By John
August 1st 2008 @ 7:20am
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Give the NRL back to the people
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It’s no surprise the game’s been relegated to second class status, being superseded by AFL and Union, and soon soccer.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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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
gavin said | August 4th 2008 @ 10:51pm | Report comment
also re above. It was good business, as they profited at public expense and they will leave it a carcass
The Answer said | August 4th 2008 @ 11:00pm | Report comment
Spot on Millster, a lot of these blokes want good business to be their business.
I don’t know what Fairfax journos are so revered compared to News journos. Is Greg Pritchard suddenly so much better since he left Tele, is Steve mascord so much worse since he left the Herald.
Gould is the most obviously agenda driven journo of the lot. And the only solutions he does offer seem to put him in charge. No thanks.
john said | August 5th 2008 @ 9:38pm | Report comment
Sure caused a bit of a stir!! When I praised Fairfax journos and the Nine team for being critical of the running of the game when justified, unlike the Spellagragh and News limited in general, that’s not to say that they’re not part of corporations either but they’re obviously free-er to be critical and thank God for them, otherwise we’d never hear anything challenging or critical. For instance why didn’t News limited break the Bulldogs salary cap story? I’m sure quite a few people at News including some senior journos must have been aware of what was going on? The sooner News hands back control of the game the better. Clearly it’s not an ideal situation for any outside corporation to dictate our game. It can’t be in the games best interest. Look at what’s happened in the last 10 years, open your eyes guys, the games’ gone backwards! Not the quality of play or the level of skill. These guys are wonderful athletes, absolute gladiators! and that’s why I reckon they should get what the market is prepared to pay them, like any other field of endeavour in a democracy. Is there a salary cap on how much David Gallop can make? And exactly how much has he made out of the game? For what you think of Antony Mundine, occassionally he hits the mark, and his line about how these corporate managerial types are leeching and parasiting off our great game and our incredible athletes is staggering! They can make as much money as they like on the back of the players efforts and marketing appeal, yet the players can only earn a certain amount. I recall how Manly and the Roosters were by far the richest clubs throughout the 80’s and 90’s yet hardly one any titles. And Millster, you’re slick corporate language gives you away mate – you wouldn’t happen to be Mr Gallop’s PR man by any chance? And others say Gus has no solutions just wingeing, well you obviously haven’t been listening … And I don’t know where you were in the 80’s David but Gus was an exceptional player, one of the best alltime ball handlers in the game, who was instrumental in one of the bulldogs grand final winning teams, and coached them to win another as well as the Penrith Panthers. What’s your call to fame? And you want solutions, try this: News hand the game back! A collective of 20 or so respected ex players and administrators take control of the game and it’s direction nutting out a clear strategy for the game and it’s future! This should include a clear deadline for three new teams, one on the Central Coast, Coffs and another in Brisbane. And the loss of three Sydney clubs. Souths to joins the Roosters to be SYDNEY, my beloved Dogs to join Parramatta, and Cronulla to join the Southern Dragons. This is the only way these teams and the game’s gonna survive. I just hate how the moment a fan mentions how these managers have stuffed our game, you’re automatically branded as a remaniscing caveman who wants to go back to the good old days. NONSENSE! Just facing facts, is the game better off now? Is it in a better position than it was before Super League? No, of course we need to keep changing with the times and improve our product, but it was done out of pure greed and not in the game’s best interest, and the SBW saga is a symptom of this deeper reality that the Tele and News will never talk about. They idolise players, suck them dry for all that they’re worth to sell papers, yet crucify them the moment they stuff up. And their attacks on SBW have been hypocritical and shamesful! Long live our great game!!!
Professor Chaos said | August 7th 2008 @ 3:36pm | Report comment
You sound like just the kind of guy we at GDFCEOOTNRL are looking for. For n00bs that is the society for Greg Dowling to be CEO of the NRL.
Think about it;
GD doesn’t wear a suit.
GD has never been too bothered with hoity-toity booklernin
GD was fearless with the ball; just like he would be fearless auditing salary cap violators.
GD never took a backward step in defence; just like he would never take a backward step in analysing revenue streams.
GD Supplied Pain and Demanded Commitment – thus he understands the model that underpins the economy.
Anyway, send your keycard and pin number to us and we will get you set up….
Condemning “suits” and their influence on the game is not what is needed. Some poor decisions have been made under Gallops watch. The major problem in the game at the moment is that it has been completely tailored towards getting the best pay-tv deal possible. This has come at the cost of revenue from traditional sources. Codes such as the AFL, NFL and EPL recognise that building a fantastic on-field product with massive attendances comes first. As such, most games in these codes are at crowd friendly hours. Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.
