Carlton salary cap

[Waltzing St Kilda]

No surprises here but worth dwelling on anyway:



A PLAYER agent at the centre of the Carlton salary cap scandal has confessed to receiving $750,000 in secret cash payments across multiple seasons.

David Allison, who became a quadriplegic after a 2007 car accident in Port Douglas, has detailed the extent of his involvement in the cheating saga that continues to haunt the Blues 16 years after the AFL handed down its devastating penalties.

Asked how much money he had received in under-the-table player payments in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Allison told the Herald Sun: “Across a five-year period - there would be no doubt in my mind it would be three-quarters of a million bucks.

“It was always cash .... and it wasn’t only me that was paid that type of money.

“In those days there was a lot of cash money made available - and I know for a fact that it still goes on today - but not to the degree that it did back in those days.”

Carlton was fined almost $1 million and stripped of a suite of prized draft picks over the rorting scandal in November 2002.

Past and present club figures contacted by the Herald Sun insist deep divisions remain at Carlton as a result of the AFL investigation.

Blues list boss Stephen Silvagni was one of three players who agreed to co-operate with AFL investigators at the time - a move that still angers supporters of outspoken ex-president John Elliott.

Allison said the cash payments, usually arriving in brown paper bags, were always made by a wealthy third-party businessman, who he declined to name, and never came directly from the club.

He claimed club sponsors were also involved in complex financial arrangements involving players’ private companies.

Although his players always declared the extra payments with the tax office, they were kept secret from the AFL, Allison said. He stressed no laws were broken.

The ex-agent represented about 10 Carlton players through the period investigated by the AFL, including 1995 premiership stars Anthony Koutoufides and Fraser Brown. Players publicly linked to the scandal at the time included Brown, Silvagni, Craig Bradley and Stephen O’Reilly.

Koutoufides was not involved but another Allison client, Blues ruckman Matthew Allan, was also sanctioned for receiving undisclosed payments.

“There was a lot of innuendo at the time that Kouta was earning this, he was earning that,” Allison said.

“And if Kouta was getting paid $1 million a season that left f..k all to be paid to so many players, and that’s what I think instigated the whole investigation.”

Silvagni and Bradley told the AFL the extra money they were promised by the club was never paid.

Allison said he had been tipped off about the Carlton investigation well before the story was made public in August 2002

“The AFL were investigating it before then, believe me,” he said.

“It was actually a committee man that told me some inquiries were being made.

“They contacted me a few times to say that there were a few issues that they had to be careful of and mindful of.”

Pressed on the identity of the bagman behind the salary cap scandal, Allison said: “A very wealthy businessman. I can’t say who, mate.”

He said the cash would be discreetly dropped off at his Parkville office “probably twice a year”.

Key players in the saga including Brown, Silvagni and Allan declined to comment this week. Bradley did not return a call.


https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...k ... 1532594962

[rodgerfox]

What??! Silvagni didn't return a call?? Outrageous.

[Enrico_Misso]

Paperbaggers.

If there is truly karma then this mob should never ever win another flag.

[desertsaint]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

[Moods]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

[ace]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

Do a full investigation now.
Throw them out of the competition for cheating.
They deserve it and so do their supporters.
Replace them with a team from Tasmania.

Oops! who wins the wooden spoons if Carlton aren't there ?

[ace]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

Do a full investigation now.
Throw them out of the competition for cheating.
They deserve it and so do their supporters.
Replace them with a team from Tasmania.

Oops! who wins the wooden spoons if Carlton aren't there ?

Off course the players will need to be distributed to other clubs by way of a special draft.
We could have pick No1 in that draft if we finish 2nd bottom - We take Cripps

[ace]

Rich Carlton supporting businessmen willing to cheat who would it be ?
Elliot
Pratt
Others
All of the above.

[Cairnsman]

It's a little unrelated, however I've had a wry grin everytime "integrity" has been mentioned as a reason we shouldn't trial new rules during a home and away season. How many other ways is the competition compromised to the point the poorer clubs find it difficult to get on a level playing field.

[George27]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

Moods - I wouldn't be giving credit to the NRL. All the NRL Powerbrokers - and the Sydney clubs and public - hate the Storm ( who rolled over the coped the punishment without a yelp ) They would have been too scared to take a flag off a Sydney team - likewise the AFL with Carlton.

[Crossy66]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

Not so sure about the NRL having balls. as i recall it, Storm werent on their own, Manly cheated by more and didnt suffer anywhere near the same penalty. Seems it was a Sydney vs Melbourne thing

[Crossy66]

Rich Carlton supporting businessmen willing to cheat who would it be ?
Elliot
Pratt
Others
All of the above.

Could probably add the pokies man and current powerbroker, Bruce Matheson to that list

[Scollop]

There is a shitload of money coming in to the powerhouse clubs. With clubs like Collingwood having massive memberships for most of the last ten years and the best and most lucrative sponsors you wonder where all this money is going

The way the Collinhwood list has been constructed in the last few years has me baffled how they've stayed under the salary cap. Scott Pendlebury, Steel Sidebottom, Jamie Elliot, James Aish, Brodie Grundy, Jeremy Howe, Adam Treloar, Taylor Adams, Trav Varcoe, Daniel Wells and then...after accomodating all these blokes they can afford $500,000 a year for Chris Mayne.

They probably freed up a little with Cloke going to the Dogs but the signing of Grundy and others would have easily taken up the slack wouldn't it? If they are paying Mayne half a million per year what are they paying the others?

[CarlD]

if there was karma the afl would have done a full investigation and stripped the 95 flag from them. gutless.

Correct. They cheated. Was quite clear they cheated. At least the NRL had the balls to strip Storm.

Not so sure about the NRL having balls. as i recall it, Storm werent on their own, Manly cheated by more and didnt suffer anywhere near the same penalty. Seems it was a Sydney vs Melbourne thing

Management of the NRL is an even larger mismanaged chook raffle than the AFL (if you can believe that). Start with the NRL's version of a salary cap, refereeing, the bunker and go from there.

[saintspremiers]

LET ‘EM ROT!