What happens on the Gold Coast doesn’t always stay on the Gold Coast — like Phil Gould’s spray of Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo at a function at the Sheraton Grand Mirage on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs general manager of football was one of several guest speakers at the Leagues Club Australia National Conference and, according to four unaligned sources in the room, ripped into the ARL Commission chairman and NRL chief executive while dropping a few jovial f-bombs along the way.
At the heart of the attack was the ongoing dispute between head office with the clubs over funding the players’ new collective bargaining agreement which has essentially turned into an ugly war of words in the media. Seen that movie before.
Gould was aggrieved about the fact the rugby league financial year had ticked over on November 1 without the salary cap in place. As the man charged with making the Bulldogs’ cap fit since coming on board last year, you can understand his frustration.
Rugby League Players Association boss Clint Newton also received a few jabs for taking too long to get the CBA finalised.
There were more than 450 people representing leagues clubs from around the country in the room, as well as representatives of the state leagues, so Gould’s remarks were going to leak into the public at some point.
Canterbury general manager of football Phil Gould.Credit:Getty
NRL head of football Graham Annesley also spoke at the conference, although he wasn’t in the room when Gould spoke. The pair passed in the foyer upstairs as Gould was ducking into a meeting room.
Gould and V’landys have had an indifferent relationship since V’landys became chairman just over four years ago.
They had a serious fallout over the high-tackle crackdown V’landys instigated last year. Gould thought it was too heavy-handed and the pair clashed in an interview for Channel Nine.
But, as I understood it, they’d patched things up. As did V’landys, who was taken aback when approached for comment on Thursday afternoon, telling me they had met in the offices at Racing NSW just a few days ago.
“Gus and I are a hundred per cent,” V’landys said. “He’s entitled to his opinion. But when the facts come out, his opinion will be wrong. When the facts come out everyone will have a different perspective.”
Nine host James Bracey interviewed Gould on stage and we’re told it felt like a jazzed-up version of 100% Footy.
Bracey also asked Gould the age-old question about taking on the role of NRL chief executive. Gould responded with his favourite line: “I could do it in my lunch hour.”
Gould declined to comment but did accuse your humble correspondent of “cheap reporting”.
Harry’s not so wild about Peter
V’landys has a bridge to mend with one of rugby league’s biggest stars after taking a cheap shot at Kangaroos star Harry Grant.
The Storm hooker is one of the most articulate figures in the game, but was smashed up for saying players were “better off getting on the tools”.
If you clicked beyond the Instagram headline, you’d have realised he was talking about development players on $60,000 a year.
Perhaps V’landys should’ve read the story, too, after telling News Corp: “I don’t see too many carpenters earning $500,000 a year.” Grant, we’re told, is unimpressed.
We’re told the remarks went down like a pint of nails in Manchester where Grant and the Kangaroos are preparing for their World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Leeds on Saturday morning AEDT.
V’landys has told those close to him the comments were taken out of context.
Arnie sticks with his army
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has revealed he knocked back an offer from a Major Soccer League side in July so he could lead his side at the World Cup later this month.
“I got an offer two days ago to go to the MLS,” Arnold told me during an interview at the time for Good Weekend. “A good club in America. I said just I can’t do it. I bleed green and gold. If this was any other job, I would’ve walked away two years ago. I just can’t. It’s my country.”
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has an eye on the future.Credit:Getty
Arnold, who announced his squad earlier this week, is focused on Qatar but has been around too long to not have an eye on the future.
It’s fair to say the 58-year-old has a strained relationship with Football Australia execs, which eased only slightly after the Socceroos qualified.
He discussed his future with the Herald last week talking about his future. It was strategic: his contract ends at the same time as Australia’s run at the World Cup and he wanted it known that he’s got options before he was potentially “sacked”.
The Good Weekend piece will appear in Saturday’s Herald.
Oh Sepp, why more blathering
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter just couldn’t help himself.
On the eve of the World Cup, he told Swiss media outlet Tamedia that Qatar should never have been awarded the hosting rights to this year’s tournament.
“It’s a country that’s too small,” the 86-year-old said. “Football and the World Cup are too big for that.”
The remarks must have rekindled nightmarish memories for former Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy and everyone involved in Australia’s disastrous bid in 2010.
After ploughing $46 million of taxpayers’ money into the campaign, Australia polled just one vote in the first round. Blatter told Lowy that the solitary vote was his – a claim also made by other members of the executive committee.
So very, very FIFA.
Ian Roberts Day could work
Earlier this week, this column wrote the NRL wasn’t ready for a Pride Round, which former Manly enforcer and proud gay man Ian Roberts has been suggesting for years.
One reader, Mark Bailey, suggested an alternative: “If a Pride Round is too hard, what about an ‘Ian Roberts Day’ where all players wear the number No.8 or No.10? Much like Major League Baseball and Jackie Robinson day when everyone wears No.42. People have their beliefs, but no one can dispute he was both a brilliant player and a trailblazer.”
Not the worst idea. Might be something for the NRL to consider.
THE QUOTE
“The rats don’t run this city — you do!” — A banner in the crowd at the New York marathon. Kenyans Evans Chebet and Sharon Lokedi outran the rats, squirrels, raccoons, oppressive heat and humidity to win the iconic race.
Australian boxer Jeff Fenech after his “loss” to Azumah Nelson.Credit:Craig Golding
THUMBS UP
History squares the ledger eventually and so it did when the World Boxing Council overturned the outrageous decision from judges in 1991 to call the fight between Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson a draw, handing Fenech his fourth world title.
THUMBS DOWN
This column has never been a massive fan of T20 cricket, including the World Cup. But why should we care if Australian cricketers do not, as per the remarks of Glenn Maxwell, who said the side’s hasty exit “didn’t really matter”. Great chat.
It’s a big weekend for … Pakistan, who have become THE story of the T20 World Cup after reaching the final at the MCG on Sunday. It’s all there in the infectious way batting coach Matthew Hayden speaks about the side. “Nothing beats subcontinental emotion,” he said.
It’s an even bigger weekend for … the Kangaroos as they meet New Zealand in their World Cup semi-final at Elland Road on Saturday morning AEDT. Mal Meninga’s side has had a soft run all tournament, and now come up against a Kiwis side that just snuck home against Fiji. Samoa meet England at Emirates Stadium — Arsenal’s home ground — in the second semi.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
