Brian Waldron has resigned as chief executive of the new Melbourne Rebels Super 15 franchise after he was named as the chief culprit in a sensational cheating scandal from his time in charge of the Melbourne Storm rugby league team.
Australian sport has been rocked by news of long-term, systemic salary cap breaches by the Storm, who have been stripped of two National Rugby League premierships from the past three years and fined A$1.6 million as part of their punishment.
Waldron was chief executive of the Storm over that period, before leaving to join the Super 15 expansion Rebels franchise in January this year. Waldron resigned from the Rebels post early on Friday morning, just hours after the shocking revelations came to light.
The police have been called in to investigate the breaches and there is a possibility Waldron could face fraud charges, since he knowingly signed false declarations of the Storm's finances.
Waldron's exit from the Rebels setup will be a welcome development for Australian Rugby Union officials, given the likelihood of a Melbourne backlash against any club with him involved. Rebels chairman Harold Mitchell announced on Friday that Waldron had stepped down and Pat Wilson will be the acting CEO.
Mitchell told SEN radio Waldron had "offered his resignation on the spot and the board has accepted that. And we announce that acting CEO will be Pat Wilson, administrator with us, who has a long history of administration at the ARU and is well known to the players. (It's) a sad day for sport in many ways, but we have to act in the interests of the Rebels and that's what we've done."
Mitchell said he spoke to Waldron on Thursday night and admitted he was concerned for his former chief executive on a personal level.
"He was pretty shaken, no surprises there," Mitchell said. "I was certainly worried about individuals - they've got families and people around them and great pressures on them. If you stand back from a little bit of it; if you're in public life, the public own you, and it's all over it. So I was just concerned for him as a person."
One of the Rebels' marquee signings for next season, former Australia skipper Stirling Mortlock, is confident that the infrastructure at the Rebels will ensure that their preparations will not be too badly affected by Waldron's adverse publicity.
"To be honest I only heard of it [the salary cap scandal] last night when I went to the airport to fly up to Sydney," Mortlock said. "It's hard for me to comment but basically I'm very confident that the Rebels as an organisation - the status-quo will remain. Obviously I had met Brian so I'd imagine it's a tough time for him.
"It's not different from usual for me. At the moment it's all about talking to Rod, talking to other guys who have already signed and start formulating what we're going to do next year, so probably that'll just keep on going."
Aside from the Waldron link, the Storm scandal could give the Rebels a boost as supporters and sponsors abandon the rugby league team and seek out pastures new. Mitchell said the Rebels would not seek to benefit at the expense of others.
The long-term future of the Storm is in serious doubt since the club was only just making an imprint on the AFL-loving Melbourne market despite being one of the most successful NRL clubs. Given that success was only achieved by illegal means, and that there will be an immediate backlash from an army of betrayed fans, it's difficult to picture how a club that was already losing money can bounce back.
Storm chairman Dr Rob Moodie said on Friday that Waldron apologised to him earlier this week as the breaches started to surface, and offered the excuse that every NRL club is doing the same thing. The Storm were set to exceed the A$4.2 million salary cap, to be paid to the top 25 players at the club, by A$700,000 this season.