Thank you Mr. Gallop, but your time is up

 
The Crowd Roar Guru

By Mitchell Byrne, 10 Mar 2010 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

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It’s been a pleasure Mr. Gallop, but your time is up. As we’ve all heard before the NRL is in for a challenging few years as it attempts to counter the AFL’s efforts to inhabit its base of Western Sydney, and many seem to believe that Gallop is the man to lead the charge.

Whilst Mr. Gallop certainly presents well on television when facing the cameras after yet another player scandal, a light scratch of the surface reveals he leads an administration that has restricted our great game for the past 10 years.

Ask a CEO in any industry for advice and one of the tips you’ll get is to always keep one eye on your competitors. How is it then that Mr. Gallop has seemingly spent his tenure wearing the blinkers? For the past 20 years, the AFL (the NRL’s chief competitor) has driven and promoted club membership as the path to securing its clubs’ financial stability – one of the few remaining untapped revenues left in Australian professional sport.

On the contrary, the NRL under Gallop’s watch sat idly on its backside, waiting for the next penny to appear miraculously out of nowhere to counter the evaporating League’s club grants generated by the introduction of poker machine tax at the clubs.

AFL clubs now have a total of 574,091 members compared to the NRL who are closing in on 100,000. In a period where NRL clubs look far and wide for additional revenue, an astute CEO would’ve replicated and implemented a similar model for his clubs 10 years ago. But not Gallop.

It’s taken the leadership of the Rabbitohs to take the initiative three years ago to focus a business model centred around a solid club membership. It is only now that Gallop’s administration has fallen into place and is slowly allocating the resources necessary to bridge the 20 year head-start the AFL has had.

Why has the NRL taken so long to smell the roses?

On the NRL’s television deal, how does a CEO sell his product for $70 million a year less than his competitor, when his own product’s TV ratings are a lot more even than the prices paid? How does a CEO agree to terms with Channel 9 and allow them to dictate when his games are played? How does a CEO agree on a television contract that does not enforce Channel 9 to broadcast at least one match per week (Storm) live into such a key strategic market such as Melbourne?

Needless to say the AFL ticked these boxes by not only ensuring Swans and Lions games are broadcast north of the border each and every week (sometimes beaten by IronChef on SBS), but the AFL also determine when and where their games are played, allowing the season draw to be finalised four months prior to the season kickoff.

The current NRL deal saw such ludicrous fixturing in 2009 as the Rabbitohs versus Roosters match being played out at ANZ Stadium on a Monday night in front of 10,000 people. The deal also means NRL fans are restricted to only two games of daylight footy per week. In a climate where all codes are vying for the families dollar, this deal was another masterstroke from Mr. Gallop. Where is his accountability for such a dreadful deal?

On administration, if you were blindfolded and dropped into NRL headquarters, you would swear you were in the NRLs past players’ museum. Unlike other codes where the days of awarding your mates and ex-teammates a job at the top are long gone, the NRL and its clubs continue its blazer wearing, jobs for the old boys culture. It’s a quick who’s who of past players that fill important key strategic roles both in the NRL’s administration and throughout the NRL clubs. It it any wonder most NRL clubs are broke?

For example:

Ian Schubert – Salary Cap Auditor
Mario Fenech – Corporate Sales Manager
Graham Annesley – Chief of Operations
Graham Lowe – Manly CEO
Paul Osborne – Parramatta CEO
Steve Edge – Parramatta Marketing Manager
Peter Peters – Manly Media Manager
Shannon Donato – Panthers Marketing Manager

Mr. Gallop was bought in as a peacemaker at an incredibly challenging time of the game’s history. For a time he did a great job in bridging the gap between both sides, and for that we are thankful.

However, as the game faces its next big challenge from the AFL, it’s time for change; making room for a younger more commercially astute CEO, such as a Todd Greenberg or Michael Searle. At the same time, a broom needs to put through the entire organisation of ex-players and blazer wearers to make way for a team ready to face the challenges ahead.

David, it’s time you galloped off into the sunset.

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