By Laine Clark
December 9th 2009 @ 2:07am
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Rugby league commission will not divide the code
Fears of an Origin-like brawl erupting over the introduction of a new independent rugby league commission have been dismissed by ARL CEO Geoff Carr.
The ARL emerged from a board meeting in Brisbane on Tuesday pledging their “ongoing support” for the creation of an independent body to oversee all aspects of the code.
But there was no deadline given for its introduction.
The news came after reports that interstate rivalries threatened to be stoked over the issue.
The QRL had insisted ahead of the meeting that they had not seen a formal proposal for an independent commission – yet NSW-based board members Carr and chairman Colin Love had reportedly been in possession of it for months.
However, Carr said the lack of a deadline for the commission’s introduction did not mean NSW and Queensland ARL delegates were butting heads over the issue.
“Time isn’t the issue. Getting it right is the issue,” he told AAP.
Asked if talks were amicable, Carr said: “I am not going down that path.
“The board saw the proposal today from News Ltd, we had a discussion on it and it was agreed that it required further talks with its NRL partner News Ltd.
“There’s no question though that the board believes that the right structure could be an important step in the game’s future development.”
Love also dismissed any suggestion that the ARL were dragging their heels over the issue.
“There is general acceptance that the current structure could be improved and any suggestion that the ARL is somehow trying to block change is simply incorrect,” Love said.
“It is in everyone’s interest that we invest the necessary time to get the process right.” Under the new model, the ARL and News Ltd would hand over control of the game to the commission.
It had initially been hoped that it would be up and running by as early as Christmas or early 2010.
But it seems the commission’s formation won’t be any time soon with QRL boss Ross Livermore confirming that his body would seek meetings with the NSWRL, the NSW Country Rugby League and their own state bodies before signing off on any new model.
Livermore has been vocal in his view that grassroots development must be at the centre of any new structure for the game.
An ARL statement released on Tuesday also suggested that the commission’s introduction would be later rather than sooner.
“Given the far reaching nature of any decision the board has today reinforced the need to properly consider all implications of such a change including the ongoing protection of the game’s grass roots and representative competitions and the interaction between NRL clubs and the wider sport,” it said.
The next ARL meeting is not scheduled until mid-January.
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oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 7:06am | Report comment
Right, glad you put this up , and lets disect what has been said. 1st he says that “time is not the issue”? and in the next breath he said we are not holding the commission up. ???
Having just witnessed a statement from John Quale, saying he would love to be on the Commission and take the game into the future.? It gets more hillarious every day. This guy is a dinosaur who has never taken the game anywhere, none of them have. Take for instance QLD rugby league, now we introduced the Broncos into Qld , what, nearly 30 years ago. A one town team, and in this time we have seen a club , with the privallive of having 2 million supporters to call opon, and in this lost time, the club has only 12 thousand members,. ?
Now if that is not sitting on your hands and doing nothing, i dont know what is, but to go further, we have Origin, and these profits go back into QLD and NSW rugby league. The games have been running for what, 30 years nearly, and along with other income, QLD has 7 million in the bank from profits made by QLD cup and Origin, and what other treats they get. NSW on the other hand, have a bank balance of 0,,, yes zero.
But to go one step further, we are now being held up by these dinosaurs, and could not agree to a commission yesterday, in principal they said, great,. But we have to look at the fine print and protect our grass-roots and other things. ?
So, instead of getting back in their next week to work things over in a fast exponiet manner, no, we are now told , Hey, just call another meeting in lets say, 6 weeks, i want a good x-mas break and we dont want to rush things. Now, i dont know about how you guys feal, but yes, we do want to rush things, we want a commission, everyone wants it, but if we keep waiting for these dinosaurs to make a decision, we could be waiting to this time 2020.
Now these guys running this show, they all want to be part of the future, mate, please, the reason we are going to a commission is because you did not want change back in the super league war. The game could have been changed way back then, they opted to fight change, and now they want to lead us into the future. ???
No thanks, i would rather have 8 yanks on the commission running the game than have one of these guys involved, i want change, and i really dont want the commission if we just have more of the same. Steve, you posted a blog telling us, it will be more of the same. Well if it is, then rugby league my friends is not going anywhere.
