Rugby league has been focused on expansion in recent times, and rightly so. But amidst the fears that constantly surround the code – crowd attendance is not at world standard, only Easter Australia and Northern England play the game – it seems to be expanding faster than it ever has.
But we need players.
This may seem obvious, but outside Australia, New Zealand and England, we do not have any players that we call “what a freak” or “he’s a superstar”.
Papua New Guinea will produce some in the near future, no doubt (watch out for Jessie Joe Parker- currently trialling at St. George Illawarra).
But watching the ITU World Championship (Triathlon) in Sydney, I continually heard about the ITU investing into talent outside the heartland areas. They announced athletes from countries that would have struggled to field a triathlete in the 2000 Olympics.
The advances were evident as a Chilean won the initial round, beating out the world champ, Aussie Emma Moffatt, and a Kiwi.
Rugby league should be doing the same: invest in players from outside heartlands and produce future “superstars”.
Imagine players from Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, Finland, El Salvador, Yemen and the like playing our great game and being recognised as “super-freaks”. The nations around the world would start to recognise their players playing our game and our game becoming theirs.
Jamaica is making great strides, and they will produce great players. But the way a country takes to a game in recent times is by seeing a national hero and the nation follows the hero.
Jamaica will produce players with the flair that attract all sports lovers, and that’s what league needs, but the world has more to offer as well.
The RLIF, RLEF and the ARL needs to invest in players outside of the heartland.
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April 13th 2010 @ 6:48am
M1tch said | April 13th 2010 @ 6:48am | Report comment
Agree Corey, we need a scholarship program to bring out young kids from any country, I do think the NRL has been very slack when it comes to PNG and England the same for French players
April 13th 2010 @ 8:01am
Siva Samoa said | April 13th 2010 @ 8:01am | Report comment
Nations follow their heros in their particular games. League is a minor sport in Jamaica even if two players made the NRL nobody in Jamaica would know and follow their footstep except those playing in pub teams over there.
April 13th 2010 @ 10:40am
Shodan said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Same for Union also.
April 13th 2010 @ 11:09am
Sam said | April 13th 2010 @ 11:09am | Report comment
Same for ice-hockey, what is your point?
April 13th 2010 @ 8:14am
True Tah said | April 13th 2010 @ 8:14am | Report comment
The only way this is ever going to happen is for the International Rugby League to make some serious investments outside its heartlands.
Good players are products of a good infrastructure, and rugby league, like rugby union, needs a decent sized infrastructure, such as referees, coaches, minimum number of players, grass pitches, etc. You quote the likes of Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, etc but the only sport worth mentioning in these nations is futbol, and this is for several reasons, the primary being that it requires far less resources than say rugby league or rugby union. Plus in a lot of cultures, physical contact is seen as a big no no, and this is obviously going to impair sports which involve tackling one another.
April 13th 2010 @ 8:29am
allblackfan said | April 13th 2010 @ 8:29am | Report comment
The NRL won’t do that. The NRL’s jurisdiction is in running the first grade competition.
International investment by an Aust RL body has to be by the ARL (after all, the Kangaroos are their team are they not?) or, better yet, the International RL Federation.
Look at RU’s IRB — for all the criticism it receives, it still acts like the sport’s world governing body.
When was the last time we heard anything from the IRLF?
April 13th 2010 @ 10:12am
Corey said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:12am | Report comment
allblackfan, I said it should be up to the RLIF, RLEF (European), and the ARL to invest in these players (last line of the article).
With my limited knowledge of the ITU programme I will spread a little light. The ITU programme sends coaches from countries that are traditionally strong in the sport (a lot of Aussies are involved in this process, I mean A LOT, along with Kiwis, Brits and Yanks) to countries that are traditionally not strong.
Their whole point is to go over there and find a “bunch” of guys and girls that are the most gifted or most dedicated or have the most likelihood of making it in the international scene. Now, sometimes they go to countries where there is almost no product being produced so they poach them from other sports. Given, triathlon has the ability to poach fairly easy- find a good swimmer and train them in cycling and running, vice versa for the other disciplines.
But they have some stories about finding someone just in the streets that they thought would make a great athlete, so they asked them and trained them.
The incentive here is that they get free training, top notch conditioning and they may one day be in the international limelight. And, even in Australia Triathlon is not a major sport, albeit I love watching it, but the point is getting out of where they are in that point in time. RL can offer the same thing, send coaches out, like scouts without looking RL players only, but looking for freaks that can become RL players.
April 13th 2010 @ 8:47am
MasterBlaster said | April 13th 2010 @ 8:47am | Report comment
Totally agree with you Corey. there are so many untapped resources out there. so many freak athletes would be great for RL. i dont see any reason why we cant get more foreigners into our great comp.
what about italy? they have a strong rugby history, why not steal some of there players?
