Sydney, April 24: Australia’s disgraced rugby league champions Melbourne Storm vowed “no surrender” on Saturday in the wake of a salary cap scandal which has cost the club two titles and left it fighting for survival.
Coach Craig Bellamy, flanked by solemn-looking players, appeared before media for the first time since the crisis broke on Thursday, vowing to fight back on the field and appealing to fans for support.
“We know we will be investigated. We welcome that,” Bellamy said, reading from a prepared statement.
“I love this club. I love these players. These players love our club. This is a great club, a strong club, a very proud club.
“This is why we stand here today united. We aren’t going anywhere. We aren’t going to surrender.”
The National Rugby League and World Club champions are battling an exodus of sponsors and supporters after the NRL’s punitive crackdown over a five-year, 1.7-million-dollar (1.5 million US) systemic cheating of the salary cap.
Melbourne were stripped of their 2007 and 2009 championship titles, docked all the points they have earned and will earn for the rest of the 2010 season, and fined 1.6 million dollars.
The NRL has also threatened to throw the team out of next year’s competition if they cannot meet the salary cap, which will force them to ditch one or more of their stars — Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith or Cooper Cronk.
Angry fans reacted by dumping merchandise at the club, while others pledged to maintain their support, making for an uncertain reception when they play New Zealand Warriors at home at the 50,000-capacity Docklands stadium on Sunday.
“We will not walk away from this challenge, we will stand up for ourselves and we will fight our way back from here,” Bellamy said. “That fight starts today, and tomorrow it starts on the field.”
Reports on Saturday said the club’s owner News Ltd has handed documents detailing illegal third-party payments to three players to the NRL’s salary cap auditor.
The Sydney Morning Herald said the documents refer to payments due to have been made this year and are disguised as third-party sponsorship deals.
The Daily Telegraph said the dossier also contains letters of offer to three of the Storm’s biggest names, with former chief executive Brian Waldron’s alleged signature guaranteeing illegal third-party agreements to all three.
Waldron, said by News Ltd boss John Hartigan to be the alleged “architect” of the deception, resigned on Friday from his current employers, Super 15 rugby union club Melbourne Rebels.
Greg Baxter, News Ltd’s director of corporate affairs, told the Herald: “They are copies of letters to three different player agents from Waldron, in late 2008 and early 2009.
“Each letter details schedules of payments to be made to three Storm players. All three letters are signed by Waldron. Two of the three letters have been signed by a player and their agent, and one has also been signed by a witness.”
Media said the Victorian Fraud Squad had begun preliminary inquiries, with detectives contacting forensic investigators attached to accounting firm Deloitte.
The Australian Tax Office would not comment on a report that it was also taking an interest in the matter.
After three sponsors withdrew their backing on Friday, News Ltd said it intended to prop up the disgraced club indefinitely.
“There is a possibility that the club might fold but we have strong support from News Ltd, who wants to keep rugby league alive and well in (the state of) Victoria and has indicated they will help the Storm rebuild,” Melbourne chairman Rob Moodie said.
Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Storm’s offences as the “worst possible breach”, reflecting the depth of feeling surrounding the case in sports-obsessed Australia.
—Agencies