From my point of view, this is one massive joke!!! If you don't know what has happened, the National Rugby League (NRL) team, the Melbourne Storm have broken the salary cap. They have spent A$1.7m over the cap in the past five years. The players have apparently been given extra over the five years so the Storm can hold onto their marqee players. The farce is the punishment, the Storm have been stripped of their titles in 2007 and 2009, forced to repay A$1.1m in prize money (I think those two punishments are fair) but the final one is they have been stripped of their points so far this season (again fair) but will be unable to pick up any points for the remainder of this season!
Right, where to begin? The fact that all major sports and all major sports organisations do this in one way or another. Do football teams not offer players houses? Have you heard of the New York Knicks salary cap? Yeah, neither have they! All major sports teams do whatever it takes to keep their star players whether it be legal or not - these players put bums on seats and sells merchandise which in turn, makes the club more money to pay these players. I'm not endorsing cheating, but the penalty for something that happens often in sport, is not justified.
Lets look at the ramifications for this season. What a waste of time for the Storm. They can't be relegated as their is no lower league, they can't pick up any points, what incentive is there for the players, staff, fans to care? This is going to affect the whole competition, because some weeks the Storm will put out weakened teams (if not every week) and some weeks they'll put out stronger teams, effecting their opponents. Why didn't the NRL just strip them of their current points this year, and let them accumulate points from now on (let us assume they're still not going to be breaking the salary cap from now on). Because at least that way, with only four games played, they still have a realistic shot at making the playoffs, and it gives the organisation something to play for.
I'm not sure how loyal the players may be to the Storm, with nothing to play for this season, and depending on contracts (assuming they're still valid), some of the top-tier players may be tempted to go and join the Super League in England for a season and maybe more.
I hope for the Storm's sake that they can retain their top players, they go on and win every game this year, and stick it to the NRL for handing down such an obscene punishment.
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