Melbourne Rebels 2024

[Tazzmania]

As per the ATO:

Does your company have an overdue debt?

Company directors are responsible for ensuring their company's tax and super obligations are reported and paid on time.

If your company has an overdue debt with us and doesn’t pay the amount owing or contact us to make other arrangements, we may issue a director penalty notice (DPN).

DPNs are issued to current directors and anyone who was a director at the time the company failed to pay. They make the director personally liable if a company has failed to meet its pay as you go withholding, goods and services tax and superannuation guarantee charge obligations.

 

[Strewthcobber]

If reports are true, up to 5 years worth of players and staff taxes haven't been paid to ATO.

How is this even possible? How is it a surprise and just coming out now? Surely that has to appear in a financial statement somewhere?

 

[Adam84]

If reports are true, up to 5 years worth of players and staff taxes haven't been paid to ATO.

How is this even possible? How is it a surprise and just coming out now? Surely that has to appear in a financial statement somewhere?

If true it also predates covid and the reductions in Super Rugby Grants from RA(by both time and value) by a decent margin, which has been the main item of blame up until now.

 

[Slim 293]

Surely RA step in somehow? That's quite incredible negligence on the part of the directors. They can't have known they would be held personally liable?

I mean, if there were a group of people who should know...

Now embattled chair Paul Docherty, prominent contracts barrister Tim North, KC, lobbyist Gary Gray, angel investor Lyndsey Cattermole, fund manager Georgia Widdup, forensic accountant Owain Stone and shopping centre adviser Neil Hay face financial penalty for their voluntary board roles.

... it's definitely this group.

I'd like to know what Owain has been up to...

 

[Rebel man]

Because of their own poor work? I wouldn’t blame the team.

Not really there fault rugby Australia rip off the clubs. What are the rebels meant to do? The comp rules are they pay 90% of the cap, that is less than the RA funding

 

[Adam84]

Not really there fault rugby Australia rip off the clubs. What are the rebels meant to do? The comp rules are they pay 90% of the cap, that is less than the RA funding

I agree that funding cut has pushed clubs to the brink, but even if you factor that in it's a $5.1million cut over 3 years which means there is still another $6.5million owing to the ATO on top of what the RA grant would have been, and 'allegedly' another $8-9million owing to creditors like AAMI Park which the board members need to answer for.

 

[Tazzmania]

If the salary cap is $5,5 m which I think it is, as per the 2022 Rugby Australia Financials (2023 still to be released)

Rebels got pretty close to the 90% you said they did not get:

If anyone was under done over the two years covered in the statements it was WA rugby and the Western Force

 

[Rebelsfan]

Surely RA step in somehow? That's quite incredible negligence on the part of the directors. They can't have known they would be held personally liable?

I'm pretty sure the legal eagle brain that is Tim North would have known that he and the others were personally liable for this debt. He may have thought he could manoeuvre his way out of it but the ATO is a cold heartless beast.

 

[Rebelsfan]

I mean, if there were a group of people who should know...



... it's definitely this group.

I'd like to know what Owain has been up to...

Yes, and let's recall that when Andrew Cox returned the Rebels to Vic Rugby in 2017 it had a clean balance sheet - there were no debts on it - all tax and other creditors had been paid. So since then, who was in charge of ensuring the statutory taxes were being paid?

 

[Dctarget]

This rugby academy gets underprivileged kids back to school. The collapse of the Melbourne Rebels would be ‘devastating’

This rugby academy has changed lives. Its founder is losing sleep over what will happen if the Melbourne Rebels collapse.

t.co

 

[Strewthcobber]

If the salary cap is $5,5 m which I think it is, as per the 2022 Rugby Australia Financials (2023 still to be released)

Rebels got pretty close to the 90% you said they did not get:

To be fair, all teams have had a fair cut from 2018 & 2019 days (Rebs were up to $7.5m a year I think), and they now have to fund a (semi?) professional women's team with that grant money as well

 

[Scooter]

I'm pretty sure the legal eagle brain that is Tim North would have known that he and the others were personally liable for this debt. He may have thought he could manoeuvre his way out of it but the ATO is a cold heartless beast.

Rebelsfan I agree. The ATO would be the last entity that I would leave unpaid.

 

[ForceFan]

but the ATO is a cold heartless beast.

As a taxpayer, I'm happy for the ATO to be looking after my interests.
The rebels should have been "giving Caesar what is due to Caesar".

 

[Dctarget]

As a taxpayer, I'm happy for the ATO to be looking after my interests.
The rebels should have been "giving Caesar what is due to Caesar".

as a tax payer? No other vested interest? absolutely no other bias in there ForceFan?

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Not really there fault rugby Australia rip off the clubs. What are the rebels meant to do? The comp rules are they pay 90% of the cap, that is less than the RA funding

How about they run their business and find other ways to increase revenue rather than just blame RA.

 

[Rebel man]

How about they run their business and find other ways to increase revenue rather than just blame RA.

And that’s exactly why every Aussie club is in debt and forecasting a loss. Because of rugby Australia. Both the NRL and AFL take care of the salary caps they distribute roughly 130% of the cap to the clubs. RA is asking all the Super clubs to live beyond their means

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

And that’s exactly why every Aussie club is in debt and forecasting a loss. Because of rugby Australia. Both the NRL and AFL take care of the salary caps they distribute roughly 130% of the cap to the clubs. RA is asking all the Super clubs to live beyond their means

No the reason there is a salary cap is because they can't be trusted not too

 

[Rebelsfan]

How about they run their business and find other ways to increase revenue rather than just blame RA.

That would be the job of the CEO - to generate further revenue ... Baden....

 

[Rebel man]

No the reason there is a salary cap is because they can't be trusted not too

You have NFI. If the code can’t fund the minimum cap spend and all the clubs are in debt and pretending losses this year than the issues is with the game

 

[hoggy]

How about they run their business and find other ways to increase revenue rather than just blame RA.

They should be blaming the RA for continuing to include them in a competition not fit for purpose.

There is no tribalism, scheduling is crap, basically just Test trial teams, no genuine growth, how do you sell membership when you can't guarantee your best players will be playing. and 100 other things that hold back the ability to attract a greater audience.

The Rebels are a symptom of a structure unfit for the marketplace.