Going global in rugby league’s brave new world
Roar Guru By Steve Kaless, 20 Jun 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- barcelona, Catalans Dragons, English super league, Four Nations, international rugby league, NRL, Rugby Football League, Rugby League
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Australian Rugby League player Andrew Johns, right, is handed off by Leeds Rhinos' Danny Ward as Johns makes his debut for Warrington Wolves during their Super League game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington, England. AP Photo/Paul Ellis
Finally, having a passport is becoming worthwhile for rugby league fans with English Super League side Catalans Dragons taking their match against Warrington to the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona this weekend in the hope of drawing a few interested onlookers.
It’s probably about time some of rugby league’s much maligned administrators got a few pats on the back.
An insider with the Rugby Football League has told me that ticket sales for the match have been going better than expected. The French are taking them up in droves, with extra coaches being put on.
But amongst locals, there has also been solid interest.
After all, there is a small break in the football window and residents of Barcelona are fiercely proud of being Catalan. So anything that shares the name will always get a second glance.
But this isn’t about rugby league taking over Barcelona, it’s not even about trying to pronounce Raudonikis after too many sangrias.
It is that, finally, there seems to be a concerted effort to spread the game.
The game’s governing body in the UK, the RFL, probably had a sobering wake up call when England smashed France 66-12 in Paris last Saturday.
I say wake up call because there may have been some excuse for thinking they had done all the hard work following the success of the Dragons in Super League and new club Toulouse in the Championship.
However, despite the result, I feel the organisers should be praised for having the guts to take the game to Paris in an attempt to broaden the game’s appeal.
It’s probably a good thing that the swanky do held to attract the sponsors was scheduled before the game rather than after.
But at least it seems someone is trying.
For too long, an international calendar was simply an after-thought for rugby league administrators. But now, the momentum from the last World Cup actually seems to have moved into something tangible.
Apart from the Four Nations at the end of the year, my interest will lie in the Pacific Nations Cup and European Nations Cup, which are being held at the same time.
It’s encouraging to see that a game so often mocked for not existing outside New South Wales or Queensland in Australia and the M62 corridor in the UK, will now see matches played in Limerick, Glasgow, Tripoli, Belgrade and Moscow.
Real success might be a long way away, but that is where it stays until you start that journey.
It makes me wonder if the Roosters shouldn’t be given more incentive to be more imaginative when they play the role of travelling circus.
The Sharks and Rabbitohs have taken matches to Adelaide and Perth this year, so why can’t the Roosters ditch their on-again-off-again love affair with the Central Coast and try Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast, or even Port Moresby.
We hear they all want an NRL franchise, so why not test the waters with a few games?
The same could be argued with the idea of stealing the English concept of playing a whole round at one venue.
The Super League have seen great success staging a whole round of matches at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium and then Edinburgh’s Murrayfield, but then we get all creative and think the concept might work at Suncorp.
Puhlease.
The whole reason the English concept worked was because it was held in a whole new area. It is pointless taking the game to Brisbane. You’ll hardly win over any more converts by getting them to watch the Sharks Vs the Warriors.
Good things have been done by people thinking outside the square and making bold decisions.
League fans can only hope they continue to see more, not less.
June 20th 2009 @ 8:58am
Dan said | June 20th 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
Steve,
I appreciate the sentiments of this article and it is good that league is growing, however in all honesty the time for expansion was probably 50-60 years ago now… With the benefit of a professional structure, rugby league should really be larger than Union, but due to its inept management, it will likely be limited to Aus, NZ and GB for years to come.
October 8th 2009 @ 12:18pm
Rin said | October 8th 2009 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
I agree, too late now, its competition is Union who are already too far ahead (see: Rugby World cup as the 3rd biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics and Soccer World Cup) for League ever to catch up, will always be an Aus PNG and Northern England sport. The french will never take it they like their rugby too much, neither will the Safa’s or Kiwi’s.
June 20th 2009 @ 10:02am
The Link said | June 20th 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Steve, good article, Catalans seem to be bringing fresh ideas to Super League, much in the same way with the Titans and Michael Searle in the NRL e.g. with the Indigenous all stars. The message is then to encourage more forward thinking administrators into RL through expansion into new teams.
With the international game, well you have to start somewhere.
June 20th 2009 @ 10:11am
DogsOfWar said | June 20th 2009 @ 10:11am | Report comment
I think the NRL should make every team give up one home game to the NRL, who then underwrites the game, and uses it to expand into a new area. So with 16 games in hand, they could have 4-5 games a year in Perth, 4 game in Adelaide (maybe a double header to fill the ground), 2-3 Darwin, 2-3 in Wellington etc. Areas like Perth could have the games scheduled around Origin time, when NRL crowds are usually at there lowest, but exposure of the game is at it’s highest.
Would make far more sense that what happens now with NRL clubs, where they just go where the money is and when it suits them. It could only happen in the NRL.
September 4th 2009 @ 9:38am
danwighton said | September 4th 2009 @ 9:38am | Report comment
I think thats a good idea – that way the good of the game will be the priority, not the interests (and hip pockets) of individual clubs.
June 20th 2009 @ 11:00am
jimbo said | June 20th 2009 @ 11:00am | Report comment
It’ll never fly.
They only sell the Daily Telegraph in NSW.
June 20th 2009 @ 11:58am
sheek said | June 20th 2009 @ 11:58am | Report comment
Unless you happen to be a rugby league tragic, I can’t see the game expanding much….. anywhere.