The NRL plays its games primarily in prime time TV hours. Fans don’t go. Pay-TV comes back in a better negotiating position because the code is constantly in crisis.
Gallop’s fault?? Possibly. Have more successful codes turned to ex-players and fans to right the ship? No. They have simply found a better suit.
The Link said | August 7th 2008 @ 4:10pm | Report comment
Appoint Greg Dowling as CEO of ARL and Kevin Tamati as CEO of NZRL.
Step back and get ready to rumble like its 1985
Professor Chaos said | August 7th 2008 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
Have you Ever wondered what it would look like if Trevor Gillmeister wrote his column without a ghost writer????
I refer you to the article above.
The Link said | August 7th 2008 @ 5:17pm | Report comment
Gillmeister has a column??!! This I gotta see. Then again…..
Professor Chaos said | August 7th 2008 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
One of the perks of not living in Brissie anymore is not seeing the AXE in print.
You wouldn’t want to read it, but you are drawn to it.
john said | August 7th 2008 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
I URGE YOU GUYS TO READ A NEW ENTRY ON THE ROAR NRL SECTION WHICH SAYS EVERYTHING I WAS GONNA ADD RE: PAY TV: It’s the one titled: Rugby league needs all the help it can get!!
Just one extra point I’ll make here: when I ask for a special committee of about 20-30 high profile ex players and administrators to come together and nutt out a rescue package for our troubled game, I don’t mean putting Greg Dowling to run the NRL like one stupid imbicile has written here! Of course we should use the managerial skill and nouse of corporate types but we don’t have to hand the game over to them like we’ve done. The Super League episode was the single greatest hit and the game’s gone backwards ever since. As if the game couldn’t keep changing and modernising without selling out to News limited or any other corporation like it’s done! We lost control of it in the interest of the the big $$ not in the interest of the games future. It’s all coming home to roost now! And then they tell players they can’t chase bigger $$’s when that’s the new ethos of the game they instilled! It’s so unbelievably hypocritical it’s beyong belief.
I’m a mad Bulldogs fan, but don’t hate SBW, the saga is a mere sympton of all that’s wrong with the game at the moment. I walked away the day the dogs sold out with Super League and they’re still mismanaging that once great club of mine now. Why else would this happen to them? you can’t simply blame one player, the clubs’ f….d! So drop this ridiculous action against SBW dogs, he’s gone, just get over it!!! They relied on him too much and the League are sure gonna miss his pulling power, and that of a string of others sure to follow suit!
I love this great game, just don”t love what’s been done to it and the brave new world of managers screwing it up for their own interest and that of their big end of town mates!! Long live our great game!!
john said | August 8th 2008 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
I must have been watching a different interview to Fatty and the rest of the footy show team, cause I totally understood what SBW was saying and thought he made a lot of sense. The only thing he didn’t explain directly was why he did it the way he did, by running away and breaking a ’sacred contract’ (bulshit). Fatty and the team kept harping on about the contract, the contract, and didn’t seem to hear what SBW actually said.
He wasn’t happy!! The club treats players like mere cattle, it’s just a business. And the line about about what’s happended to Corey Hughes from a wonderful league family loyal to the club, shows the club has NO loyalty to players at all! So why should they be up in arms when a player is unloyal to them like Sunny?
I wouldn’t have done it exactly like Sunny did, like Laurie Daley said I would’ve gone to management and said I’m not happy, and I want out! And if they didn’t let me go then I could have walked. At least give them a chance to free me. So that’s his only error for me. But hey, he’s 22 years old, it sure isn’t a criminal offense, and the dogs and the game has only itself to blame!
I can’t believe that Fatty didn’t understand the bus driver line … like hello fatty, that was as clear as day mate! If a bus driver was offered thousands and thousands of dollars more to go to another company, wouldn’t most go? Why aren’t there limits on what anyone else can make, especially managers like David Gallop, and yet league players have a limit placed on them. That was so clear fatty, how dumb are ya mate? And the canoe line, well, don’t get me started.
Which brings me nicely to Steve Folkes and the Muslim stuff. I love Folkesy and was an avid dogs supporter in the 80’s when he was part of the grand final winning teams. I respect him very much and all that he’s achieved. But he’s only a proud of the world he lives in after all. And lets face it, our country and the world at the moment, thinks muslims are all terrorists and evil and something to be feared, so of course we wouldn’t want any friend being caught up in that!
