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Auckland Rugby League suspends directors; possible financial irregularities referred to police and Serious Fraud Office​

Auckland Rugby League has referred an investigation into possible financial irregularities over to police and the Serious Fraud Office. Photo / Photosport

Auckland Rugby League has suspended three of its board of directors after an investigation into possible financial irregularities in the organisation.

The matter has been referred to the police and Serious Fraud Office after a preliminary inspection by accounting firm PwC on instruction from the ARL management showed evidence of misapplied funds.

While ARL would not comment on the sum of those funds or clarify what was meant by financial irregularities when contacted by the Herald, chief executive Rebecca Russell said certain irregularities were initially identified in July 2023 and, since then, she and the ARL Governance team have been investigating the issues.

PwC was instructed in August 2023 to investigate the issue, which considered material starting in March of 2013 and running through to the present day.

Russell said yesterday while three had been suspended, the culpability of any person named in the initial report was yet to be determined.

Russell added the remaining four directors would continue to provide the governance necessary to ensure the ongoing activities and operations of ARL while a more comprehensive investigation is undertaken.

She confirmed that the organisation has been in touch with both police and the Serious Fraud Office, but did not yet have a timeframe of when the investigation might come to a conclusion.

Police have confirmed they received a report in relation to the matter and inquiries are ongoing.
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Hopefully they have insurance. Sucks the memorabilia is gone but if they do have insurance then something good can come from this.
 
tyrael said:
Hopefully they have insurance. Sucks the memorabilia is gone but if they do have insurance then something good can come from this.
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Nah mate, nothing good comes from this. I doubt insurance would be enough to build new clubrooms now. Feeling numb today, we've only been there for a few years but know multi generational families of players past and present who are really really hurting. I haven't heard much yet but it's possible that all the team uniforms could be gone too. You can run a club without a building but you can't play without uniforms.

Funny how it's been there for decades surrounded by state houses with no issues but within a year of the street being gentrified with flash new townhouses, that the scruffy old rugby league clubrooms goes up in flames.
 
Viking said:
Nah mate, nothing good comes from this. I doubt insurance would be enough to build new clubrooms now. Feeling numb today, we've only been there for a few years but know multi generational families of players past and present who are really really hurting. I haven't heard much yet but it's possible that all the team uniforms could be gone too. You can run a club without a building but you can't play without uniforms.

Funny how it's been there for decades surrounded by state houses with no issues but within a year of the street being gentrified with flash new townhouses, that the scruffy old rugby league clubrooms goes up in flames.
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Well hopefully ARL or Warriors can help get some fundraising going. As long as they own the land then something can be done.

Have got the off season to organize.

I think it's a stretch you inferring that someone well off set a fire.
 
tyrael said:
Well hopefully ARL or Warriors can help get some fundraising going. As long as they own the land then something can be done.

Have got the off season to organize.

I think it's a stretch you inferring that someone well off set a fire.
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Maybe. You can think what you like from the outside looking in but we've been playing there for 2 years and I've been going there for over 20 years. In the last year or so the whole region has changed completely. The back of Mt Albert is prime real estate and all the state houses are being replaced by lego townhouses and apartment blocks. I hope it isn't something that sinister and it's heartbreaking no matter what the cause is. The clubrooms also acted as a homework centre for local kids and I think there was childcare groups running out of there etc. The other community hub at the top of the street might be gone too so that more lego townhouses can be built on the land.

I don't know how involved you are in Auckland league but the sport as a whole was rocked by COVID, there's half the teams now that there were just 10 years ago. Some of the Fox teams have trouble feilding a reserves team each week. I've even seen Fox clubs struggle to field a premier team and seen a few get pumped by 100 points by the big dogs. It'll get worse when there's no juniors coming through. Some of the smaller clubs are gone completely.

The off season has about 4 months left. Nothing's getting built in that time. I don't know that clubs own the land that the clubrooms sit on either. They certainly don't own the playing fields. The best Marist can do is get uniforms ready for the start of the season realistically.

Fkn sux.
 
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Viking said:
Maybe. You can think what you like from the outside looking in but we've been playing there for 2 years and I've been going there for over 20 years. In the last year or so the whole region has changed completely. The back of Mt Albert is prime real estate and all the state houses are being replaced by lego townhouses and apartment blocks. I hope it isn't something that sinister and it's heartbreaking no matter what the cause is. The clubrooms also acted as a homework centre for local kids and I think there was childcare groups running out of there etc. The other community hub at the top of the street might be gone too so that more lego townhouses can be built on the land.

I don't know how involved you are in Auckland league but the sport as a whole was rocked by COVID, there's half the teams now that there were just 10 years ago. Some of the Fox teams have trouble feilding a reserves team each week. I've even seen Fox clubs struggle to field a premier team and seen a few get pumped by 100 points by the big dogs. It'll get worse when there's no juniors coming through. Some of the smaller clubs are gone completely.