In RL’s case, they’ve had 100 years to spread the game, or 113 years in British history, & they haven’t spread far from their initial gains, particularly up to WW1.
It’s ironic that in the amateur union/professional league days, union found it easier to spread their game, because those who moved elsewhere in the world to live or work, took their love of union with them & spread the gospel. Besides which, working class league lovers didn’t travel anywhere near as much as the better heeled union lovers.
But now that it is a professional sport like league, it’s interesting there is less movement in union because people now wish to be paid. Doing it for love doesn’t seem to cut anymore.
Often I think league needs to move further away from union as a sport, including a complete name change. Remove the scrum completely, & perhaps substitute a line of scrimmage. How confusing must it be for Americans, for example, to realise there are two rugby codes?
In the USA, union calls its national comp Rugby Super League (RSL). Americans are impatient at the best of times without having this little mental twister explained to them.
The other problem for league with two rugby codes, is that union is better established in most places on the globe. The game may be king in NSW, Queensland, Yorkshire, Lancashire & parts of Auckland, but it struggles to gain acceptance elsewhere.
And no, I won’t mention PNG, because that’s like saying football (soccer) is the national game of Liechtenstein! Regrettably, it hardly cuts.
The reason why one code hasn’t managed to kill off the other is because intrinsically, neither code is sufficiently superior a spectacle to the other, despite what the aficionados might think. But who would have thought the players themselves might have something to do with the future of the two codes?
Rugby league players are not transferring to the union game in Australia, but they are increasingly willing to ply their trade in France, Britain & Japan. I would have to say, at present, far better to be a union fan than a league fan.
And Jimbo, I love that line about the daily telegraph (which I refuse to acknowledge with capital letters)!
June 20th 2009 @ 12:46pm
Nick said | June 20th 2009 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
So they’re playing a game in Spain… Biarritz plays Heineken Cup games in Spain (the Basque part) frequently and sells over 30 000 tickets… But I do like the Super League idea of having whole rounds elsewhere. Might be a bit heavy to have 8 games on the road (there are only 14 Super League teams now, and there has only been 12 for a long time). Maybe a good idea would be a split round four games in Perth and four games in wellington/Auckland…
Also there is no point trying to build an international calender without grass roots support. Rugby Union is learning this the hard way; eg. Italy play excessive fixtures like a true rugby nation but keep failing… why? Not enough grassroots rugby in Italy. Instead League should be encouraging more clubs to be established in other nations, like this supposed USNRL – though I’ll believe it when I see it.
June 20th 2009 @ 1:27pm
westy said | June 20th 2009 @ 1:27pm | Report comment
Do not misinterpret my loyalty but the Australian rugby league response would be ” and rugby union plays a path finder game in Melbourne” I hope the crowd matches the hype. I for one am suspicious of junior rugby union support south of the border despite the protestations of the VRU and its participants figures.
I bluntly do not see the juniors on the ground playing regular Saturday competitions. I have seen some adult club games but junior support is very light on.
Western Sydney bluntly provides over 25% of rugby first grade players in comparison.The only thing in favour of Melbourne is the potential corporate dollar and proximity to NZ.
Sheek for all the right reasons for rugby’s better spread progress is very very slow. italy I hope dp well tonight but for a country playing some form of competitive club rugby since 1929 its development at best can be described as inept.I think it has actually gone backwards in the last few years. Without rehashing the old arguments rugby was very very lucky to hold the line in France.
For all that go the Italians for it would mean much more to rugby if they can win .
Rugby league was inept in spreading its game but under the harsh light of reality rugby in England/France / South Africa/ Australia and the NZers are still to far above the rest of the pack. Scotland is in decline although Wales is on the improve and ireland is where Ireland has always been sometimes good sometimes ordinary. Will Japan ever be any good ? It is a legitimate question.
For all football’s dominance by Brazil/italy /Germany Argentina/ Spain/Holland /france and England the skill gap has very markedly narrowed. Egypt /Cameroons/Croatia/Russia/ Portugal/Mexico/offer apowerful second string and who is to say Japan/ Australia/ Rumania/ South Korea/ Columbia/Sweden/South Africa/ Nigeria and others are are to far behind.
This continues to be rugby’s weakness. Our second string is too far behind despite some improvement in Argentina and looks very unlikely to change.
Brazil go into a game of football knowing they have to play well to beat Egypt in a World Cup group . New Zealand still beat japan in a canter and 90 to nil says it all.
The money the IRB makes from the World Cup is still not properly targeted to international development . Sometimes the bullet has to be bitten and countries like georgia /Rumania / Sebia etc may offer better investment returns then Italy or japan.
June 20th 2009 @ 3:19pm
sheek said | June 20th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
Westy,
I am unashamedly jumping on the Socceroos bandwagon.
Both rugby union & league looked tired sports to me.
June 20th 2009 @ 3:50pm
The Answer said | June 20th 2009 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Sheek,
For all rugby great expansions for so many years, what a pity their World Cup still has five teams battling for the four semi final spots.
Far better to be a union fan than league? Not if you actually have to watch the game.
June 20th 2009 @ 4:01pm
sheek said | June 20th 2009 @ 4:01pm | Report comment
The Answer,
Rugby union? Rugby league? I watch them both & kinda like them both (moreso union), but I don’t really care as much anymore.
Especially if football takes off in Australia.
Anyway, union’s perennial, or quad-perennial 5 battling out the WC, still trumps league’s 3. And 20 nations each with a national comp compared to about 5-6. But I don’t particularly care either way. My heroes (both codes) belong in the last century.