salary cap cheats

[trendylfj]

This is how to sort out the salary cap cheats. I don't know how we stand because the club won't say but the RFU do and should have done this. Yes I know proof is hard to come by but not impossible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/36135986

[drc_007]

Not sure it is the RFUs responsibility, more likely to be Premiership Rugby

[Iain]

It's Premiership Rugby's gig to sort the salary cap, not the RFU. And we know only that two clubs were investigated, not that anybody broke the salary cap. Anything else is mere blind assumption, aided and abetted by the bizarre secrecy surrounding the whole thing giving rise to conspiracy theories.

[Qbec]

Regardless of Whose "Gig" it is Rugby League have shown it can be done & it does make Rugby Union pretty much found wanting or deficient.

[Iain]

Regardless of Whose "Gig" it is Rugby League have shown it can be done & it does make Rugby Union pretty much found wanting or deficient.

But we don't know that anyone has done it. For all we know the investigation was carried out, it was found there was no case to answer and everything was kept confidential as per regulation.

[Qbec]

Iain: If that is the case & the regulations don't permit exposure of those details, then even more so Rugby Union is found wanting & deficient

[Iain]

Iain: If that is the case & the regulations don't permit exposure of those details, then even more so Rugby Union is found wanting & deficient

On that we agree.

[mol2]

Near impossible to police and probably even loss possible to enforce.
Rich clubs can afford the legal teams to identify and explore the loopholes in the cap.

The spirit of the cap is clear, but to uphold it requires all clubs to honour the spirit rather than exploit the small print and gaps.
The desire to win is big.

[h's dad]

Near impossible to police and probably even loss possible to enforce.
Rich clubs can afford the legal teams to identify and explore the loopholes in the cap.

The spirit of the cap is clear, but to uphold it requires all clubs to honour the spirit rather than exploit the small print and gaps.
The desire to win is big.

Sigh. One day you might get around to reading the regulations and possibly even manage to understand that they are actually strong enough and flexible enough to be enforced on very little, if any, hard evidence. What is clearly lacking is the will and commitment to do so.

[Latecomer]

Regardless of Whose "Gig" it is Rugby League have shown it can be done & it does make Rugby Union pretty much found wanting or deficient.

But we don't know that anyone has done it. For all we know the investigation was carried out, it was found there was no case to answer and everything was kept confidential as per regulation.

If the above is the case, why did two clubs make significant payments to PR to keep matters confidential? No smoke without fire.

[drc_007]

Iain: If that is the case & the regulations don't permit exposure of those details, then even more so Rugby Union is found wanting & deficient

On that we agree.

+1

[BengalTiger]

The RFU are guardians of the good name of Rugby Union, ( I know, I know but in theory OK) The RFU could have instigated a charge of bringing the game into disrepute against Premiership Rugby, or at least threatened it for the perceived connivance in covering up industrial scale cheating.
Small infractions used to be investigated and points deducted but now it is like the old saying, steal a quid and you are in front of the beak, steal a million and you get a knighthood.

[Smudge]

The opinion among well placed people I have known for many years is that the
2 clubs did indeed breech the salary cap and by some distance.
Much of it was by creative accounting but would not be difficult to prove.
The fact that it was covered up is a matter of much regret to them (and me).

[Roly]

The opinion among well placed people I have known for many years is that the
2 clubs did indeed breech the salary cap and by some distance.
Much of it was by creative accounting but would not be difficult to prove.
The fact that it was covered up is a matter of much regret to them (and me).

The clubs in question were aided and abetted by most of the other AP clubs, only three advocated an investigation (IIRC). So either just two were guilty and the others decided to close ranks (unlikely), or two were almost certainly guilty and others were close enough to the edge that they could easily have been found guilty if an investigation had been undertaken.

Turkeys don't usually vote for Christmas, nor do they make glass nests and throw stones as far as I know.

[mol2]

Near impossible to police and probably even loss possible to enforce.
Rich clubs can afford the legal teams to identify and explore the loopholes in the cap.

The spirit of the cap is clear, but to uphold it requires all clubs to honour the spirit rather than exploit the small print and gaps.
The desire to win is big.

Sigh. One day you might get around to reading the regulations and possibly even manage to understand that they are actually strong enough and flexible enough to be enforced on very little, if any, hard evidence. What is clearly lacking is the will and commitment to do so.

If you are right clearly there is no breaches of the salary cap.

I think the recent Panama document leaks suggest there is ample scope for removing income, earnings and investments from easy scrutiny of those with the legal powers to do so. Do you really think a Swiss bank is going to divulge payments made by a corporate sponsor to a trust (of which a player is a beneficiary) on the say so of a PRL investigator? They won't do it for governments, Police and Tax officials. Your faith in the small print (of the salary cap agreement) is laudable.

The backers of some teams are wealthy enough to know (or have legal people who know) there way around the details of international financial laws and can find ways of legally paying players more than the salary cap rules permit.
I refer to the salary cap as a rule (I know rugby refers to its rules as laws, but in reality they are rules that the teams have contracted to abide by - civil and not criminal)

Whether they do or not we can only speculate until someone blabs but I doubt that will happen because there will no doubt be financial consequences for the individual!