The off season has about 4 months left. Nothing's get built in that time. I don't know that clubs own the land that the clubrooms sit on either. They certainly don't own the playing fields. The best Marist can do is get uniforms ready for the start of the season realistically.

Fkn sux.
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Gentrification has definitely seriously damaged a few club.

This was a good little doco about Richmond and Grey Lynn.

 
juju said:
Gentrification has definitely seriously damaged a few club.

This was a good little doco about Richmond and Grey Lynn.

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Aw bro, don't get me started on poor Richmond. Fkn council has wanted them out of Grey Lynn park for years so they can be replaced with soccer.

Marist is strong, they'll get through this slowly. A smaller club wouldn't survive losing their clubrooms though.

It's easy to assume that clubrooms can be replaced with insurance but it won't be enough. New clubrooms would be a million plus to build. How much do you think a club that only charges $40-$60 a player per season could afford to insure their building for? The ARL can't prop them up so the shortfall will have to come from the Marist community.
 
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Viking said:
Aw bro, don't get me started on poor Richmond. Fkn council has wanted them out of Grey Lynn park for years so they can be replaced with soccer.

Marist is strong, they'll get through this slowly. A smaller club wouldn't survive losing their clubrooms though.

It's easy to assume that clubrooms can be replaced with insurance but it won't be enough. New clubrooms would be a million plus to build. How much do you think a club that only charges $40-$60 a player per season could afford to insure their building for? The ARL can't prop them up so the shortfall will have to come from the Marist community.
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I can see your passion in your post bro.

I am sure when it settles in a couple of days, there will things like old boys coming out to help the club. This isn't a council issue. As I said, hopefully even the Warriors/Autex come on board since there are many ex-warriors players from the club.

Pt. Chev Pirates are also in a very nice neighbourhood too...just saying...
 
tyrael said:
I can see your passion in your post bro.

I am sure when it settles in a couple of days, there will things like old boys coming out to help the club. This isn't a council issue. As I said, hopefully even the Warriors/Autex come on board since there are many ex-warriors players from the club.

Pt. Chev Pirates are also in a very nice neighbourhood too...just saying...
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Yeah, I'm pissed off about it for sure. They'll rebuild eventually but in the meantime, Marist will lose juniors to other clubs. Whether they come back when Marist is back on its' feet is another story.

Pt Chev was gentrified decades ago when the property frenzy wasn't really a thing so the clubrooms aren't surrounded by new builds like Marist is now. And the Pt clubrooms themselves are down by the beach where a lot of people have always owned their houses. A lot of the old boys still live in the area too. Walker Park is much bigger than Murray Halberg and is used for soccer, cricket, athletics, league and tag and that's just the sports I know of. Murray Halberg is only used for league and tag. I'm sure that if you polled the owners of the new builds surrounding Marist, they would prefer that league wasn't there .....just saying...
 
tyrael said:
Viking said:
Aw bro, don't get me started on poor Richmond. Fkn council has wanted them out of Grey Lynn park for years so they can be replaced with soccer.

Marist is strong, they'll get through this slowly. A smaller club wouldn't survive losing their clubrooms though.

It's easy to assume that clubrooms can be replaced with insurance but it won't be enough. New clubrooms would be a million plus to build. How much do you think a club that only charges $40-$60 a player per season could afford to insure their building for? The ARL can't prop them up so the shortfall will have to come from the Marist community.
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I can see your passion in your post bro.

I am sure when it settles in a couple of days, there will things like old boys coming out to help the club. This isn't a council issue. As I said, hopefully even the Warriors/Autex come on board since there are many ex-warriors players from the club.

Pt. Chev Pirates are also in a very nice neighbourhood too...just saying...
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It would be good to see the Catholic diocese helping out. For years, many of us paid $$$ and not sure where that money went to.
Good luck to Marist.
 
Viking said:
Yeah, I'm pissed off about it for sure. They'll rebuild eventually but in the meantime, Marist will lose juniors to other clubs. Whether they come back when Marist is back on its' feet is another story.

Pt Chev was gentrified decades ago when the property frenzy wasn't really a thing so the clubrooms aren't surrounded by new builds like Marist is now. And the Pt clubrooms themselves are down by the beach where a lot of people have always owned their houses. A lot of the old boys still live in the area too. Walker Park is much bigger than Murray Halberg and is used for soccer, cricket, athletics, league and tag and that's just the sports I know of. Murray Halberg is only used for league and tag. I'm sure that if you polled the owners of the new builds surrounding Marist, they would prefer that league wasn't there .....just saying...
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Uniike Pt Chev and Grey Lynn, ‘white flight’ cannot be seen at Owairaka, so won’t see the same reaction … hopefully.
 
Looks like arsonist dealt to Marist Saints clubrooms. Can't read the Herald article this morning because it is behind a pay wall.
Headline suggests all was not well within the club, at least the administration and management.
Arsonist may be someone connected to the club?
 
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