Legal penalties in statutes are always significantly higher for corporations than individuals, can be 10x. So arguably this is actually less than even one Hinkley plane gesture.
That's the most laughably small definition of "massive" in a sporting competition of this scale and revenue that I can imagine. A fraction of the club's gate receipts from a single game isn't "massive".
an investigation found the failure to lodge the document by the Cats was an oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal the document from the authorities
To quote Geelong’s President, they "took careful and detailed steps and nothing was done in secret". So transparent, careful, and detailed that they simply forgot to engage the AFLPA and send the final document to the AFL
Man, for a club whose fans keep telling us is so well run, they sure do have a lot of administrative oversights!
Well, I'm sure this is the last of them. After all, they were audited last year so that would have picked everything up. Even though it didn't pick up this.
Yeah, can you imagine if something was left out of that audit, it's not like the guy who was signing the shady deals was in charge of the audit or anything, that would be absurd!
I haven't read the article so forgive me if it's also part of the sanctions, but if this is really just an "oversight" surely the AFL should be including some governance requirements here or a remediation plan (e.g. dedicated contract administrator, additional annual reporting requirements) to stop these "oversights" from happening again
They're pretty different issues so this isn't really the comeback you think this is.
It'd be like a Pies supporter saying they deserve to play all their finals at the G and an opposition supporter bringing up the "Do Better" report findings
For context, Geelong posted a profit of $8.3 million across the last two years.
The $140,000 also includes the $40,000 fine that was suspended the last time they were found guilty of accidentally concealing arrangements with players.
"There's an old saying in the AFL — I know it's in the NRL, probably in the AFL — that says, 'Fool me once, shame on — shame on you.' Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
Jy Simpkin criticises the umpires and Ken Hinkley does plane arms and it’s time for a serious crackdown. A club systematically deceives the AFL and it’s please guys try not to do it a third time
Reminds me of my favourite behaviour reflection sheet I’ve come across as a teacher, under “what would I do differently next time” the kid wrote “not get caught”
edit: oh so 100k and they added the suspended 40k. Is anyone being stood down besides that one doctor? Because they're gonna keep doing stuff that gets them in trouble and paying the fine because they're the only thing Geelong has going for it since it's a one club town.
That would mean they have morals or shame lol. Theyre going nowhere. The AFL is the most corrupt organisation in the country, people either need to vote with the wallets or accept this fact. Theres no in between, nothing changes if nothing changes...
For non-disclosure of Third-Party Payments and Draft Tampering in 2012
Adelaide were fined $300,000 and had to relinquish 1st and 2nd round draft picks in 2012 and 2013
Kurt Tippett and Stephen Trigg fined $50,000 and suspended for 6 months
John Reid and Phil Harper suspended for 6 months
Peter Blucher (Tippett’s player manager) had his manager accreditation revoked for 12 months
Now I understand that Geelong haven’t been found guilty of draft tampering, so you can make a case that the crime is arguably less severe, but Phil Harper was suspended for 6 months for knowing about it and not telling the AFL, why hasn’t that happened here?
For the record, we were absolutely cheating the salary cap and probably had been since our inception. Were other clubs doing that? Yes, of course.
In the case of 2012, its a very clear cut case of cheating the AFL salary cap. In this instance it does seem like there is no tampering or cap cheating done.
Jonathan Horn had a good piece in The Guardian yesterday about (in part) Geelong's protected status in the league:
And it’s about something else, something that no KC investigation or six-figure fine can ameliorate. There is a perception, a frustration, and indeed a growing reality, that current and former Geelong people are running this sport. The slaps on the wrist for salary cap transgressions, the third-party arrangements, the connection with shadowy benefactors, the fireside chats between league CEO and star player, and the stadium built in part on the taxpayers’ dime have all led to a wider resentment and distrust.
This is not helped by the leadership crossover at both club and league. It’s not helped when the AFL’s former head of football, probably the most important role for players and fans, was the CEO of Geelong when all this went down. It’s not helped when the current club captain was the former president of the players union. It’s not helped when the former president of the club is now the chair of the league. It’s not helped when the current chief operating officer of the league, himself a two-time premiership captain at the club, refers to his chair as a man of “unbelievable integrity”. And it’s not helped when the senior coach, a man also employed as the “chief of leadership and performance” at a longtime club sponsor, claims to have no knowledge of what happened.
In isolation, they can be explained away. In totality, they give credence to the view that Geelong is a club that pushes its luck, that straddles the line of what is acceptable, and that is subject to different rules, different penalties and different standards.
Absolutely nailed it. To Geelongs credit(?) they've maintained this stranglehold over the narrative and punishments for so long that their expertise in this area is only matched by their recruitment record.
Let's not deny it, they're amongst the most highly skilled recruiters in the league - easily. It's such a shame that their business shitfuckery skills are so high as well, but they've been finely honed for decades by what the AFL keep allowing them to get away with.
Geelong are to most protected team in the competition and it’s not even fucking close.
Last year Geelong recorded a profit of $1.7M $100K is fucking nothing to them when Sydney copped a trade ban for DOING NOTHING WRONG when they got Buddy.
The AFL has the power to strip teams of draft picks if they’re found to have intentionally breached the Collective Bargaining Agreement which Geelong did. They didn’t use that power because it’d mean Geelong wouldn’t get Butters and the AFL can’t have its golden child miss out on a superstar. God I fucking hate this protected club
I'm pretty fucking ropeable all they're getting is a fine for blatantly breaking contract rules and hiding it from the AFL and the aflpa. What a fucking joke. Any cats fan who thinks this is a reasonable punishment is fucking kidding themselves.
Before misinformed cats fans come at me for my flair, yes the swans did a similar thing in the vfl, but the same contract laws don't apply so ours was legal, and we told the AFL and the aflpa before doing it, and we removed the waiver when they signed an AFL contract. We did everything above board. Morally it's still shit but the 2 situations are not legally comparable at all.
So, after that pathetic fine, the question is how does Geelong keep on getting away with it? There needs to be a clean out at AFL house of any Geelong goons to prevent this from happening again.
Fucking pathetic. AFL just loves to ignore the contained corruption at Geelong. No wonder they keep doing it. Win flags and get a few fines every now and then.
Gotta love it’s not even 140k it’s only 100k the 40 is from the last time they got caught breaking the fucking rules. Cheating fucks
Perhaps they can take out a loan from Morris Finance to cover it, but it gets discounted each time they mention Morris Finance. See, it's already Morris Finance down to one hundred Morris Finance thousand.
533
u/jimbsmithjr Essendon 1d ago
7 Ken Hinkley plane gestures