I watched a add on Spike T/V for the NRL in America, they did a great job just putting together a 20 second clip, We need players on the commission who are going to take the game forward, not give us more conservative greif.
This is bussiness, now some of these dinosaurs have been in the game for decades, running our game, let me tell you about real bussiness, if a ceo is on your books for any more than 5 years, he becomes stale in that position. We have the stale-ist bread in sport running our game, and still think they deserve a say. No,
like i mentioned, you had 30 years to inprove things, you have done nothing,, move on.
Brett McKay said | December 9th 2009 @ 7:26am | Report comment
It does seem somewhat ironic that the game’s powerbrokers have been calling for an end to all the vested interests, etc, and when it comes to the crunch some of those vested interests themselves aren’t quite ready to let go. But of course, they support the need for independance, of course, of course…
M1tch said | December 9th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment
Anyone know if Robert Finch will be involved with rules and refs..because then seriously nothing is going to change.
oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 9:11am | Report comment
And to go one step further again. take NZ, they have been in the comp for what, over 2 decades, and lets have alook at what our great leaders have done for them. Their players need to move to the Ozzie NRL because most of them dont get a chance in NZ. And they helped them out, really showed them how to do things right. ?????
NZ rugby league last year fell from 80 thousand on their books, to just 15 thousand players in all grades. And the NZ rugby league were that broke and busted because of all the fine input that the ARL and NRL gave them, that they had no option but to shut down completely , or let the government take over , sack everyone, and start again. ?????
Now, if this was my sub-branch, it would never had got into this mess in the 1st place. If that is not a classic case of self interest by these dinosaurs running our game.,,,, I’m “Jack Horner”,,, they have sat in their corner, only worried about prechise Origin because thats all they could do, and had no idea until Micheal Seale came along and said look, i can get a new game up and running with-in a year, (Indig , all-stars),, and another , Micheal Buetner, hey,!! lets have a under 20 comp.
2 years, and the game has progressed faster than the 30 years these guys have been in charge, and even NZ Sparc running them have sacked nearly all the dinosaurs that were bleeding their game dry.
Now, this is the future, and we need this more now than ever. But if anyone sits back and thinks that one of these guys are going to be anywhere with-in 100 thousand miles of rugby league, we should be scared. I will give Colin Love 2 years tops, only so the commission can see what and why, we have not made progress, and he can show them the ins and outs. But if he thinks he can show them anything other than being conservative, i will be a “red chicken”..
At the very least, they will understand what never to do with a code. Cheers.
oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 11:30am | Report comment
And finally, sorry, i have to give you my finally post, which is a extension of what i have already shown you good league followers, but has to be said. Fianally, we have the Manly episode, now someone tell me if i am wrong in what i am about to say.
Can anyone please explain to me why, a NRL club like Manly, who cant make a decision with all the in fighting the club goes through, and the great minds running this club. Who, ? Whos made the decision to appoint Graham Lowe, A dinosaur of the game who is not real healthy, (get well soon) but should never have, ever, been considered for this role.
Now, think about this, we are giving these clubs more power to run their clubs, more money, can anyone tell me that their is going to be full discloser on what these clowns are getting upto, while the Commission runs the game.?
Or can the commission just let them go, get a new club in to take their spot. Because hey, i am a Bronco fan, but the sooner we get rid of another dinosaur who runs our club, the happier i will be, reasons explained above.
My father just said to me , have alook at the TRL,(toowoomba rugby league) he said it use to be a well run comp, but look at it now, its nothing like it use to be. All i said back was, we still have the same dinosaurs running the game today as we did back in its heyday, how would you expect it to have grown. ?????? So to take you abit further along the track, these guys are holding up the commission.
How sweet,,, not.
And i also said to him, (my dad), why, why did you ever make me love this game so much, why did you not just have me play soccer. His reply, well, you could have earned more money thats for sure, if i did.
Col the Bear said | December 9th 2009 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
like I said it could all change again next week..it started when Melbourne decided to pull out of the CC.. then News ltd decided to pull out fo the game,and it’s been one folly after another..since then..the only positives is the CC Bears moving ahead leaps and bounds and are not getting side tracked by any of this..