It’s ignorance and lack of knowledge that’s responsible but also the way modern leaders like Bush and his little Aussie lacky Howard used that fear to whip up public support for a ridiculous war, that most people have now woken up to as being all about money and power … should I mention Oil? So there is a bigger picture here. League is a product of society! I just didn’t expect that of Folkesy though, given the amount of muslim players that have come through the club over the past 10-15 years. Isn’t El Masri the clearest example of how descent and ‘normal’ muslim people can be? It’s not something to hate, be fearful off etc … It’s just another religion, another way to live, and hey, why isn’t that ok?
Anyways guys, I thought SBW explained himself really well for an ‘uneducated coconut’ (footy team perception) and pointed to the problems in our game today, which of course the new rulers don’t wanna accept and face up to. The longer they delay, the further behind the game will go, and I only hope we can retrieve it in time before it really does go to the dogs!!!
Captain Carnage said | August 8th 2008 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
You’ve managed to put the SBW saga in the same breath as the Iraq war…and oil. Please consult your psychiatrist. He/she might be able to help you deal with your conspiracy theories wherein the world’s problems go hand in hand with rugby league in Australia.
john said | August 8th 2008 @ 5:07pm | Report comment
Captain Carnage, you understood nothing I said, I can’t help you! That reference was relating to our perceptions of muslims and Islam, as expressed to SBW by Folkesy, to try and enlighten some people as to where it might stem from. The comments by Folkes, as outrageous as they are, are seen as ‘normal’ and widely held in the wider society – why? It certainly doesn’t come out of thin air or from any intimate understanding of Islam. Do you know where your perception of ‘those’ people comes from? Let me guess, the media? And the way islam and muslims are portrayed. And portrayed by our leaders like Bush.
From my own experience, having contact and friendships with people of middle eastern and muslim backgrounds, certainly dispelled my previously held views. That’s why I couldn’t understand why Folkesy would hold those views considering the number of lebs and muslims that have come through the club over the years. And I mentioned El Masri because he is an exemplary model of the fact that middle eastern people aren’t all terrorists and bad, and that being a muslim isn’t the worst thing in the world and undesirable, as was clearly implicit in Folkesy’s comments to SBW. Got that? maybe it’s just too hard …
Please some footy fan out there tell me that’s not too hard to understand? If I need a shrink, it’s to help me cope with dumb imbicils like Captain Carnage … who can’t see behind a footy field!
Captain Carnage said | August 8th 2008 @ 6:18pm | Report comment
“Our perceptions” being not mine. I, being far more intelligent than you, make up my own mind about issues in the world. The media and Bush have no bearing on what I believe in. Put your sweeping generalisations back in your closet. How is Folkes asking “are you thinking of becoming a Muslim?” outrageous? I have yet to hear where Folkes made negative comments about Islam or Muslims or exactly what these views you speak of are and how you are attributing them to him. You are the IMBECILE, that’s how you spell it pal. Your arguments are hard to understand because they are poorly written and completely inane. And Sonny Bill made perfect sense to you in that interview…that suggests you are at the same level of intelligence as him. You are a dithering fool john.
john said | August 8th 2008 @ 6:31pm | Report comment
hahaha that’s hilerious, the media have no bearing on what you think about things … that’s extroadinary mate. And what Folkesy asked, if you saw the actual interview was “don’t tell me you’re turning Muslim are ya mate” which sounds a bit different but you can be selective if you want if it’s gonna help you make a sensable argument .. but I’m still waiting? And as I keep saying, I love Folkesy and everything his done and achieved at the dogs, so you are completely missing my point mate … no wonder you can spell IMBECILE .. there’s no better word to describe you sadly … And keep slamming SBW if it makes you feel better in life, he’s moving on, and so should the dogs, the NRL and people like you … All the best Sunny Bill, and long live our great game!!
Captain Carnage said | August 8th 2008 @ 7:12pm | Report comment
That’s what SBW claims that Folkes said. As it were, Folkes has a different version on what he said. What is your argument/point exactly? It seems to be a concoction of many different ideas, meshed into a pile of rubbish. You’ve gone from Gould to Gallop to Fairfax and Channel Nine to SuperLeague to Iraq to Folkes to Bush to whatever’s next with sprinklings of SBW…
john said | August 8th 2008 @ 7:31pm | Report comment
I’m glad you read all those entries, but it obviously went stright over your head mate .. how dare I attempt to explore the issue to cut a bit deeper, but then it clearly becomes too complex doesn’t it Captain … have another drink and stay in your small sheltered world with your predictable stagnant views mate … I still maintain that the game will only survive when the players wrestle back control of it, and not let themselves be used and abused by these parasitical corporate David Gallop types, who are filling their own pockets on the back of players sweat! I’m off to watch a great match now The Storm V The Eagles … may this great game live on and on …