Does anyone remember what this fat fuck Palmer had to say about the arrival of AFL on the Gold Coast? Who's laughing now fatso.
Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer will go head-to-head with the FFA over Jason Culina's legal tussle
Tom Smithies
The Daily Telegraph
January 03, 201212:00AM
Powerful: Clive Palmer could walk away from the A-League. Picture: Mark Cranitch. Source: The Courier-Mail
SOCCER chiefs will be set on a collision course with maverick billionaire Clive Palmer if they lose their legal tussle with Jason Culina over the fact he was never insured to play in the A-League.
Culina was not insured by Palmer's Gold Coast United from the time he returned to play in the A-League in 2009, and a clause in the club's A-League licence means the iron ore magnate will be liable for the potentially $2 million-plus bill if the player's grievance action against Football Federation Australia is upheld.
Sources have confirmed that every owner has to indemnify FFA against any losses it incurs from their actions and the governing body's finances will be hard hit by a successful verdict for Culina.
But any attempt to extract the money from Palmer will be fraught with danger, as rumours continue to swirl that he is contemplating walking away from the A-League at the end of the season.
All of Gold Coast's players remain on one-year contracts and it is believed none have yet been offered terms for next season.
There are concerns that should FFA pursue Palmer, who has been at loggerheads with the governing body almost since Gold Coast joined the A-League in 2009, it will just provoke him to hand the club's licence back.
The merits of Culina's action have divided many in the game, with officials at various clubs believing it will not succeed on the basis that there is a common understanding in the game that marquee insurance is an issue between the individuals and their clubs. Other sources have questioned how Culina can claim a grievance given that his club, Newcastle Jets, continue to pay both his wages and medical bills as he bids to return to action for next season.
The Jets have no involvement in the insurance saga because they signed Culina knowing he had an injury, and was therefore uninsurable.
Though the club tried to have his contract set aside, relations between them and the player have recovered sufficiently for him to be continuing his rehab at the club's expense.
Because of the Christmas and New Year break, no date has yet been set for the hearing of Culina's claim against FFA, which will be heard by an independent arbiter under the A-League's code of conduct.
FFA plans to defend the Culina case on the basis it is the regulator of a competition and the players' employment relationships are between themselves and their clubs.
The crux of the case is likely to hinge on the degree to which the arbiter accepts the players' union argument, on Culina's behalf, that a clause in the terms covering all players stipulates FFA must ensure everyone who plays in the A-League is covered by insurance.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6235031282
..oh the viccky kicky pratt who said they'd swamp everything 
