It hasn’t been a terribly enjoyable two weeks.
My team lost a Grand Final in which we were widely tipped to win. We lost and we lost badly. It still is a bitter pill to swallow. Then, on Thursday evening, Emma Quayle from The Age dropped a bombshell. The Swans would receive a ban from trading and from signing free agents. As a staunch Blood, it was both unforeseen and unwelcome.
The AFL has declared that the Sydney Swans Football Club have been restricted to only trading in delisted free agents, players through the draft or rookie upgrades throughout the trade period for the next two years. Why, you ask? Well, as of now, nobody seems to have an answer. But surely for a team to be sanctioned by it’s own governing body it must have breached a rule?
» Discuss this article on the Swans Board
A Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in its current form has been in place with all Sydney Swans’ player contracts since 2008. The COLA allowance is 9.8% of the total Salary Cap. The allowance is paid for by, you guessed it, the AFL. In the off-season of 2012/2013 the Swans acquired the services of Kurt Tippett from Adelaide. As this signing came on the back of the 2012 premiership, the rumblings about the COLA being an unfair advantage had begun to gain momentum. Shortly after this signing, the then AFL CEO, Andrew Demetriou defended the allowance. “It’s not a secret. We went to the clubs and asked them as part of a unique cost – and the clubs all agreed,” Demetriou said.
In the off-season of 2013/2014, the Swans pulled off a miraculous recruiting coup, signing Buddy Franklin to a $10 million, 9-year deal. As the football world went into meltdown, accusations of using the COLA as a type of ‘slush fund’ to recruit star players arose. Influential figures such as Eddie McGuire and Dermott Brereton have led the charge throughout. The COLA has never been used as payment to recruit an individual player. Every player on the Swans’ list receives 9.8% of their entire contract as a Cost of Living Allowance. Again, this allowance is paid for by the AFL. The additions of Franklin and Tippett were made possible through outstanding list management, which has seen players such as Jude Bolton, Andrejs Everitt, Shane Mumford, Matt Spangher, Jesse White, Ryan O’Keefe, Nick Malceski, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Mitch Morton, Marty Mattner and Jed Lamb leave the club over the past two seasons.
Last year, an AFL sanctioned ‘equalisation focus group’ traveled to the USA. Only five clubs were involved. In what was a shrewd move on their behalf, the Presidents of two of the most profitable clubs in the league found themselves at the forefront of equalisation discussions. It was here, when Collingwood’s Eddie McGuire and Hawthorn’s Andrew Newbold began a concerted effort to have the Cost of Living Allowance disbanded. The perceived inevitability of the AFL caving in to such powerbrokers assisted the Swans’ decision to recruit Franklin. It was a ‘last hurrah’ that I firmly believe will end up being a bargain. But that’s a story for another day.
Earlier this year, the same two clubs were instrumental in influencing the outcome of the new ‘equalisation tax’. A tax in which was intended to close the gap between the top clubs and the bottom clubs, has instead appeared to have extended that gap. Geelong President Colin Carter stated that “The taxation has been hopelessly compromised because Eddie refused to pay it,” He also added that “Our club supported the genuine attempt to bridge the growing divide between the clubs but now it seems that the ones that shouted the loudest have been rewarded.” Equalisation only when it’s convenient then? Is that the case? As long as the wealthy Melbourne-based clubs and their current standing in the club-land pecking order aren’t affected, they’re happy. Happy to manipulate any proposed equalisation matter, so it works in their favour, that is. Even worse, the new regime at AFL House seems happy to play along.
And so, with equalisation at the forefront of footy discussion, the AFL informed the Sydney Swans in March this year, that the COLA would indeed be phased out, so that by 2017, it would be disbanded and a new ‘Rental Assistance Scheme’ would be brought in for players earning under $300,000 a season. Whilst unhappy that COLA would be phased out, the Swans complied. For the AFL to now issue the Swans with a directive that severely restricts their ability to improve their playing list for another two seasons then, is completely unjust. Actually, it’s bloody disgusting.
So, let’s recap. The AFL introduced the COLA. The rest of the competition agreed upon the terms. The Swans have never had any choice in the matter and were required by their governing body to pay the COLA to every player on their list. No breach of this rule has occurred. The AFL must approve every player contract, so they are fully aware of what the Swans’ players current COLA payments amount to. The current contracts include COLA as the club was informed they had until 2017 before it would be totally phased out. This week, the AFL gave the Swans an ultimatum: Stop paying COLA or we will impose the above-mentioned sanctions. Emma Quayle sums it up perfectly, when stating that “The Swans can’t simply stop paying COLA, because the money is written into existing contracts they are obliged to fulfill, that the AFL would never let them not fulfill, and that the league is actually a third party to”. However, in all of their wisdom, the AFL have decided that the Swans should be punished for complying with a rule that was established and enforced by their own governing body – themselves.
What is perhaps even more unnerving than the sanctions themselves is the deafening silence coming from the collective football media since the AFL released their statement on the matter. Is it a coincidence that the majority of this group resides in Melbourne? Is it a coincidence that much of the media throng has strong professional or personal connections to certain club administrators and is exercising their right to remain silent? I personally find it astounding that all season we are inundated with so called ‘experts’ forcing their opinions down our throats, on the most trivial of matters, yet when a story of such significance as this breaks, they are nowhere to be seen. Hmmmm….
Now, I love this game and I love my footy club. It is a part of who I am. We are a club who have faced traumatic times, now enjoying a sustained period of success. Success that wasn’t brought about by any subsidy paid by the AFL. We are a successful, respected and powerful club because of the incredibly hard-working staff and playing group. Us Bloods supporters couldn’t be prouder of our mob. That’s why copping such an unwarranted attack hurts so much. The punishment cannot fit the crime, because, well, there is no crime here. This ruling punishes everybody involved with this great and proud club.
You can debate the appropriateness of COLA all you like, but disgracefully, this club has been punished for following the rules. May sanity prevail, and if it doesn’t, may this spur the Sydney Swans onto even bigger and better things. Cheer, cheer.
