There has been some talk in the press recently about the introduction of two new national knockout cups. Australian soccer is considering introducing a knockout competition which would bring together the national clubs with some of the stronger clubs from the state leagues.
Meanwhile, the AFL is proposing a national knockout cup scheduled to start as early as next year open to the strongest clubs from the SANFL, WAFL and other state leagues. Foxtel will be broadcasting the games.
Rugby league should be considering doing something similar.
A national knockout competition including NRL clubs as well as clubs from the lower tier competitions is something that the NRL / ARL might consider.
A competition of this sort is nothing new for rugby league in Australia. From 1974 to 1989, there was a rugby league knockout competition which featured teams from all over Australia.
Initially known as the AMCO Cup (then later Tooth Cup, KB Cup, and Panasonic Cup), the competition was most often won by clubs from the dominant NSWRL premiership, although at various times BRL clubs and regional representative sides performed credibly and recorded victories over the wealthy Sydney clubs.
Notable “upset” competition winners were NSW Country Western Division in 1974 and Combined Brisbane in 1984.
It’s time to bring back a knockout cup to rugby league in Australia. Let’s call it the ARL Cup.
Football has changed hugely since the 70s and 80s, especially with the advent of full-time professionalism, so this sort of competition would need to be designed carefully if it was to succeed. Fortunately there is a niche waiting to be filled that it would be perfect for.
The ARL Cup could be played on Origin and representative football weekends, and any player selected for Origin or Test representative duties that year would be ineligible to play in the ARL Cup.
Normal NRL premiership rounds would be suspended for these weeks, which would rectify the current problem of NRL clubs fielding depleted sides but still having to play for premiership points, which devalues the prestige of the NRL premiership, and also affects some clubs more than others.
The ARL Cup would also be a way for teams and areas pushing for admission to the NRL to promote their case.
The competition could be structured as a straight knock-out over 5 weeks starting with 32 teams – the 16 NRL clubs plus 16 from the lower tiers. Preliminary rounds would be used to determine the 16 non-NRL clubs.
The first 4 rounds would be played during the 4 representative football weeks (3 Origin games plus 1 ANZAC test). The final would be held mid-week later in the season.
The biggest question is: would the lower tier clubs be competitive with the NRL clubs? In the Challenge Cup, a European rugby league knockout cup, upsets are not common, but they do happen. This year second-division club Barrow defeated Superleague club Castleford, before eventually going down 32-12 in a credible performance against English giants St Helens.
The ARL Cup is not intended as a radical change to the rugby league world. It is a simple idea with two modest aims:
1. To provide the games needed for Origin/test weekends in a fairer and more interesting way.
2. To give the lower tier clubs (especially those with ambitions of joining the NRL) a chance to compete at a higher level.
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