Rugby league immortal Bob Fulton’s future in the game appears in grave doubt as the fallout from Manly’s salary cap breaches continues.
The NRL handed down a $750,000 fine to the Sea Eagles on Tuesday, wiping $330,000 out of this year and next year’s caps and suspending the registration of two past and present officials.
But the NRL were powerless to act on Sea Eagles legend Fulton, who they claimed had significant involvement in contract negotiations that saw a total of 13 players promised $1.5 million in payments outside the cap over the past five years.
“It’s fair to say Bob was heavily involved in negotiations for the period of time he worked at Manly,” NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
“Bob is not a registered official of the game and we have no ability to sanction any rules on people that sit outside the game. Bob worked there for a period of time but no longer works inside rugby league.”
Fulton played more than 200 games for Manly between 1966 and 1976, and was involved in their first three premiership-winning sides. He also coached the team to their 1987 and 1996 titles.
The 70-year-old arrived back at Manly as a consultant in 2015 and stayed with the club until he stepped away late last year.
His tenure as an Australian selector also ended after last year’s World Cup, and it appears significantly unlikely the NRL will nominate him when they announce a panel of selectors at the end of this year.
It’s understood Fulton was approached by the NRL to assist the investigation, but was unavailable for interview at the time.
The NRL said they would also have to consider any application Fulton made to return to a club in the same way they assess returning players to the sport who wish to have their contracts registered.
“Bob is an immortal first and foremost, that’s because of everything he did on the field and his achievements were nothing short of phenomenal,” Greenberg said.
“Again he’s not a registered official with rugby league, he has no standing inside rugby league as a registered official which means the rules we can apply to registered officials don’t apply.”
Fulton’s position in the game is further enhanced by the fact he coached Australia to World Cup titles in 1992 and 1995, while he was inducted as one of the four original immortals in 1981.
No players, third-party sponsors or Manly coaching staff were found to have committed any wrongdoing as part of the nine-month NRL investigation.