Anti Tampering Laws Scrapped

National Rugby League chief executive David Gallop has announced his intention to remove the existing anti-tampering rules after July 1. July?s chief executives? meeting will be used to canvass whether a new regime should be implemented or whether the concept of an anti-tampering date should be dropped entirely. ?In truth I think it would take a compelling argument from the clubs for us to recommend to the board the retention of any sort of anti-tampering system going forward but they will have the opportunity to present that case,? said Gallop. ?The anti-tampering rules were first introduced to protect the clubs at a time when there was not an effective salary cap. ?The arguments were that a player shouldn?t be able to negotiate with another team until he had finished all but the last six months of his existing contract. ?The rule is there to protect clubs. The fact is that tampering can only take place if clubs themselves participate in negotiations. ?Furthermore the rule can only ever be enforced if clubs take the time to make official complaints rather than media accusations. ?Rather than see the same accusations made each year I think we would be better off removing the date for future seasons.?