Give the NRL back to the people
Roar Pro
By John, 1 Aug 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- David Gallop, Gus Gould, League, NRL, Rugby League, salary cap
Thank God for Gus Gould! Just like me he cringes at how these corporate managerial David Gallop types have stuffed the “greatest game of all.”
It’s no surprise the game’s been relegated to second class status, being superseded by AFL and Union, and soon soccer.
Super League started it all, then all the string of changes which have destroyed the game, like video refs, killing off the scrums, the no stealing ball rule, as well as the constant changes to team jersey’s, playing grounds, and even team names.
Not to mention changing the sacred Sunday 3pm grand final time slot. Did anyone ask the fans anything?
The history and tradition of the game or the ‘heart and soul’ has been totally demolished – that’s why fans are leaving in droves, there’s nothing keeping them loyal to their team anymore, and there are so many more options out there now.
Time for true die heart fans and concerned ex players (led by Gus Gould) to wrestle the game back to the people!
It was the likes of Gallop that took us down this road to self destruction, we can’t blame the players or other codes.
Don’t make SBW a scapegoat, he’s a wonderful athlete who deserves to get what’s his worth. I bet Mr Gallop’s made a lot more from destroying the game since his arrival during the Super League days in 1995 than all the elite players put together.
Is there a salary capon his earnings? I’d like to see him declare his earnings. The whole thing’s a joke, and the saddest thing is that the average league fan’s a dill and believes all the drivel fed to them by news limited journo sell-outs especially those at the spellagraph, who do the bidding for the new rulers of our once great game.
Thank God for Gus, Fairfax sports journos, and the nine team who speak freely, though they’ve now been put on notice with Gus being taken off the footy show for the interview with Gallop.
And the vicious Telegraph attack on the footy show last week. It was a clear warning – ‘keep speaking out and you’re out’! But of course most footy fans are asleep.
Onya Gus, long live our great game, I only hope it’s not too late for us to retrieve it.
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- Explore:
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cosmos forever said | August 1st 2008 @ 10:21am | Report comment
mmm. I think Gus has significant knowledge and can say some thought provoking things. But as an employee of the Nine Network and Fairfax Press (and one who I’ve never heard take a critical eye to the extremely poor coverage of rugby league games on free to air over the years), I don’t think he’s immune from being a bit of a corporate defender as well.
Just different corporations maybe John?
Captain Carnage said | August 1st 2008 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
He doesn’y try an offer any solutions either does he? And he’s a massive tosser to boot. And cosmos forever, Gould certainly does seem to be content with the work he and Channel Nine do on the League doesn’t he? And you know if Gould was in Melbourne tonight he’d be talking up the “big clash” between the Titans and the Storm…”These Titans, they’re down on troops, and yes, the Storm are the best team in the comp, but folks, stick around, this will be an absolute ripper, an all-time classic on Nine’s Friday Night Football”!
cosmos forever said | August 1st 2008 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
As an adjunct to that, it has been revealed today that Channel Nine use Capital City ratings ONLY to set the price they pay for NRL and to make scheduling decisions…
Just like News.
Pretty obvious now why they always choose one of about three Sydney teams to show, and justify it with ratings. They only take ratings in Sydney metro!!!! No Newcastle, no Canberra, no north coast – no QLD Country.
C’mon Gus – give us the explanation for that live during tonight’s delayed telecast with ads…
David. C said | August 1st 2008 @ 5:04pm | Report comment
I Agree keep Gud Gould out of picture, thinks he is the footballing God for some reason knows nothing, does he actually have a life was never a good player so why does he think knows it all. I give him his Kudos was a decent enough Coach, we all knows he hates Manly and never gives them a chance i getting players into rep teams as such, let alone winning the competition. Please get him of our Tellys, if he feels the game is sufferring, do something about it actions speak louder then words Mr.Gould take on the NRL since you think you can run it better. As the slogan for Kike goes ( just Do it )
David. C said | August 1st 2008 @ 5:06pm | Report comment
Sorry for typo should be Nike not Kike see what Gould does to me.