April 13th 2010 @ 11:23am
Corey said | April 13th 2010 @ 11:23am | Report comment
True, the Italia XIII is getting up slowly with a couple of teams, one in Roma that I know of.
April 13th 2010 @ 1:18pm
MasterBlaster said | April 13th 2010 @ 1:18pm | Report comment
ive been trying to get more info on the Ialia XIII but it has proved difficult. i do know there are new teams in Parma and Treviso. With the large Italian population in OZ we should try to get some ithais over here.
April 13th 2010 @ 1:31pm
Jay said | April 13th 2010 @ 1:31pm | Report comment
Mini might play for the azzuri in the next rugby world cup – but he would be the ideal ambassador given that he can speak Italian.
April 13th 2010 @ 12:15pm
Big Al said | April 13th 2010 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
What a dreamer MasterBlaster!!. Why on earth would an Italian rugby union player see any attraction in playing league??? League is totally unknown outside of Australia!! League isn’t even on the tele in Italy. So you’re asking a bloke who loves to play union to play a sport he’s never heard of or seen?? No doubt this fictitious Union player would ask you a lot of questions like, “is league more popular than Union? – answer = no”, or “Is league an Olympic sport? – No”, “is league a major world sport? – no “is league on the tele in South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Argentina, Italy, Russia, Japan, or any other country apart from Australia? – no” It’s like asking some junior league players in Sydney to drop everything and start playing Irish Hurling – it just aint gonna happen.
April 13th 2010 @ 2:30pm
Rod said | April 13th 2010 @ 2:30pm | Report comment
Just for you Big Al
http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/17…-worldwide-nrl
IMG Sports Media has signed a three-year deal to distribute the worldwide television rights, outside Australia and New Zealand, for the Australian National Rugby League.
Under the terms of the deal, which includes all broadcast and Inflight rights, IMG will distribute 26 rounds of live coverage of the NRL including the finals, three State of Origin matches and the annual ANZAC test match between Australia and New Zealand. IMG will also distribute a weekly highlights show – ‘NRL Full time’.
“Our partnership with IMG Sports Media provides the NRL with the opportunity to increase our international coverage by tapping into IMG’s vast network of contacts around the world. Professional Rugby League is a great spectacle and I am sure it is going to be a very attractive offering to international broadcasters and genuine sports fans,” said Graham Annesley, NRL Chief Operating Officer.
The deal forms part of IMG Media’s rugby league portfolio alongside the Rugby Football League’s European Super League, Challenge Cup and New Zealand Rugby League.
It is understood a number of deals are already being finalised, including with the Australian Network across Asia-Pacific, Orbit Showtime in the Middle East, Italy’s Dahlia TV, America One in the US and Virgin Airlines across international airspace.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
So much for your “League isn’t even on the tele in Italy” comment.
Have a nice day.
April 13th 2010 @ 6:17pm
Siva Samoa said | April 13th 2010 @ 6:17pm | Report comment
We get handball, American Football, hurling, gaelic football, darts, baseball, world strongest man on Foxtel here in Australia. Are we expecting everyone to drop everything and start watching and participate in this sports ? It would be the same for league. It been shown on FTA and pay tv in NZ and still paticipation numbers keep falling to its lowest of 15,000.
April 13th 2010 @ 3:28pm
Rod said | April 13th 2010 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Also Big Al, the SL is shown all across Europe and that includes places you mentioned.
Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Russia and France.
Plus Serbia, Germany, Holland and pretty much any other country in Europe.
The SL is shown in America and right through to the West Indies and further.
April 13th 2010 @ 6:18pm
Siva Samoa said | April 13th 2010 @ 6:18pm | Report comment
So as many sports .
April 13th 2010 @ 9:48am
Crosscoder said | April 13th 2010 @ 9:48am | Report comment
The ARL won’t be involved because with the introduction of the IC end of this year,there will be no ARL as such.
Any such decision would be left to the RLIF.that means a liason between the IC on international player movements and the RLIF.
Just because a player comes from Jamaica and makes it in the NRL,no one expects it to be big news in Jamaica.It’s called opportunity.There are now more Jamaican players getting the chance to play rl via the clubs and unis in that country.
There is a Yank playing in one of the Gc rl teams.Even if he makes into the NRL it will never be headlines in the USA.So what,it means another athlete playing rl
.Just like a fellow named George Gregan when he played ru for Australia,may not have been headline news in Zimbabwe.
And Siva we all know there are your famous pub teams being played in both rugby codes throughout the world.Quite a few NRL players started off in pub teams over the years.
