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NRL stars like Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston may be tempted to swap codes in a bid to finish their illustrious careers with an Olympic medal in rugby sevens at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
So says ARU chief executive John O’Neill who believes rugby is emerging from a trough in good shape ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, after the abbreviated form of the game was accepted into the Olympic program.
O’Neill told a sports’ CEO lunch in Sydney that rugby sevens had the same potential for his code as Twenty20 had for cricket in creating a new market and new opportunities.
“Will we see the likes of Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis playing rugby for Australia and trying to win an Olympic gold medal at Rio in 2016?” he questioned.
His NRL counterpart David Gallop said such a prospect was “very distant on the radar” but did not rule it out.
“It’s a very nice thing for rugby to be accepted into the Olympics and if we were ever offered the opportunity to join the Olympic Games we’d probably say yes,” he said.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the advent of Twenty20 had changed the landscape for his sport by broadening the talent base.
“The challenge is to find the right mix of T20 fixtures (with Tests and One Day Internationals) and that demand could be answered by expanding the Big Bash (to include city or regional based teams),” he told the 500 guests at the Sydney Tattersalls Club.
Sutherland also said he wanted to find a clear window to allow Australian team players to participate in the state-based Big Bash currently played over the Christmas and New Year period.
One point on which all the sporting CEOs agreed was getting a strong foothold in the massive western Sydney region.
While the NRL has a head start with teams based in Parramatta, Penrith and Canterbury, the AFL has plans for Team GWS to play in 2012, Football Federation Australia plans to launch the Sydney Rovers in 2011, and the ARU is trying to rejuvenate its Parramatta-based club.
FFA boss Ben Buckley said it would be an extremely competitive environment and all codes would have to be at their best.
“Success will ultimately be decided by who has got the seven-year-olds playing their game,” Gallop said.
Buckley also said he was confident the FFA and Australia had done a good job in building a reputation with the sport’s global governing body FIFA as a credible soccer World Cup host for 2018 or 2022.
O’Neill, a former FFA CEO, said he thought Australia would win the 2022 World Cup, but compensation would need to be paid to the other codes if they were to give up venues for the World Cup.
“FIFA makes politics look like kindergarten and the 2018 World Cup will have to go back to Europe for financial reasons,” he said.
“I think they’ll win in 2022 but the other codes can’t be disadvantaged and serious money will have to change hands.
“For example the net gate proceeds from a Bledisloe Cup game at (Sydney’s) ANZ stadium is worth about $4 million before you consider TV rights.”
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