Sonny Bill's NRL legal bombshell
ROY MASTERS, ANDREW STEVENSON AND GEESCHE JACOBSEN
29/07/2008
THE Bulldogs defector Sonny Bill Williams will return fire against the NRL's legal threats by challenging its salary cap, a move that could destroy the financial foundations of Australia's four football codes.
The NRL and Bulldogs launched court action against Williams yesterday for what they say is breach of a "watertight" contract. But Williams's lawyers will argue that the salary cap is an unreasonable restraint of trade - and some legal experts suggest he could succeed.
Williams was stuck in London last night, with visa difficulties delaying his move to France, but before he fled the Bulldogs last Saturday a leading Sydney barrister prepared a legal strategy to challenge the salary cap, which sets a ceiling of the total amount clubs can pay their players.
If Williams, 22, was successful it would represent the worst nightmare for Australia's four football codes, which all rely on caps to restrain player payments.
The Bulldogs star has been summonsed to appear next Tuesday at a hearing of the NRL's and Bulldogs' application for an injunction to prevent Williams playing or training with a rugby club in France - provided lawyers can find and serve papers on him in person before 6pm on Sunday, Sydney time. Williams's lawyers will say the Bulldogs can pay more than his existing $450,000-a-year contract but are prevented from doing so by NRL rules that create salary parity across its 16 clubs. Williams is expected to earn the equivalent of $3 million for two years with the French club Toulon.
Should an Australian court find in favour of the New Zealand international, it would entitle the AFL Players' Association to challenge the Australian rules salary cap, dismantling a club structure that has preserved a competitive balance for 30 years and prevented billionaires such as the Carlton patron Dick Pratt spending whatever they wanted to plunder the talent of rivals.
The Australian Rugby Union also imposes "contracting protocols" which set maximums on what its four Super 14 clubs pay players, an arrangement even more vulnerable because it was reached without the input of its players' association. Soccer's A-League has a salary cap in place, with a single marquee player allowed to earn full market value.
The player manager Steve Gillis warned that several more NRL stars are on the verge of leaving the game. "They're looking for our very best players," he said. "They'll knock them off one by LEAGUE IN CRISIS 'Extradition treaties for criminals are one thing; a process to bring back runaway footballers quite another.'
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/sport/sonny-bills-nrl-legal-bombshell/1228760.aspx
