Should Gus Gould replace David Gallop?
Roar Guru By Steve Kaless, 2 Sep 2008 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Andrew Johns, Australian rugby, David Gallop, Greg Bird, Gus Gould, Phil Gould, Sonny Bill Williams, Super League
There’s been much debate on David Gallop’s handling of the Sonny Bill Williams affair. And we hear loud rumblings that rugby league is in poor shape in Australia and that change is needed. So I invited Roar editor, Zolton Zavos, to put his thoughts forward on why he thinks Gus Gould might provide the solution, while I suggest that an even a Crow could do a better job.
Zolton Zavos: pro-Phil Gould
Even before all the drama broke this year about off (and on) field player behaviour, it was pretty clear to most ardent followers of the code that rugby league was in serious trouble.
It’s not about the product itself, which remains exciting and competitive.
Rather, it’s in the roots of the game, which – until Super League shook things up a bit — has traditionally pitched itself as a blue collar, working-class code.
And, perhaps more significantly, it’s in a dearth of lateral thinking displayed by many of the code’s most prominent decision makers.
David Gallop’s at the head of queue.
Really, recent media attacks aside; Gallop must have one of the easiest jobs in professional sports administration. The clubs are all self-managed, there’s a further layer of management with the NSW and Queensland Rugby Leagues, and then another one again with the Australian Rugby League.
It might be a little facetious to ask it, but aside from being quoted from time-to-time when players step out of line, what else does Gallop actually do each day?
What he should be doing is drawing firmer lines in the sand on abhorrent player behaviour and thinking more creativity about how better to promote his code to a new audience who want their action fast and accessible at all times.
Of course, there’s another answer.
Loathe him or hate him (are there any shades in between?), Phil Gould is a forward thinker. He’s an agent for change. He understands league players, and the league market, because he’s one of them: a former player and successful coach.
And he has the nous and the balls to take the rugby league code firmly by the scruff of the neck and drag it kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.
If rugby league continues on its current trajectory, there’s a real danger that it will soon be swallowed up by the more financially sustainable codes – AFL, union and football.
Gallop is not the man for the rescue job.
Why not give Gus a crack? If nothing else, it might shut him up for a minute.
Steve Kaless: against Phil Gould
Making Gus Gould the CEO of the NRL is the equivalent of making the ADHD kid the litter monitor in the playground.
It might help keep him quiet, but it is not going to make any real impact on the state of anarchy and lawlessness that is the rugby league playground.
You can make Greg Bird pick up 25,000 pieces of litter or write on the blackboard “I will not allegedly attack my girlfriend or allegedly ask my friend to take the rap” (damn lawyers) but the game needs more than that.
A restructure of the organisation of the body that governs rugby league in Australia is long overdue, but that is perhaps a separate debate to who should perhaps take over.
One thing is for sure, it shouldn’t be Gus.
The next boss of the NRL needs to come with one thing, no baggage and be able to do two things, unify the factions of the game and drive the game forward.
Out of a possible score of three, Gus gets the goose egg, the big donut a big round zero.
If Gus Gould was in charge of the NRL you’d need to hire every porter from every big city hotel to carry his baggage to each and every meeting.
Gould seems to be the sort of bloke who if locked in a room by himself would soon start an argument.
He may be passionate about rugby league, but his passion (for want of a better term) has seen him fall out with a long long list of players, administrators, coaches and journalists.
This is hardly the sort of character to heal the wounds and bring the game together before charging forward.
One of the biggest criticisms of current hierarchy is it allows someone like Nick Politis to sit on a number of boards, can you imagine Gould, his life long ally making the phone call to tell Nick “thanks for your help mate, but we need a new direction”.
And what about the next TV deal, while it is no death sentence not to be on the News Ltd Christmas card list, wouldn’t the fact that he has been a long term employee (loyal servant?) of Channel Nine be enough to disqualify him as someone to negotiate that deal.
If past lives are enough to end the reign of Gallop, surely the same must apply.
Gus is a populist, he is great at telling you that your club means so much to rugby league.
It might be when they are getting flogged 30-0 on Friday night footy and he says “stick around folks, this is just how Team X likes it, they’ve got a rich fighting history and I reckon this game is far from over.”
Or maybe he is tugging on the heart strings on a Sunday with an article about suburban rugby league grounds and the good days of footy when we used to go to games and leave our front doors unlocked because even the thieves wouldn’t dare steal from a working man while he was at the footy.
Gus’ biggest problem is that he has already nailed his name to the church door of too many issues.
As the game moves into its next centenary the challenges that lie ahead mean that everything needs to be investigated and explored.
Arthur Beetson and Andrew Johns are just two former greats of the game who have said that the number of teams in the competition needs to be examined, Gus has made it clear he believes every team in Sydney is vital to the game.
Gus may be right, but his refusal to entertain the idea is not the hallmark of a great CEO.
