Ben Holland

Not to be confused with former Richmond teammate Ben Hollands.

Ben Holland
Ben Holland playing for Melbourne during the 2006 AFL Season
Personal information
Full name	Ben Holland
Date of birth	(1977-05-10)10 May 1977
Original team	North Adelaide (SANFL)
Height/Weight	198cm / 100kg
Position(s)	key forward/back
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1996–2003 2004–2008 Totals	Richmond Melbourne	125 (124) 66 (55) 191 (179)
1 Playing statistics correct to end of 2008 season.

Ben Holland (born 10 May 1977) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

A South Australian, Holland was drafted in 1994 to the Fitzroy Football Club, but chose to stay and develop in the SANFL with his local club North Adelaide for a year. He was subsequently traded at the end of the 1995 season playing his first AFL game for the Richmond Football Club in 1996.

At the Richmond Football Club, where he was used as a key forward and later back, and had a stellar 2001 season holding down centre half back while the tigers finished 3rd.

In 2004 he was traded to the Demons, where Holland blossomed again up forward alongside David Neitz and then at full back where he held many of the competitions best forwards goal less. He wears guernsey number 4 and is best known for being a tall and strong utility player.

His physical strength has seen him also play in key backline positions, a rare feat to be able to play both ends of the field during over 200 senior AFL games and kicking 180 goals.

On 31 August 2008 he played his last AFL game and subsequently retired from football.^[1]

Legal action vs. Clinton Casey

On 4 April 2008 it was announced first from The AFL Footy Show and then by various media outlets that Holland would be taking legal action against former Richmond president Clinton Casey after not receiving a series of verbal promises made to him to urge him to turn down Adelaide's more lucrative offer.

The Casey and Frawley offer was said to be covering the margin between the two offers; Richmond's $800,000 offer over three years and Adelaide's $1.33 million offer over three years. The base salary was paid however, the following lucrative promises were not:

• Priority access to a $180,000 blocks of land at a Sandhurst development
• A parcel of shares in a company developing a credit card insurance product that was expected to increase the market price of the company's shares on its release.
• Podiatry work would be made available for him at various aged-care facilities in which Casey was involved.

There were also some other business ventures that Casey was involved in available to him.^[2][3][4]

On 4 April, the AFL announced they would be talking to all parties involved about the issue as well as the legal confrontation that was to follow.^[3] AFL chief executive officer Andrew Demetriou announced the next day that if Holland were to win this case and claim what was not given to him that Richmond would be breaching the salary cap.^[5]

On 5 April, former Richmond coach (current at the time of negotiations) Danny Frawley said that he knew of players that had entered into property agreements with Casey, and he, Greg Miller and CEO at the time Mark Brayshaw were all involved in property and business dealings with Casey. Frawley also said that whilst he was at the meeting involving said negotiations, no "guarantees" or "agreements" were made, simply that there was an "opportunity" for what was offered. Frawley said that despite these negotiations over property among other things did happen, Richmond did not breach the salary cap.^[5]

There was a possibility that the deal would risk Richmond exceeding the AFL's salary cap, but no action was taken. Casey was threatened with legal action for similar promises made to Richmond players Matthew Richardson, Nathan Brown and Kane Johnson. Casey and Richmond settled the issue with Holland out of court in January 2009.^[6]

References

External links

• Ben Holland's statistics from AFL Tables
• Demon Wiki profile