Four former directors of National Rugby League side Parramatta Eels -- including two former Eels, Steve Sharp and NSW Rugby League board member Geoff Gerard -- "are set to be disqualified from the NSW club industry for up to three years" after being told this week they are not "fit and proper" people to serve, according to Nick Tabakoff of THE AUSTRALIAN. The ruling by the NSW chief clubs regulator, the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, "is expected to set a precedent for directors of NRL clubs, with potentially sweeping ramifications" for senior officials across the game. The ILGA told former Eels chair Sharp, ex-deputy chair Tom Issa and two other former directors, Peter Serrao and Gerard, of the ban late on Tuesday. The club "could still face" a potential maximum A$250,000 ($192,600) fine over "the directors’ actions in the lead-up to the club’s salary cap scandal last year." But senior rugby league sources said that the decision "could raise questions about Gerard’s role" on the NSWRL board. Gerard did not return calls on Thursday. The ruling "follows last year’s sensational removal of the entire Parramatta Eels board by the NSW government," following months of revelations from a News Corp. investigation about the former directors’ "alleged roles in the Eels salary cap affair" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/22).
