'Investment' deals not smart practice
Thomas Arup | April 6, 2008 | The Age
TOP player manager Dan Richardson would have advised Ben Holland differently if the former Tiger had been his client in the wake of revelations Holland had sued his former club.
Richardson, who works for Elite Sports Properties, tells his clients not to accept any contract offers where investment opportunities are part of a package, he said yesterday.
And AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson told The Sunday Age the league had no objections to investment deals being included in contract negotiations, as long as they were declared within the salary cap.
Holland is suing former Richmond president Clinton Casey and the Richmond Football Club for $530,000 over "investment opportunities" — the amount being the difference between Richmond's three-year offer and one he says was offered by Adelaide.
Richardson said players, like private citizens, should be free to make commercial investments but the practice became a grey area when part of contract negotiations.
"It is not something that I've experienced very often …" he said.
"It is certainly not an area that we would advise players they should go near … As a general rule, players are paid a salary … Why on earth you would accept a lower salary based on the return of an investment somewhere else down the track, I don't know."
According to the writ lodged in the Supreme Court last year, the "opportunities" included the offer to purchase land in a Sandhurst property development before it went on the market, a share portfolio that "was expected to rise in value" but didn't and work as a podiatrist — Holland is a qualified podiatrist — in Casey's aged-care homes.
Holland, now with Melbourne, was quoted in The Australian newspaper on Friday saying he felt a "carrot was dangled" in his face to keep playing at Richmond and he felt cheated by Casey's promises.
"People make promises and representations. I know for a fact I am not the only one out there that it has happened to. I have had calls from other players. Clubs have to be more accountable for what they say to entice players to stay," Holland said.
Anderson said yesterday that an audit of all player investments was underway by AFL investigations manager Ken Wood.
"The main concern is that we have is to ensure players aren't being paid outside the salary cap. The salary cap is fundamental to the evenness of the competition," he said.
"What we want to make sure is that the salary cap is not being defeated by payments which are disguised as investments."
AFL Players Association president Brendon Gale refused to comment on the specifics of the Holland case but said yesterday: "I think it is very important from an administrative point of view, I think it is very important for a club, I think it is very important for players that if promises are made or undertakings are given, whether that is clubs or players or other people, that people and parties are accountable for those."
Expert advice indicates that if there are to be recriminations against Richmond for salary-cap breaches and for Holland to successfully claim the $530,000 sum that he says is owing, he must prove:
■That Casey made promises that the investments would increase in value and help to bridge the difference between the Richmond and Adelaide offers, and
■That the value of the "opportunities" was below normal commercial rates and not declared in the salary cap.In 2004, Holland and Mark Brayshaw, then Richmond chief executive, met Andrew Demetriou, then AFL football operations manager, to discuss any salary-cap implications of the deal. Holland and Brayshaw told Demetriou they believed the deal did not breach salary-cap regulations and Demetriou believed the matter was closed, he said on radio on Friday.
Later, an investigation by Ken Cross found that the property Casey offered to other Richmond players at the time was sold at market value.
Holland said in a statement on Friday he hoped the claim could be settled through the players' association grievance tribunal. That process would require the voluntary involvement of Casey.
Casey is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/investment-deals-not-smart-practice/2008/04/05/1207249552445.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
