The Shit Storm Rages On...

There's an old saying: Rugby Union is a thugs game played by gentlemen but Rugby League is a gentleman's game played by thugs. That may be true, but after the revelations this week, Rugby League is not only played by thugs, but also managed by fraudsters, cheats and devious hooligans.

The Melbourne Storm have lost premierships, sponsors and fans by the bucket load since revelations they have been rorting the salary cap for five (5) years came to light. It really shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Storm were conducting back-alley deals to sidestep the salary cap though. How else could they have maintained a dynasty of some of the most highly-regarded players for so long?

Of course, like the death of a flamboyant celebrity, jokes are flying around thick and fast about the Storm's little mishap. I heard one just yesterday that made me think: What do Jake Gyllenhaal, from Brokeback Mountain, and the Melbourne Storm have in common? They've both been fucked by a ledger. Which is true. It has been revealed that Storm management kept a record of their dodgy dealings, a bizarre move by any stretch of the imagination. Haven't they ever seen 'The Untouchables' or 'Casino'? Those two gangster movies taught me a great deal growing up: NEVER KEEP RECORDS OF YOUR BROWN BAG DEALINGS! It's corruption 101.

Now the newspapers around the country are calling this Australia's greatest sporting scandal, which is true. It has seen a couple of one-off's. First of all, the NRL's punishment against the Storm: stripping them of Premierships, Minor Premierships and declaring that the they will earn no premiership points for the rest of the season. Another first has seen sporting agencies around the country refunding a number of 'Wooden Spoon' bets. That's right kiddo, this is a humdinger.

Now the players are left to compete in a futile competition for the remainder of the year. The NRL are still digging for more dirt to find the depths of this farce. More heads will roll, that's for sure.

And me? Well, I'm going to sit back and watch this shit storm rage on with a slight grin, because the fact of the matter is, I was never much of a Storm fan to begin with.