Jaredsbro said | December 10th 2009 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
Hey Col is there a website for the Bears bid
I’m not sure you answered my last request. I’m a serious fan, and one day I may actually live on the Central Coast so there’ll be a need to support the local club. Also and of greater importance is the fact that I’m a North Sydney fan (and I wasn’t following League in the days of yore when they played but the Northern part of Sydney deserves the finest derby in the league
Col the Bear said | December 13th 2009 @ 10:08am | Report comment
jaredsbro the CCBears website is http://www.centralcoastbears.com.au this is where you can become a member and also pick up your CCBears merchandise.. there is also the 50 000 bears supporter club which in less then a year is just about to hit 12000 members..
Rob C said | December 9th 2009 @ 1:43pm | Report comment
I for one think that we are getting ahead of ourselves in trying to rush in a commission. Just remember that we only get one chance to do this and do it right. I for one do think that the delaying tactics by the ARL are for self interest purposes, but so are the Clubs and their persistence to push this through as quick as possible. I think that giving the 16 NRL clubs complete control over our grass roots and development programs is a disaster waiting to happen. Yes the Clubs deserve to have a say in the direction of the game as they are a major stakeholder. But they are not the only stakeholders. Where are the interests of grass roots rugby league and representative league going to heard under the proposed new structure? Everyone keeps saying that the commission will be independent, however if the clubs are picking them they are by default preceived as having their self interest aligned with the clubs (their employers).
I for one want a commission more than anyone but feel that this proposed structure is flawed and will take the game backwards. Not forwards as everyone so desperately wants.
My view is that the game belongs to the people as this is the peoples game. In this regard it is us that should be determining who is elected to the independent commission. By this I mean NRL Club members and registered and associated club people at grass roots level. Once the Board is elected, then the Board can recruit their own CEO and be accountable to rugby league, not the NRL Clubs.
Afterall, it is us as fans, members or players that have a real vested interest in seeing this process benefit all of the rugby league viewing public. The success of this is in the fine detail, so please take a breath and lets make sure there is a proper due diligence done on this process before making a decision on how the new structure will take the game forward.
oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
Agree with most of what you have said Rob, but what you also have to remember is this, the soccer world cup bid is on our doorstep, now with thought to your post, it’s great that you want to protect Grassy roots, we all do, but their wont be any grassy roots once soccer gets its claws into this country. And to add further panic to rugby leagues future, we have what??? David Gallop on his own going up against the world cup soccer bid. Now if we had that slow, might happen next year same time same place, might never happen, Commission up and running, we would have some heavy-weights looking at what is best for rugby league come 2018, 2022 or even 2030, but at the moment we have a guy who tells us we are not going to expand, thats his strength.
Now, fear for grass roots all you like, but without a commission, i would be fearing for the game. It’s billions against Millions here. We need some clout just to survive. And guess what, the dinosaurs might yet, be the death of our game.
Col the Bear said | December 9th 2009 @ 4:15pm | Report comment
I wonder what might divide the code then?? the TV rites deal in a couple of years has the potential to get volatile this time around..I can’t see kerry stokes backing away this time.. and if they run it like the AFL..split between 7 and 10 and with News Ltd by then out of the picture/ well Maybe? if they eventually get the commission up and running..it could be fun and games ahead..Yes they better get their commission running up sooner rather then later.. because you will need a strong leader and a stable board come 2012..someone who will make tough decisions.and actually say yes we have to expand to counteract anything the AFL and other codes do.. this is not for the sake of expanding.. this is to sure up rugby league heartland..for future generations.. The Central Coast, /and SQld….
Singleton has already made it clear he wants to get his footy show up and running on 7 with Matty Johns..and to go head to head with 9s footy show..
oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 5:14pm | Report comment
Well said Col, and not only 2 expansion teams, but 4 maybe. We need to shore up our other strengths, one which is NZ rugby league, and we also need a presense in Perth. Forget PNG, they need to consentrate on their international game, with the island nations, which i see they are doing. PNG needs to be invited into the 4 nations and when they get better, can also tour overseas with the 4 nation teams, which will make it 5 or 6 if you include Wales , nations.
This is how to help PNG, not bust up their domestic comp by adding a NRL team. We need to be clever about what we do, yet we need to be possitive and firm. Cheers.