When Gus starts one of his rants on the Nine coverage, you can minimise the damage but filling the fridge, emptying the bladder or making a phone call.
It wouldn’t be so easy if his name in the Big League program wasn’t just followed by the letter C but also E and O.
The list of alternatives could be a long one.
Mick Cronin has run an excellent pub in Gerrigong for years.
Vote One the Crow.
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September 2nd 2008 @ 4:22pm
oikee said | September 2nd 2008 @ 4:22pm | Report comment
Yeah Midfielder, pretty right but the thing that really hurt league is the fact we left aderlaide and perth. Now we are trying to expand back with tender feet because of failure at this present time. Thats all we need is for the other codes to see us expand and fail. That makes headlines.
Super league in england is growing at a rapid rate, they have france tied up, and i see they have another team about to enter what would be our jim beam cup. On top of this they have taken the plunge into wales, and there next millium magic games will be held in scotland. The sooner we bite the bullit and get expansion going the better, if clubs die or have to move then so be it, at least we will be national along with all the other codes, you see where i am going.
Super league will gobbly up europe with-in ten years, there pay t/v deals will increase and they are slowly growing the game in the countries that matter. We need to grow our game outside of Sydney, gold coast is a good reason to see that. Wellington would help new zealand and australia league because of the under 20 talent. We need a person with vision.
September 2nd 2008 @ 4:37pm
Justin said | September 2nd 2008 @ 4:37pm | Report comment
Okee – care to expand on the rapid rate comment? France tied up how? Scotland? Give me a break….
September 2nd 2008 @ 6:51pm
Steve Kaless said | September 2nd 2008 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
Hang on Spiro if the amount of times you appear in the Rebecca Wilson, Phil Rothfield column suddenly becomes the most important criteria for the top job at the NRL suddenly we have an impressive field.
Willie Mason suddenly looks a shoe-in for the role once his playing days are over, Sonny-Bill’s recent behaviour probably puts him out of the running, but maybe Paul Vautin is then the man for the job.
Although, if the coverage from this page of sporting gossip is to be the litmus test then let rugby league show the way by having the first female CEO of a major footballing code. Step forward, Candice Falzon!
September 2nd 2008 @ 7:57pm
Jason Cave said | September 2nd 2008 @ 7:57pm | Report comment
Is it about time the NRL changed their orgainisation to appoint a commission (ie the AFL) to run the game instead of one man wielding all the power? And surely former PM John Howard would be a good choice to be on the NRL commission-and probably make him chairman as well.
September 2nd 2008 @ 8:52pm
oikee said | September 2nd 2008 @ 8:52pm | Report comment
Good one Jason, while we are at it lets vote johnny back for P.M , I think John Howad has got more things on his plate than rugby league, even though he has given great support over the years, just like Kevin Rudd is now.
Justin , dont you watch super league? They have a team from france in the comp. And they have a team out of Toulouse starting in the National league next year, does not seem like alot but with this comes t/v coverage. As you know and from what we have learned over the years is league is a ood t/v product, so this gives them exposure in france.
As for wales they have a team from in the super league for the 1st time next year, something that has never happened before in wales.
Scotland gets exposure this year from the world cup, and next 2 years gets the super league millium magic week-end which attracts around 60 thousand to the long week-end. Does not sound like much but this is how wales got a team into the comp, by having league played there for 3 years and alot of hard work done by their club in wales to attract fans and plant grass roots. Scotland might be a hard sell but if it means beating the poms, then it should not take long for them to get a solid team.
The last t/v deal that super-league made has given them good opputunities to further develop the game, seems like this is what they are doing, good luck to them. All the comments i have written are on the net if you wish to look them up. I am just repeating what has already been said and taken place. You can do your own reseach about the veiwing figures for super league but i have heard they are good right across england, so they have lots of support for the game. Oh and 83 thousand turned up for the challenge cup final at wembley on the week-end.
September 2nd 2008 @ 10:26pm
Midfielder said | September 2nd 2008 @ 10:26pm | Report comment
Oikee
What deep down in my soul hurts with me relating to league. In the mid 90′s it was sailing along with a very solid business plan moving forward. Left alone more than likely RL would have taken Fiji and maybe another island in the South Pacific.
Remember in 1989 the RWC at Concord Oval drew about 13, 000. In Queensland Gold Coast and Two Brisbane sides, as you say teams in SA & WA.
Along comes News all but killed league, …….. lost the second Brisbane side, lost the Gold Coast side ……….. meaning anyone who could not make the Broncos could go to the Brisbane Lions (AFL), ……… Union saw the writing on the wall and formed the Tri Nations, so kept there best players and south pacific. SA & WA lost and as you said almost impossible to get back.
Now the very organisation that opened up Brisbane to the AFL & took league out of SA & WA, saved the south pacific for union, turned long time league friends against each other ………… is now in charge and ………. signing deals with itself via foxsports and takes a very healthy dividend to boot.
