Ben Holland

Not to be confused with his former Richmond teammate Ben Hollands.

Ben Holland
File:Ben Holland.jpg Ben Holland playing for Melbourne in 2006
Personal information
Full name	Ben Holland
Date of birth	(1977-05-10) 10 May 1977
Original team(s)	North Adelaide (SANFL)
Height/Weight	198cm / 100kg
Position(s)	Key position
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1996–2003 2004–2008 Total	Richmond Melbourne	125 (124) 066 0(55) 191 (179)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2008 season.

Ben Holland (born 10 May 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League.

Following in his more well known brother, Nick Holland's footsteps. 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.

In 2004 he was traded to the Demons after a disappointing comeback season after knee injury combined with his hefty contact prompted the Tigers to off-load him. Knowing his career was coming to an end he issued a Supreme Court writ in which he claimed he was promised a range of business opportunities he never received. He was seeking $530,000 for loss and damages.

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

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

External links

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