Cheers to the Victims of Crime

[Buzz]

Preface

I'd like to assure those reading that these comments, particularly relating to Victims of Crime are made with the knowledge that we are talking about a Sport, a Team and the passions involved. We all invest a lot of time, energy, emotion and money into Club. I am in no way belittling true Victims of Crime.

I've had a while to think on this issue - and despite it being less than 5 hours old, I feel the need to vent my anger and frustration at why the Victims of this Crime are truly Victims.

When you look at the perpetrators of the crime, it's clear that individuals and groups were complicit in designing methods of bypassing the system. Those individuals include administrators, player managers and even the players. It's only the most naive of players who believes that what's in their contract (written or otherwise) is above board and without reproach.

If we look at the equation of the salary cap, the basics are quite simple. Each team has the same amount of money to play with, to sign up the best players they can without breaching this holy limit. It is in the Club's best interests to comply with this (as we witness today the penalties are horrific). If the equation was Club Player I believe that the system would work better as it becomes a conversation - we have this much money so we can keep you and your team mates playing great footy together.

If I were to now list the Victims in this Crime, they would include Supporters, Sponsors (unless they were involved), the Club (not the administration), the Game itself and if there were some innocent players, then they too become Victims of a wasted season.

There really is only one beneficiary of this Crime.

Player Managers.

These true Scum of the Game have one primary interest - how much money can I get my Client therefore giving me the best return from my percentage. The secondary interest is actually getting the best outcome for the Client. You'll notice that I said Outcome for the Client as this incorporates more than money, it's the welfare of the player, best opportunities etc.

But it will always come down to the Player Manager who will initiate the "out of bounds" aspects of contract negotiations. If Clubs were open and honest with their players and said "Hey, this is all we can afford to pay you because that's what we think you're worth, and we need to maintain a good playing roster", the players would be able to say whether that fell within expectations. It's the Player Manager who pushes the Club along... "How much more can you pay? This other club is willing to pay twice that!" Whether true or not, the gaming has begun.

I have heard how it goes - once the club is faced with the predicament of losing a marquee player, they start looking at ways of achieving the desired outcome. We saw this recently with the Titans where someone was at least smart enough not to keep documents. It's been rife in the AFL - big name players given McDonald's franchises worth hundreds of thousands. The Club approaches benefactors, sponsors and the like to get the cash needed to satisfy the Player Manager, and the Player.

In those rare occassions where a Club is caught breaching the salary cap, we have seen, and will continue to see Clubs being stripped of points and more. Players have to take "cuts" to bring the Club under the cap, or face losing Players to rival teams. I have a memory of an interview with Willy Mason shortly after the Bulldogs were sanctioned their 30-odd Premiership points - he stated the Players still received their full payment as it was contracted and would be a breach of contract to not pay them the full amount.

Which means the Player Managers still get their cut. In fact, they win again as they negotiate new deals at new clubs.

Meanwhile, us fans, us supporters, us members who stump up hundreds of dollars supporting a Team in memberships, at games, on apparel and memorabilia, on travel and more. Us True Victims of the Crime are then whacked again. Our team is torn down, our players under a cloud, our supporters walking around with the stigma of loving a crooked organisation. We get our whacks from opposition supporters. We get a whack from the media. We get a whack from the NRL. We get a whack from the AFL.

All this for believing and supporting a team of truly great people playing a truly great game in a truly great state. Against all odds.

And yet, the true perpetrators of the Crime continue and make their money by finding new ways to circumvent the system and get more money for themselves. All without reproach.


The NRL has over the last 12 years truly shown that they are the weak-spineless organisation we believed them to be. They have been happy to watch the Storm struggle in Victoria with little support directly, and none when it comes to media coverage. They continued to deny the need of a successful team, and continually denied an increase in cap to acknowledge Storm's struggle at keeping players in Melbourne. And now, they continue to avoid the real cause of these issues - Player Managers. The true scum.

Tonight I have avoided everything as much as possible. I had some beers, I watched a movie and I drowned my sorrows in an unnecessarily violent movie.

But my rage tonight is clearly focussed on those directly responsible for this cock-up! The Administration and the Player Managers who orchestrated this disaster.

[amarkie]

Don't forget the poor bastards who have to turn up to work tomorrow and hear all you people give them shit about something they had nothing to do with.

Watch who you turn on.

The poor bastard who has had to deal with a venue that wasnt completed in time is probably more worried about if he/she will be able to pay the mortgage next month than deal with 5,000 members chucking a tanty and wanting to return their tickets.

[pauliedude]

And the managers that try to drive up a players price by dangling the "change of code carrot" into a clubs face

[singlemalt]

Jeezus

I am a Storm fan in Northern NSW in an office full of Manly, Bronco and Eels Supporters

I am gonna be murdered next week

[Brian@work]

Well said Lightyear.

[KimmorleyKiller]

I'm with you 100% on that Beeman. I've written at least 10 paragraphs and deleted them before posting, I don't even know what I feel at the moment, or who I should rage at. I don't even think I'll be able to watch football anymore.

[routy21]

im totally devastated and don't know what to say...

But I won't be giving up on this once great club... it's part of who I am