Millster said | August 1st 2008 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
John – you wouldn’t be one and the same as Gruffalo would you? You sure wear the same naive populist suit of armour, andd have the same yearning for the past at the centre of your heart…
So let me ask you, when the game has been “wrestled back to the people”, are those people going to re-mortgage their houses to keep ground and training infrastructure modern? Are they going to work a second or third job and sell their kids so as to pay the players what they are worth? Are they going to get drawing and writing to produce all the posters and ads that are required, are they going to man the ticket booths, are they going to do the accounts, are they going to inject the sports conditioning science behind the physical preparation of the team?
Rugby League at its HQ level and within each club is a professional organisation – which is a euphemism for a business. It makes and spends money, and it relies on professionals. I might add that this includes professional marketers who have (for good reason) fostered and encouraged the notions of legend and tradition and loyalty that you cite, both at club level and across the whole code. I’m sure in a private moment these people would admit that Gus’s comments, and similar from other defenders of the ‘good old days’, are all part of the charade that stir up naive passions such as you have written above.
As I’ve written before, why on earth people like you think that just enjoying a game and being a live-match or TV consumer of it gives you some sort of special moral right over these people who run the show, or invest millions of dollars in it, is just farcical.
Peter said | August 2nd 2008 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
to John “It’s no surprise the game’s been relegated to second class status, being superseded by AFL and Union, and soon soccer. ”
Two points jonny boy – First union has NOT and will NEVER past rugby League in terms of popularity.
Second – U must be a yawnion tosser, to suggest that union is more popular then league is one thing but to think that Yawnion is more popular than Soccer ? I mean WTF? When Union gets a National club competition thats lasts more than a year, and is played in every state in the land and have players that play for Australia that people have heard off , that union can come to the table. BUT NOW its way,way,way last on the list. To say otherwise would be living in a fools paradise.
Gruffalo said | August 4th 2008 @ 2:10pm | Report comment
Millster
What drivel. Put a monkey in a suit, it’s still a monkey. Club management is a result of “good blokes” not business people. Not forgetting News Limited lackey appointees, of course.
Rugby league is a small game in global terms which has a loyal fanbase (mainly NSW/QLD) and translates OK on TV. I do not have passion because some marketing idiot tells me how to feel. It’s because i supported what was a great game and my team was from the local area.
As for naive. Crikey, are you looking for a job at News? The money these guys make comes from us – they don’t create it. They took over the game to control the flow of revenue from us to them. Trouble is – so-called “pragmatists” like you enabled the disasters like SuperLeague to take place. It’s not pragmatism, mate- it’s cowardice.
Millster said | August 4th 2008 @ 2:54pm | Report comment
Gruff, your most recent post has brilliantly highlighted what my problem, and that of any other logical reader, is with your point of view.
You call for a replacing of “good blokes” and “News Ltd lackeys” with business people. Can I tell you that a good business person, above all else, is someone who IS “pragmatic”. A good business person is someone who sees things as they are, who calls a spade a spade, who makes tough calls early, and who is prepared to make hard calls for the greater good.
And herein lies my problem. The things you post seem to indicate a belief that ‘business people’ could save the Rugby League and all its foundation clubs and all its traditions, and keep the game just like it was in the 1960′s and 1970′s.
So I ask you, what if good business was significantly cutting numbers of Sydney suburban clubs even if those were foundation clubs?
What if good business was radically changing the packaging of the game for TV – maybe playing it in thirds or quarters – or midweek?
What if good business was adopting a few of Union’s ELV’s so that a “SuperBowl” type game could be played against the top ranked Super 14 team in Australia?
Of course these specific examples are not anything more than just radical conjecture, but the most important underlying question to you is – what if genuinely good business people saw a future for the code in some direction other than your backwards, traditionalist preference?
Or are the only good ‘business people’ those that stick with your own idea of what Rugby League should be?
gavin said | August 4th 2008 @ 10:44pm | Report comment
That bloody Jack Gibson started it. He went to America, came back and turned the Newtown Blubags into the Jets. That was the start of the rot
Thanks jack, wherever you are
“Played fine, done good” my arse. The man was an overrated nuisance
Bring back the foundation clubs