There is also JP Du Plessis (from sth Africa) in the Roosters under 20 team.you remember him,the guy you stated wouldn’t play for them and was staying in Sth Africa.
If a player is good enough or has potential I don’t care where they get him from.Give him a go.
April 13th 2010 @ 10:27am
King of the Gorganites said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:27am | Report comment
“Just like a fellow named George Gregan when he played ru for Australia,may not have been headline news in Zimbabwe. ” – maybes thats because George Gregan was from ZAMBIA!
April 13th 2010 @ 10:18am
Corey said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:18am | Report comment
In the USA, may be no headlines are given, but that is because USA is very internalised, even when their star Soccer player, Donovan, played for Everton it was very minimal news, the only thing that made coverage were the fans shouting U-S-A. But in countries where people do not have national sporting heros, that’s where it will make its mark. And the point is these players may return home and start up a competition for their compatriots. And they will develop their own style of RL, just like the Jamaicans have ‘Reggae Rugby’, Indians could have ‘Bollywood Big Hits’. Haha.
April 13th 2010 @ 10:30am
Peter Byrne said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:30am | Report comment
While looking at Jamaica or Eastern Europe (or South Africa for that matter) is all well and good, the NRL’s clubs first need to take a proper look at nations on its doorstep where the game is already played at a decent level – namely Papua New Guinea and the Pacific – and convert the raw potential in these countries into a source of quality professionals and, at the same time, lifting the standard of their respective national teams… But I guess looking anywhere outside Australia and NZ is a good start in seeking to diversify the sources of playing talent in a competition run by people who are even reluctant to sign Englishmen.
Speaking of Englishmen this is probably one of the few areas where The RFL in the UK show far more vision than the current NRL. In the UK RL Championships (in which Jessie Joe Parker now plays for Featherstone Rovers along with fellow PNGeans Charlie Wabo at Hunslet and Stanley Gene at Halifax) in particular there’s a much more diverse range of playing backgrounds: from Africa, the Pacific and Europe – teams there seem to be much more open about giving someone out of leftfield a chance at a profesional contract. Other examples of the willingness to expand the game are the invitation to the Jamaican team to participate in the 9s tournament last year and the inclusion of teams outside of England in the early rounds of the Challenge Cup. Hoepfully, as we move toward the IC in Australasia we can take on some more of these kinds of risks?
April 13th 2010 @ 11:30am
Corey said | April 13th 2010 @ 11:30am | Report comment
Totally agree PB, I think UK dominates us in that area, look at the Magic Weekends they hold, they have the captain of Serbia if I recall playing for Wakefield, they have more PNG players than we do. Jessie Joe Parker is supposedly doing well over there, and Bennett has had him trialling for St. George-Illawarra based on his performance at the RLWC and reports coming from Featherstone. But England should be helping development more in France and Wales, along with Scotland, which you would think would take to the game since they are so geographically close. League has a lot more to do internationally, that is for sure.
April 13th 2010 @ 1:21pm
MasterBlaster said | April 13th 2010 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
We need to really ramp up our efforts in Ireland. after the success of the Irish in the RLWC i cant see a reason wht RL cant be as big as RU in Ireland in 5-10 years.
April 13th 2010 @ 1:37pm
JF said | April 13th 2010 @ 1:37pm | Report comment
Ireland is a land of around 6 million people and already supports three football codes, I think RL has little to gain from investing there.
April 13th 2010 @ 3:20pm
Corey said | April 13th 2010 @ 3:20pm | Report comment
Although Ireland should be looked at nonetheless, we want all countries to play this game at a high level, so may as well invest in Ireland.
But the need for RL to act as a community and invite people in is a mandatory action right now. ATM we just act like an exclusive club, and our best attack is that we are more popular than Union in Australia, and that makes us the greatest sport of all. This needs to change. Invite refugees, like the Sudanese in Annerley (Brisbane) and train them to be players, and give free tickets for their family to the game, etc. These things will build our appeal across cultures and across language barriers.
April 15th 2010 @ 10:13am
Dave said | April 15th 2010 @ 10:13am | Report comment
League is going to take off all over the world because is more popular than rugby in NSW and Queensland. The Sudanese are going to be prophets for league to spread the word of allaleague. Where did you get this comedian ?
April 13th 2010 @ 9:55pm
Tim O'Connor said | April 13th 2010 @ 9:55pm | Report comment
@ Masterblaster – League as big as Rugby in Ireland in five years?
Are you out of your mind?
I really hate to break it to you, but the RLWC didn’t even get coverage here. Of any kind. Meanwhile, Rugby is coming on in leaps and bounds, and is definitely becoming the default winter sport to watch.
