Gallop must listen to fans not broadcasters

 
Tommy Smith Roar Rookie

By Tommy Smith, 12 Mar 2009 Tommy Smith is a Roar Rookie

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2009 could be a watershed year in the history of Australian Rugby League as the balance of power tips from the corporate supporters of the NRL to the human supporters.

And this means, for a change, David Gallop must listen to us or else risk the slow and painful death of his code.

Phil Gould’s March 8 column in the Sydney Morning Herald, once one looks past the customary linguistic grandstanding that characterises the majority of Gus’ commentary, highlights a pertinent reality facing the NRL in 2009.

That is that fans, or customers as we would be more aptly described, can look forward to an unprecedented sense of control as League becomes further mired in an ultra-competitive market ailing under the vicelike grip of the global recession, and the powers that be desperately search for answers.

And its about time, too.

For years, supporters have been unequivocal in their demands for more day games and less fixtures in stadiums with as much atmosphere as the moon.

Far from ill considered calls for modernisation, particularly the ludicrous suggestion of merging the two Rugby codes, David Gallop should acknowledge the will of the fans to reconnect Rugby League to its suburban roots.

League lacks the international appeal of Football and Union, as well as the national appeal of Australian Rules.

Ask most Rugby League supporters why the game appeals to them and they will respond with a series of clichés immediately associated with the suburban tribalism of footy in the 1980s.

It’s no coincidence that the games that get the newspaper and television pundits salivating are the sellouts at Brookvale and Leichardt, venues drenched in the code’s famous history, where supporters slightly long in the tooth can still envisage Graham Eadie toe poking one between the sticks, or Blocker Roach patting Eddie Ward on the head.

Gallop’s sycophantic compliance to the wishes of News Corp TV broadcasters continues to erode this appeal, with only two games a week played in daylight hours and a spate of big, flashy stadiums paying big, flashy cheques to clubs willing to betray their supporters for the benefit of their bank balances.

I, and I suspect most Rugby League fans, couldn’t care less if the footy was only broadcast on the ABC if it meant they could once again enjoy a Saturday afternoon at Henson Park with a cold tin of beer in one hand and a crisp sausage sandwich in the other.

This is the appeal of Rugby League, this is what the fans will part with their hard earned cash to go and watch.

Not empty stadiums, not TV dictated Monday night fixtures impossible to attend.

As the world plunges into financial turmoil, it is imperative that the NRL boosts the number of people rattling through the turnstiles – and regardless of the immense pressure from TV broadcasters, Gallop must succumb to the will of the supporters to ensure a surge in the numbers of bums on seats.

If not, there will be no more consumers left to sustain the product.

The very hand that is apparently feeding Gallop will be the hand that strangles his code to death.

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