We will always have grass roots, some of these lads could not kick a soccer ball into a net, they could probably kick it out of the stadium, but they are not built for football. And as far as AFL is concerned, ? Could you ever imagine FuiFUI MOI MOI in a tight pair of shorts, and running flatout for 3 hours,;??? No their is room for all codes, but we must make our product the best for T/V entertainment. Cheers.
oikee said | December 9th 2009 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
Now, finally, and just to finish today on my annoyances, we have the R.L.P.A (rugby league players association) complaining to David Gallop about not being informed about the Private investagators roll. ????
You can see now why we need the commission, this is the reason why rugby league gets nowhere, who comes up with all these positions, never heard of them, RLPA, well never heard them complain until now, so they must have done a great job, doing nothing all these years.
So we make one change, and all these commities of commities of a sub-branch of a mate who knows a mate, got me this cushy job, because i once dated his sister back in the 70’s,,,, please, commission, just cut QLD and NSW loose, if they dont come to the party, cancel Origin, call it ” Gorilla’s play ball” or something, and let these dinosaurs die for the good of the game. Now, all of what i have posted, this has happened this week, 3 days. When will this madness stop, and maybe let’s do a grand inquiry after we get the commission up, to see how much these dinosaurs have “milked the books”,
Arh, yeah, now they are listening.
oikee said | December 10th 2009 @ 10:48am | Report comment
I might as well reply to my own posts, seems like everyone else is busy looking at the world cup bid, and what it can earn for your code.
Just replying about that comment i made here yesterday, “Call origin the Gorilla’s play Ball”, seems like today they have mentioned a players strike for Origin, if they ,(nsw qld leagues) , dont hurry things up with the new commission, wonder if they read my posts,
Col the Bear said | December 9th 2009 @ 6:39pm | Report comment
There’s too much fence sitting and curtailing to the club CEOs..
David Gallop says one thing one day supporting the expansion, and the next day it’s once again put on the backburner..and then the next back on again..
If they want an Independent commission then INDEPENDENT it must be..
If they say now katey page shouldn’t be on there as she is a sitting NRL board member then put hubby Gerry there instead..
as I said yesterday.. get Dr Merv Cross…get John Coates…as I said QC Margaret Cuneen.. there are many many out there who are more then qualified to fill these positions, get Geoff dixon..I mean these are people, who aren’t connected to the league, but are knowlegable …
you have someone of the likes of terry quinn.. head of the CRL (ah the crusaders what a debacle) and also on the ARL..
the people will continue to be suspicious until it is completely neutral..
the concern will be the TV rites..the game can not be undersold again..and I think that Kerry Stokes and Leckie won’t let that happen this time around…it may be a battle royale…
Jaredsbro said | December 10th 2009 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
John O’Neil might be a good option at some point in the future. And yes I am being serious, he’s experienced at being in charge of the other two rectangular codes and that will help RL maintain its niche and may just give them the right mix (providing he’s the only loose cannon you elect) to make the game truly great
oikee said | December 10th 2009 @ 4:00pm | Report comment
I would sign J.O.Neil , he would be a very good signing, and make some good decisions. I see the Broncos signed Moody, he will bring alot to the club, and probably go on to be a nrl coach one day.
Col the Bear said | December 9th 2009 @ 7:02pm | Report comment
Hey Oikee, Flo was just on 2UE with Brandy and Tim Gilbert.. the Bears are staying put.. we are now on the CC and we are entrenched there now..
Tim gilbert said the Bears should be back in 2010..if he had his way.. and Brandy said they’ll get back for 2013..
Ah it’s good to be a Bear..
oikee said | December 10th 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Col, the day they make it back, i am going to go down to the off,an,off, grab myself a bottle of Adelaides finest, Brandock Mountain Chardeny and drink the whole bottle with the wife for cellabration of the bears back into the comp. cheers.
rusty said | December 10th 2009 @ 4:30pm | Report comment
This ‘Independent Commission’ saga is beginning to resemble an episode of Yes Minister.
Col the Bear said | December 11th 2009 @ 8:06pm | Report comment
or the Office..:-)
Col the Bear said | December 11th 2009 @ 8:16pm | Report comment
Or rusty the way it’s going a great name for the new NRL building “Fawlty Towers”.. sorry you can’t help but smirk.. and roll your eyes just a little..