bad light.
You have a snowflakes chance of convincing me there is no connection between the zeal of the SMH's "reporting" and the legal actions that took place between them and Firepower earlier.
Even now SMH are reporting as fact what the ARU are investigating as allegations and concerns.
If RWA have done the wrong thing then so be it, I am not defending them and certainly don't condone practices that other franchises can't get away with.
I do however have an issue with the blackballing and bloodhound approach that SMH has taken in pursuing the story.
We have some of the best journalistic muck-rakers in the business in the west, if there was more to it than a bloody minded ego driven vendetta don't you think they would be all over it like a rash too?

[shasta]

dont want this to happen but its going to happen....

Relax. JO'N is gonna appoint a position similar to Ian Schubert's at the NRL to keep everything in the open. RugbyWA just did what was needed to get us running. If you think everyone else in the Rugby world plays by the rules all the time then you're mistaken. It'll all be history soon. The biggest membership and crowds in Oz Rugby say so.

[travelling_gerry]

I think it would only be fair that if a company promised a player a job and a payment and it didnt come through then if RWA tipped in that amount.....I would admire RWA for that...not condemn them...

And as for the bods over east...all are trying to do is scuttle us anyway.....use us as the whipping boys and grab the bucks themselves....

And theres another one for Gerard Ryle to chase up.....WTF have the "member unions" (insert NSWRU and QRU ) done with all the cash that is allocated to them from the ARU profits???