How can the above be, league is managered and financially raped each year by a US media company, who did all in its power to kill it off ………… it hurts to much to think on …………. but F me ……… deep down in the soul it hurts bad
September 3rd 2008 @ 9:40am
oikee said | September 3rd 2008 @ 9:40am | Report comment
It hurts me too midfeilder, and if you think about how stupid news was to let go of those 2 states makes you think that the people running the game back then were no cleaver than you or I. Anyhow what we did back then and how we do things now are two very different senarios. What they have to do now is grow the game again, slowly will do as long as we keep moving forward with possitive steps. And i think this is happening, the game itself is very good, there is no problems really with the product, and what does not worry me is weather we are the 2nd or 3rd best code in australia, but as long as we keep the game strong with-in our clubs we are doing fine, i really think we need to forget about ever trying to be the number1 code, this will never happen, A.F.L and soccer will fight that one out over the next 20 years, good luck to them.
As for league we get to enjoy the game we love and watch great players running around and entertaining us as they have done all season. The real growth of the game is coming from england, they have steped up to the mark and moving forward faster than we can do here in oz. I see South Sydney have seen the light and their membership drive is the number 1 priority, as it should be with all clubs, aussie rules has taught us this much if nothing else, goes back to the old saying, if you cant beat them, join them.
One last thing about league in Perth, it wont be that far off getting a team playing from there, they have a agenda and are moving the game forward . 2015 would be a likely expansion, we need to get the other clubs in order before we look to expansion, the one thing we dont want to do is expand and create a weaker compitition, the a.f.l are in danger of doing this, not that i think it will hurt them long term. Just one last comment that you might find interesting, given that league is really only 2 states, we are doing very well in the bigger picture, just imagine if we had 5 states interested in league, we still might not be the number 1 code, but we would be looking pretty good.
Look at possitives rather than negatives, this is what the rugbyboss would be doing, their expansion is coming from japan i think, very clever because he knows they have the money. The problem with that is if they can expand then so can league, we would pick up alot of players who dont cut the grass in union, but would excel at league.
Final word about the world cup this year that has not been said the t/v coverage, its the largest coverage that league has ever had into other countries , so there is a demand for the game even if its not played alot in those countries.They would not bother if they did not want the games shown?
September 3rd 2008 @ 10:03am
oikee said | September 3rd 2008 @ 10:03am | Report comment
Going back to Gus Gould and him being in charge , here is one example that would make him very ordinary if he run the game. Take the video refs, ouch, now we all know that this is one of gussy’s biggest sore points with the game, can anyone remember the last time they were not used? I sit their watching the replay and have my opinion like everyone else who watches them.
Yes we went through that period where all calls were getting called wrong and we were yelling at the t/v because they made mistakes. But tell me this, would we be better off without them, do you really think that if we took them away we would be better off or not.
What we need is for the ref to ref, if he sees a try then call it a try, dont keep going upstairs for every-thing.
We live with dud video calls so a dud ref call would not put us off-side, but as for getting rid of them, whats that make Gus, a dinosaur if he thinks this way, just improve the calls like they are doing and get on with it.
This is why i think gus would do more harm than good. You ever watch Seinfield with George and nobody remembering Bozo the clown, the clown told george he was living in the seventies. This is how i see gus, he really needs to let go of the past.
September 3rd 2008 @ 10:47am
The Link said | September 3rd 2008 @ 10:47am | Report comment
oikee, enjoying your posts and insight.
Souths moving to approx $16m in revenue without pokies is impressive compared to the chook raffle club they were pre Russ. I agree it looks like they may be the future model for Sydney clubs, not just with membership but sponsorship and other revenue initiatives.
With the Reds in the Jim Beam Cup WA is building nicely. To consolidate the heartland Central Coast and Sunshine Coast should be in the mix for expansion. Not too sure on Adelaide though.
September 3rd 2008 @ 11:05am
oikee said | September 3rd 2008 @ 11:05am | Report comment
Aderlaide is not a problem, it will come with time, if you have a team from Perth then they get to play against the storm, this will create rivalry, now if you were aderlaide and seen this happening it would not take long for Aderlaide to want some of the action, no Perth is the main priority, Aderlaide will come when there ready. We dont want to get pushy, let them do the work, thats what Perth are doing. They have the best personel in Perth working extremely hard to get things in place, and i might add are acheiving good results.
Gallop needs to look at what the Celtic Crusaders (Wales) crowds are next year, they have the same amount as perth have but by joining the super league i wonder how far that crowd will grow. Should be interesting, give them 3 years to find out. New Zealand should also be looked at closely, I dont think Wellington would be a bad idea of having them in the league also, they want a team and can produce alot of talent. This is why i think having less teams in Sydney would provide a stronger comp, But this is a sore point and something that should sort itself out with time. The Bulldogs brand would go well in brisbane.