When I was growing up, there used to be a lot more League on FTA television. Now, there’s none, and it makes no odds; because no-one watches it in Ireland anymore. It’s dropped off the edge of the sporting planet, as far as we’re concerned, and I can see no way it will ever come back.
April 13th 2010 @ 10:25pm
Siva Samoa said | April 13th 2010 @ 10:25pm | Report comment
Someone ask Masterblaster where Irish rugby league are going to get over 160,000 league players from in five years time ? Even world cup rugby league champions New Zealand only have 15,000 players left in the country.
April 15th 2010 @ 8:42am
Corey said | April 15th 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Someone tell Siva to get onto his own sports thread, or at least throw one positive comment about league on a league thread. Because I don’t know where Union will get a FTA TV deal in Australia!!!
Im not going to turn this into a code war, but Siva, to be honest mate, you’re like the guy to take to the pub and get them to do the first shout and after that everyone gets rid of you, because they don’t want to hear whingers.
April 15th 2010 @ 8:48am
Bay35Pablo said | April 15th 2010 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Corey, Ten have apparently offered Fox (which bought the pay TV Super 15 rights) and the ARU a $40m deal involving one live FTA Super 15 game a week. Apparently the ARU and Fox knocked it back. However, I expect it got scotched because it would be too much of a threat to Fox’s coverage, and if the ARU wanted to take it then Fox would drop the $$ for their deal too much.
The ARU is in a tough bind. The Fox cash keeps their heads above water, but the lack of FTA coverage for Super rugby is killing the game with the fans and juniors (who get wall to wall NRL coverage on FTA every weekend, but no Super rugby unless they have pay TV).
April 15th 2010 @ 9:06am
Brett McKay said | April 15th 2010 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Pablo, looks like Nine has picked up the Bledisloe (and presumably all domestic Tests) from 2011, to go twith the RWC they already had.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/nine-scores-bledisloe-coverage-for-five-years-20100414-se4h.html
Given Nine and Fox have a reasonably good relationship (common owners, NRL partnership, etc), and given also that Nine will have no sport on Sat night until the Tests start next year, maybe a delayed S15 game is still a possibility??
April 15th 2010 @ 10:19am
Dave said | April 15th 2010 @ 10:19am | Report comment
Corey. Are trying to take over from oikee as the comedian on this website ? Last time I check the Wallabies are on FTA and Sydney club games. And soon the Commonwealth 7′s and Olympic sevens will be on free to air TV.
We have more rugby on pay TV from other countries than league.
April 16th 2010 @ 8:45pm
Corey said | April 16th 2010 @ 8:45pm | Report comment
Dave, or Siva…I’m not taking over from Oikee, I’m just naturally funny…. see you’re laughing already, but just a history lesson for you, Commonwealth games are held every 4 years and it only goes for less than 2 weeks, and the Olympics are held every 4 years and they have a total of 3 weeks. So every 4 years you get an ACCUMULATIVE 5 weeks of 7′s not Rugby Union which is a XV’s game. So Savi or Dive or Dave/Siva yes I’m funny, yes I’m right and YES, I’m freakin awesome. LONG LIVE LEAGUE!!!
April 13th 2010 @ 2:26pm
Peter Byrne said | April 13th 2010 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
The RFL would argue that it does a few significant things for Scotland RL – namely, gives their top side a game in the Challenge Cup, currently holds the Super League weekend at Murrayfield and provides various representative teams for them to play against. As for France and Wales, many of the “heartland” supporters would probably complain that too much is done for them already: Allowing Toulouse Olympique XIII, South Wales Scorpions into the Championship and Crusaders into Super League all at the expense of the traditional Yorks/Lancs/Cumbrian clubs.
Sadly, it would be hard to come up with anywhere near the number of examples of the ARL / NRL assisting the development of neighbouring countries!
April 13th 2010 @ 11:12am
Sam said | April 13th 2010 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Where are the IRLF going to get the money for this? Shouldn’t they be focusing on expanding the game outside its traditional heartlands rather than spending money on potential players so that Super League and NRL clubs don’t have to? If the pro clubs can develop a scouting system that can identify talented foreigners then good on them, but shouldn’t the IRLF focus on other things?
April 13th 2010 @ 2:37pm
Rod said | April 13th 2010 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
My god there are some silly posts in this thread.
In 2005, Peter Sterling mentioned on ch9 that there was over 70 countries represented in Australian RL at all levels throughout Australia from NRL right down to country RL games in places like Parks and Gundagai, this number is probably up by now.
We do a lot more than a lot of you people here realise, from u16′s who go to places like Russia for youth tournaments through to University tours of places like South Africa and all the way up to the top for 4 Nations and World cups.