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Fur flies at keeper turned poacher
By Wayne Smith
January 16, 2008
A FORMER Rugby Union Players Association employee who gave players advice on how they might extricate themselves from their contracts with player agent Greg Keenan, is now employed by the controversial figure.
Informed sources have told The Australian that RUPA has concerns with the role that its former employee Mark Firth now holds with Keenan's company, AMI, and fears he might be helping to enforce agreements he has previously been assisting players to break free of.
There is no suggestion Firth has acted unethically, and even insiders concede Firth left RUPA on good terms. But the mere fact that Firth's role has become the subject of speculation has highlighted the tensions between the players' union and one of the the game's most significant agents.
When contacted last night, Firth declined to be interviewed but subsequently released a statement explaining his actions after leaving RUPA in October.
"I actually approached Greg Keenan for work opportunities as my due diligence showed that he is one of Australia's premier player managers and had negotiated some of sport's most innovative and groundbreaking deals, both domestically and internationally," the statement read.
Relations between Keenan and RUPA have been strained since September 2005 when Keenan launched a legal challenge to RUPA's player agent accreditation scheme. The action was subsequently withdrawn with Keenan required to pay $50,000 in legal costs.
They reached rock bottom when RUPA chief executive Tony Dempsey on Monday confirmed Wallabies Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell have lodged a complaint against Keenan, their former manager, over alleged secret payments.
In response, Keenan claimed that when he bought out the player management company Dempsey decided to sell, after it became apparent Dempsey could not continue as an agent while also serving as RUPA boss, a deal was done for Dempsey to receive commissions on his former players.
According to Keenan, Dempsey's former players were unaware that he was receiving these commissions.
Dempsey insists Keenan, when he bought the business, could not afford the purchase price and that the commissions were an agreed form of payment. It is understood that RUPA executives are fully aware of this arrangement and have no concerns with it.
Sources have told The Australian that Dempsey had a similar arrangement with a second agent but, when contacted, the agent denied this.
Dempsey's actions also were called into question in November when it was revealed he had acted as an intermediary between Western Force and a South African national to negotiate a secret $15,000 settlement to an alleged assault victim of Force halfback Matt Henjak.
Dempsey, who could not be contacted for comment Tuesday, collected a fee for acting as the legal go-between but his critics have questioned whether this was an appropriate role for the RUPA boss to have played.
While the waters were further muddied Tuesday, it did become clear that a number of Keenan's clients are attempting to free themselves from contracts that simply rolled over on their expiry date, allowing Keenan to continue as their manager.
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Originally Posted by Burgs
