The Melbourne Storm have qualified for Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) grand final, but the team has been hit with a record fine for criticizing the league over captain Cameron Smith’s suspension.
On Friday, the defending champion Storm beat the Cronulla Sharks 28-0. They’ll play the winner of yesterday’s other preliminary final between the Manly Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors in next Sunday’s grand final in Sydney.
Smith was suspended for two matches — ruling him out of the grand final — for an illegal tackle on Brisbane forward Sam Thaiday in last week’s semi-final win over the Broncos.
The NRL yesterday imposed a A$50,000 (US$41,400) fine on the Storm for comments made by coach Craig Bellamy and chief executive Brian Waldron over Smith’s suspension.
After Friday’s win, Bellamy criticized the league and media, and also intimated that betting on whether Smith would be suspended was heavily in favor of him being found guilty, and that it may have influenced the league judiciary.
“The other thing that was very smelly about the whole lot was when I saw in the paper on Wednesday morning and there’s a betting market — A$1.18 he’s going to be found guilty, A$4.25 he’ll be found innocent,” Bellamy said. “That’s a fair spread in a two-horse race.”
NRL chief executive David Gallop described the remarks by Bellamy and Waldron as “an unprecedented premeditated attack on the NRL and its judiciary system.”
“The accusations that they made were irrational, baseless and at times bordered on hysterical,” Gallop said. “Those accusations attack the integrity of the NRL and its judiciary system and for that reason on Monday they will receive a breach notice for the sum of US$50,000.”
The fine is an NRL record amount handed out to a club for commenting on the game.
Smith was suspended for a so-called “grapple” tackle, which the Storm has been accused throughout the season of using on opposition players. The high tackle targets the shoulders and head and critics say it can result in serious injury.
Waldron was critical of the system which allowed Sharks coach Ricky Stuart to make comments about Smith’s tackle, saying he was adamant those words influenced the judiciary.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB