CRONULLA Sharks have given their besieged chief executive Tony Zappia only a few days to answer claims made in a tape recording aired on Channel Seven news on Sunday night.
The club yesterday accepted Mr Zappia's offer to stand down in the wake of the "secret tape''.
If he can't satisfy the new board by Thursday, Tony Zappia will join a list of five others who have departed since the club's recent controversies, which began with last month's explosive Four Corners program detailing group sex involving Matthew Johns and other members of the 2002 Cronulla Sharks club, while in New Zealand.
Gone in the past fortnight are Sharks directors Frank Doran (didn't stand), Paul Tubridy and Brett Crowley (defeated at AGM), Don Anderson (resigned) and chairman Barry Pierce (resigning at end of the month), with two other directors said to be considering their positions.
A day after a good crowd watched the Sharks beat the Warriors 18-10 at Toyota Stadium on Sunday, the club's directors met and announced that Mr Zappia had stood down while they further investigated the recording, purporting to be a conversation between Mr Zappia
and former club employee Jenny Hall, which aired on Channel Seven news.
Mr Zappia apparently suggested bouncing off a wall was to blame for the severe facial bruising suffered by a distressed Miss Hall before he asked her: "do you want to spank me?''
Other allegations include that suggestive images were displayed on Mr Zappia's work computer and that he refused to allow Miss Hall to take sick leave after the incident.
Channel Seven reported Mr Zappia cornered Miss Hall in a hallway, came up close to her and stood on both her feet before he lashed out, hitting her.
Mr Zappia said the punch was accidental and occurred when he was shadow boxing.
After accepting his offer to stand down yesterday, the Sharks said in a statement Mr Zappia reserved the right to seek independent legal advice to answer fresh allegations.
"With the Channel Seven report coming Sunday evening, prior to a public holiday, the board felt Tony
deserved due process and the opportunity to respond. While the Board acknowledges the media and public interest in this matter, they thought it necessary to afford the staff their full support and to give themselves the chance to consider the complete evidence.
"There will be a request to Channel Seven to provide the tape so as the board can establish the authenticity of the recordings and the context in which a number of the statements attributed to Mr Zappia have been used, while the board will also interview staff members
in relation to the new allegations.
The board has requested a response from Tony Zappia by Thursday.''
Earlier, NRL chief executive David Gallop called on the Sharks board to take strong, swift action.
"The emergence of new and damaging information that was not available to the NRL, nor it is understood [to] the Cronulla board at the time the matter was last reviewed, necessitates a swift response from the club,'' Gallop said.
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