Sharks drama on ABC 7.30 tonight

ivanhungryjak

ivanhungryjak

State of Origin Rep
Contributor
Sep 8, 2009
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Just saw a grab on the ABC News saying there will be a story on the Sharks tonight including allegations that Paul Gallen was paid extras by a sponsor not included in the Cap. Should be worth watching.
 
ivanhungryjak said:
Just saw a grab on the ABC News saying there will be a story on the Sharks tonight including allegations that Paul Gallen was paid extras by a sponsor not included in the Cap. Should be worth watching.
Click to expand...

Indeed.
 
Cheers Ivan, I will take a look at that.
 
Pretty much what we already knew in regards to the ASADA. As to the Gallen payments, could be big, could be nothing. Basically has been admitted that he was paid direct from a 3rd party, but whether it was totally outside the cap, or whether the paperwork was just slack (but was legit) is the question.
 
Morkel said:
Pretty much what we already knew in regards to the ASADA. As to the Gallen payments, could be big, could be nothing. Basically has been admitted that he was paid direct from a 3rd party, but whether it was totally outside the cap, or whether the paperwork was just slack (but was legit) is the question.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it seemed to be skirting just around the outside without being any actual smoking gun. The emails from the sponsor and from Flanagan seem pretty suspect though.
 
For those of us who are/were unable to watch, can someone give bullet points?
 
theshed said:
Someone's grumpy. Maybe a little more info would be nice.
Click to expand...
Haha what? I'm not grumpy, I'm telling you I think Morkel already gave a little summary of what they talked about.
I'm sure @Morkel will deliver further goods with some dot points when he's home.
 
Cronulla Sharks accused of secret financial dealings; claims of off-the-books payments to Paul Gallen - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The head coach of the Cronulla Sharks has been accused of using a secret bank account off the club's books.
The ABC's 7.30 program has reported Shane Flanagan operated a high-performance unit (HPU) account despite the NRL club's board ordering it be shut down.
The program also obtained emails in which a former sponsor claims cash payments were made to captain Paul Gallen outside the salary cap.
Former Sharks chief executive Bruno Cullen, the man who was called in to clean up the mess after Cronulla's secret supplements regime exploded in public scandal, has described the club's administration as a disaster waiting to happen.
"You just don't do things that way, no," he said.
"Every dollar that comes into the club, and therefore every dollar that goes out of the club, should going through the club's central account and be recorded and accounted for."
The club is still reeling over an ASADA investigation into the alleged use of sports supplements by its players.
7.30 understands the HPU account was operating outside of the board's control after being ordered to shut down.
Flanagan told 7.30 today that it was used to pay for the club's new gym.
Cullen said he never knew of the account.
"No, not at all no. The club didn't even bank with Westpac, they banked with St George."
[h=2]Deal being done in private[/h]7.30 has also obtained a series of emails that expose a deal being done in private at the Sharks.
They were written by Sami Chamoun, a former Cronulla sponsor and director of security company E Group.
On February 5, 2013, just days before the Sharks' secret supplements regime became public, Chamoun wrote to the Cronulla board complaining about his contract being terminated early, threatening to blow the lid on a secret salary cap deal.
I've been paying a certain player cash off the salary cap for the past three years, you think that's not going to get out into the media if it goes into a legal case....
It's the truth, you and your management have a lot to answer.
​
Half an hour later, a furious Flanagan wrote to the board seeking help, revealing the identity of the player and the club's breach of the salary cap rules.
That player was NSW's favourite son - Blues captain and Cronulla chief Gallen.
Tonight Paul Gallen has been contacted and informed by Sami of E Group... and give(n) (sic) his account of contract details with our club and full details of payments to Paul over many years which will expose us salary cap and Paul possibly taxation wise... this will not go away unless dealt with tomorrow and this is a lot bigger than a security contract.
​
7.30 understands it was not Gallen but the club that was in breach.
It is believed payments to a number of players run up to $250,000 and were never properly registered as third-party player agreements.
"I know cash sounds terrible, and that's something I won't go there with that, but the arrangement was for him to make a payment to Paul, do the sponsorship and make the third-party payment," Cullen said.
"Now whether he paid that by - and I don't want to sound flippant - by cash, by cheque, by jars of vegemite, whatever, he made the payment.
"But the problem is more the documentation of that from a salary cap point of view, it wasn't formalised the way it should've been."
[h=2]Survival rests on righting wrongs[/h]For Cullen, the survival of the Sharks rests on the club righting the wrongs of the past and ensuring they do not make the same mistakes again.
"I'm not too sure whether they've learnt their lesson or not," he said.
"Worst-case scenario, I fear for them and a whole lot of things about player suspension, players suing the club for loss of income, players suing the club for player welfare.
"Best-case scenario, they'll be fine. They have the commercial development to fall back on.
"Worst-case scenario, they are going to have some huge challenges."
 
Alrighty. I missed the first couple of minutes & I didn't record it, so correct me anyone if I get this wrong. They had Cullen there giving his perspective intermittently.

* (walked in at this point) pretty much confirmed that Gallen and other players were the recipients of the two particular (illegal) peptides, originally injected, and then via creams & tablets. As we knew.

