MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Seven clubs in Australia’s top-flight National Rugby League have been slapped with fines for breaching salary cap provisions in an echo of the 2010 scandal that saw Melbourne Storm stripped of two championships.
The clubs were fined a total of A$503,407 (305,729 pounds) after the league completed an audit of the 2012 season, the NRL said in a statement on its website on Friday (www.nrl.com).
The Sydney-based Cronulla Sharks were the hardest hit with a A$150,000 fine, with the other affected clubs in the 16-team league fined between $4,700 and $144,393.
“The salary cap plays an incredibly important role in the competition and all clubs need to be accountable for staying within the limits of the cap,” NRL chief operating officer Jim Doyle said in the statement.
Melbourne Storm were plunged into crisis in 2010 after the NRL stripped them of their 2007 and 2009 titles, and fined them an Australian record A$1.7 million, for systematically cheating the salary cap over several years.
Storm were not one of the clubs fined this time around.
The clubs would have five days to appeal the sanctions, the NRL said.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
