NRL fines South Sydney over Arizona incident
Monday 2 March 2015 10:30, UK
South Sydney will be forced to hand over nearly half the £25,000 prize money they received for beating St Helens in the World Club Series after being punished over a training camp incident in Arizona.
Englishman Luke Burgess and former Rabbitohs captain John Sutton were arrested and later released without being charged following a bar-room bust-up at the end of the club's pre-season trip to the United States.
Burgess was subsequently released by the club and joined Manly Sea Eagles, while Sutton was relieved of the captaincy, but the NRL launched an investigation into the incident when it emerged that the charges against Burgess had been withdrawn after an agreement to pay compensation to the security guard involved in the incident.
The NRL has now announced it has fined the club 20,000 Australian dollars (£10,000) after "failing to follow the matter to its conclusion".
NRL chief operating officer Suzanne Young conceded that a "compromise agreement" is a legally acceptable way of dealing with "offences of this nature" in the State of Arizona.
However, she added: "I should stress that the integrity unit relies on the clubs to provide reliable and accurate information about any incidents involving their players.
"If clubs withhold information or fail to disclose the full details they face sanctions - as we have seen in this case."
Former Souths, Gateshead and Hull chief executive Shane Richardson, who started a new job as the NRL's head of strategy this week, has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but the verdict takes some of the gloss from the club's 39-0 victory over Super League champions St Helens last month.
In a statement, Souths said: "The club will consider its position on this matter over the next five business days and reserves the right to respond to the breach notice on both the merits of the findings and the severity of the proposed penalty."
The Rabbitohs begin their title defence against Brisbane Broncos on Thursday.