* Named the Doctor/Chemist who is believed to have mixed up the peptides - and added that he got a warning in 2007 for improperly prescribing drugs of addiction / drugs for children, and also late last year (or early this year, can't remember) that he had his license stripped. Apparently Dank stopped his involvement with him when he received a 'bad batch'.

* As to how it was funded, I didn't hear at the start because my daughter was making a racket, but it sounded like there was absolutely zero money trail of it on the books. Which obviously was odd for substances at the cutting edge, etc. They did manage to dig up a bank account though, that was linked to the 'High Performance Centre'. Interestingly it was with Westpac. Cullen confirmed that he's never seen the account in question, and that the club uses St George. When pushed, Cullen said that it was very alarming because with a club every cent coming in & going out should be accounted for (intimating that he should have known about it and therefore it was possible it was an attempt to keep it off official books).

As for Gallen:

* They originally showed an email from a sponsor (a security company) who was pissed off at having his contract cut short. He wrote that it it becomes a legal battle, the off-the-books payments to <a particular player> would definitely become public knowledge. It was given credence when Flanagan himself forwarded on an email to the club (the directors?) alarmed at this, and on confirming the player in question was Gallen, that the club needed to be agreed upon that the payments were requested by the club & not Gallen. Basically the club taking full responsibility & Gallen had no knowledge of anything untoward.

* They didn't clarify whether it was a totally off-the-books rort, or whether it was just sloppy paperwork. Cullen's comment was that whether Gallen was paid in cash, cheque, or jars of vegemite, it was not handled correctly in regards to the salary cap process. The fact that Flanagan's original email named two areas of concern, one being the club & its tax situation, the other being Gallen & the salary cap, makes it sound like it was more than a mere oversight.

That enough bullet points? ;)

PS> GODAMNIT GCBRONCO! NINJA'D
 
GCBRONCO said:
Cronulla Sharks accused of secret financial dealings; claims of off-the-books payments to Paul Gallen - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The head coach of the Cronulla Sharks has been accused of using a secret bank account off the club's books.
The ABC's 7.30 program has reported Shane Flanagan operated a high-performance unit (HPU) account despite the NRL club's board ordering it be shut down.
The program also obtained emails in which a former sponsor claims cash payments were made to captain Paul Gallen outside the salary cap.
Former Sharks chief executive Bruno Cullen, the man who was called in to clean up the mess after Cronulla's secret supplements regime exploded in public scandal, has described the club's administration as a disaster waiting to happen.
"You just don't do things that way, no," he said.
"Every dollar that comes into the club, and therefore every dollar that goes out of the club, should going through the club's central account and be recorded and accounted for."
The club is still reeling over an ASADA investigation into the alleged use of sports supplements by its players.
7.30 understands the HPU account was operating outside of the board's control after being ordered to shut down.
Flanagan told 7.30 today that it was used to pay for the club's new gym.
Cullen said he never knew of the account.
"No, not at all no. The club didn't even bank with Westpac, they banked with St George."
Deal being done in private

7.30 has also obtained a series of emails that expose a deal being done in private at the Sharks.
They were written by Sami Chamoun, a former Cronulla sponsor and director of security company E Group.
On February 5, 2013, just days before the Sharks' secret supplements regime became public, Chamoun wrote to the Cronulla board complaining about his contract being terminated early, threatening to blow the lid on a secret salary cap deal.
I've been paying a certain player cash off the salary cap for the past three years, you think that's not going to get out into the media if it goes into a legal case....
It's the truth, you and your management have a lot to answer.
​
Half an hour later, a furious Flanagan wrote to the board seeking help, revealing the identity of the player and the club's breach of the salary cap rules.
That player was NSW's favourite son - Blues captain and Cronulla chief Gallen.
Tonight Paul Gallen has been contacted and informed by Sami of E Group... and give(n) (sic) his account of contract details with our club and full details of payments to Paul over many years which will expose us salary cap and Paul possibly taxation wise... this will not go away unless dealt with tomorrow and this is a lot bigger than a security contract.
​
7.30 understands it was not Gallen but the club that was in breach.
It is believed payments to a number of players run up to $250,000 and were never properly registered as third-party player agreements.
"I know cash sounds terrible, and that's something I won't go there with that, but the arrangement was for him to make a payment to Paul, do the sponsorship and make the third-party payment," Cullen said.
"Now whether he paid that by - and I don't want to sound flippant - by cash, by cheque, by jars of vegemite, whatever, he made the payment.
"But the problem is more the documentation of that from a salary cap point of view, it wasn't formalised the way it should've been."
Survival rests on righting wrongs

For Cullen, the survival of the Sharks rests on the club righting the wrongs of the past and ensuring they do not make the same mistakes again.
"I'm not too sure whether they've learnt their lesson or not," he said.
"Worst-case scenario, I fear for them and a whole lot of things about player suspension, players suing the club for loss of income, players suing the club for player welfare.
"Best-case scenario, they'll be fine. They have the commercial development to fall back on.
"Worst-case scenario, they are going to have some huge challenges."
Click to expand...
I'm surprised Cullen is allowed to comment on the situation at all, given how delicate it is. You would think he'd have some signed some NDA to prevent him from saying anything, especially as he was caretaker CEO.
 
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