Sam Ayoub is an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

manager for players such as

Johnathan Thurston Johnathan Dean Thurston (born 25 April 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the National Rugby League (NRL). Thurston was an Australian international, Queensland State of Origin and Indigenous All ...

and

Robbie Farah Robert Peter Farah ( ar, روبي فرح) (born 23 January 1984) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international, Lebanese international and captain of New South Wales Blues t ...

. He established Ultra Management (Sports) in 1988 where he is still a director. Ayoub was one of the first player managers in the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

and has been called "one of the game's most powerful." One of his first clients,

Adrian Lam Adrian Lam (born 25 August 1970) is a Papua New Guinean professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Super League Club Leigh Leopards (was Leigh Centurions), and a former rugby league footballer. He played for the Sydney Rooste ...

, was his former touch football teammate. In 2005, Ayoub was banned by the Australian Touch Football Association for abusing officials while he was coach of the Australian men's under-20 team. In 2011, he was caught up in an investigation into suspicious

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

activity. In March 2011, Ayoub and his client

Ryan Tandy Ryan Tandy (20 September 1981 – 28 April 2014) was international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a in the National Rugby League for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tige ...

were arrested and Ayoub and former player

John Elias John Elias was a Christian preacher in Wales in the first half of the 19th century, as part of the Welsh Methodist revival. His preaching was noted as being exceptionally powerful, "as if talking fire down from heaven". On one occasion it is sa ...

were charged by police with "attempt to obtain financial advantage by deception" after admitting to betting on his client's game. Tandy was found guilty of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

, but the charges against Ayoub were dismissed. Ayoub was investigated by police again in 2016 after allegations of

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

breaches by the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

. In 2019, Ayoub took two former employees to court, alleging they tried to poach 16 of his clients by amending their contracts without his knowledge while working for him. During cross examination, it was revealed that Ayoub sent numerous abusive and harassing messages to his former employees due to this discovery. Ayoub won the case.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Australian sports agents {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub