The Macarthur Bulls A-League franchise allegedly used $3033.76 of taxpayer funds intended for after-school football clinics to pay rent on a luxury apartment complex in Sydney. The club's expenditure records show that this payment was attributed to the Football in Schools program and labeled as "HO rental". This is just the latest in a series of revelations about the club's misuse of $6 million in taxpayer funds, following previous reports of staff spending on restaurants, cafes, and alcohol. The Department of Education has said it reserves the right to withhold or recover grants funding if compliance with the funding deed is not addressed.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The Macarthur Bulls A-League football club has been accused of misusing taxpayer funds after an investigation revealed that they spent thousands of dollars from a school clinic budget on luxury apartment rentals in Sydney. The club allegedly used $3,033.76 from the Football in Schools program to pay for a "resort-style" apartment complex called Lateral Residences in Zetland. This is just one of several instances where the club has been accused of misusing taxpayer funds, including spending $6 million allocated for after-school football clinics and using it for personal expenses such as restaurants, cafes, and alcohol. The latest revelation comes amid a parliamentary inquiry into the Football in Schools program, which was established to examine allegations of misuse by the Macarthur Bulls. The club has offered to repay $3,415.93 that they claim was incorrectly coded, but an upcoming forensic audit will investigate their spending further.
Written for “Football Club Financial Scandal” on 2026-09-09,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
The Macarthur Bulls A-League franchise spent thousands of taxpayers’ dollars earmarked for after-school football clinics on a luxury residential apartment complex.
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franchise → spend → complex
Facing a parliamentary inquiry established to examine the Football in Schools program, the embattled Bulls on Wednesday launched an aggressive counterattack, claiming a draft auditors’ report critical of the Department of Education administration of the program had been removed.
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report → face → program
The most recent revelation compounds allegations the club misspent the $6 million in taxpayer funds.
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club → compound → funds
Weeks after the Herald discovered club staff had spent thousands of dollars on restaurants, cafes and alcohol, Macarthur offered to repay $3415.93 it claimed had been “incorrectly coded”.
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it → discover → 3415.93
The club’s spending will undergo a forensic audit by McGrathNicol, an advisory firm.
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spending → undergo → McGrathNicol
However, the club’s expenditure records reveal taxpayer funds may have been used for residential rental payments.
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funds → reveal → payments
Expenditure statements show a $3033.76 BPAY payment made to Lateral Residences – a collection of “resort-style” apartments located in Zetland, Liverpool and Wolli Creek – in early 2024 was attributed to the program, with Macarthur classifying it as “HO rental”.
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Macarthur → show → rental
Macarthur was approached for comment.
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Macarthur → approach → comment
A departmental spokesman noted the ongoing forensic audit, saying: “The department has the right to withhold, or recover, grants funding if compliance with the funding deed is not addressed.”
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compliance → note → deed
The discovery compounds concerns that large sums of taxpayer funds supposed to pay for school and holiday clinics in south-western Sydney have instead been spent underwriting the club’s commercial operation and on expenses unrelated to the program.
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sums → compound → program
The club previously apportioned $148,941.54 of taxpayer funds to Titanium Waste Management – a company of which the Macarthur Bulls chairman Gino Marra and chief executive Sam Krslovic are shareholders – for head office rental in Oran Park.
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Marra → apportion → Park
As it acknowledged misspending taxpayer funds, Macarthur used Wednesday’s inquiry hearing to blame the program’s administrative mishaps on the department, urging the committee to recommend the Football in Schools program be “preserved, continued and expanded”.
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program → acknowledge → Schools
“The administrative problems that have attracted attention are, overwhelmingly, the consequence of how the Department of Education established, funded and administered this program,” the club said in a submission to the inquiry.
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club → attract → inquiry
Macarthur claimed they were told by bureaucrats the department never wanted to administer the program, and complained the club was unjustly barred from spending funds on items such as coaches uniforms.
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club → claim → uniforms
The department had deemed Macarthur’s $100,000 outlay on coaches’ uniforms and sneakers was non-eligible.
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outlay → deem → uniforms
Asked to provide evidence to substantiate claims, Peter McLaughlin, club’s government relations manager, who fronted the inquiry in the absence of Marra, said he was unable to reproduce evidence about the department’s unwillingness to run the program because the claims had only been conveyed verbally.
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claims → ask → program
Requests for copies of the original audit were also taken on notice.
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Requests → take → notice
In later evidence, departmental secretary Murat Dizdar categorically rejected the claims.
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Dizdar → reject → claims
A departmental audit executive said the only edits made to Grant Thornton’s audit report were altering capital letters and wording, denying any material of substance was changed.
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material → say → substance
“I’m not only rejecting it.
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I → reject → it
I’m requesting that they look at the draft, and they look at the final, which is in the public domain,” Dizdar said.
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Dizdar → request → domain
In an opening statement, Dizdar said the forensic audit had been commissioned after insufficient information was received from the club.
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information → open → club
