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The Roar

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The NRL needs to get bums on seats

Removing one player from the NRL starting line-up could help out players like Roberts. players like Roberts. Photo: www.photosport.co.nz
Expert
9th March, 2014
138
1908 Reads

There is absolutely no argument that the opening round of the new National rugby league season has been enthralling, ferocious and entertaining.

We have already seen our first golden point thriller, a homecoming of sorts for Ben Barba and the Sydney Roosters go down to fierce rivals, the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

But there has been a point made abundantly clear in week one that continues to plague the competition and that is the sea of empty blue seats at ANZ Stadium.

Some will argue that the hard-nosed Sydney public would rather stay at home and watch their favourite team on television.

Some might say the season has started too early or ticket prices are still too high.

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But there is another factor that has to be weighed up and that is the scheduling both by the NRL and the clubs themselves.

In week one we have seen the Rabbitohs and Roosters at ANZ Stadium on Thursday, the Canterbury Bulldogs take on the Brisbane Broncos on Friday and the St George Illawarra Dragons face the Wests Tigers on Sunday.

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We can whinge all we want about how awful it looks on TV but who should take the blame?

These things will continue to happen throughout 2014 and there is no stopping it.

The Rabbitohs, Tigers and Dragons have all made deals with the Homebush precinct to host games.

Geographically these clubs are a world away from ANZ Stadium, yet people wonder why mediocre crowds continue to turn up.

The Rabbitohs and the Roosters, two intercity clubs, drew just over 27,000 on Thursday night.

Canterbury hosted the Broncos, a club from another state, on Friday and attracted just 18,000.

On Sunday old rivals in the Tigers and the Dragons looked like they were playing in front of friends and family only.

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Keep in mind though that the Tigers, who are criminally based at Concord, have a large portion of their fans out in the Macarthur region.

To top it all off, the Dragons are from Wollongong on the south coast.

It’s smug, arrogant and absurd from clubs and the NRL to think that just because it is Round 1 and just because they projected a certain number of supporters through the gates that the fans will just show up.

Sure, the NRL negotiated a billion-dollar television deal.

But that was a television deal.

Rugby league fans will show up in their droves for the State of Origin, a grand final and, on most occasions, when their side is playing well and going up against another heavyweight.

This writer had started to believe that moving more games to bigger stadiums was a good idea and that fans deserved the best experience possible and top quality facilities.

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But there has to be some common ground found.

It is becoming clearer every day that we are most definitely a TV product and that will continue to be the case until clubs and the NRL start giving fans that match day experience that has been missing for almost a decade.

Rugby league had a one-week window to showcase its product before the AFL season began and the Super Rugby season really kicked into gear.

Instead of packing out smaller venues and ramming these great games down people’s throats, we are again the laughing stock of the football codes.

It looks like we’re playing in front of empty stadiums when we’re really not.

Perception is reality.

That billion-dollar TV deal has pushed the NRL’s head further into the clouds.

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Was there not better options for our Round 1 schedule?

The North Queensland Cowboys and the Broncos could have squared off in a Queensland derby at Townsville, Wests could have packed out Leichardt Oval.

The Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels could have played at Sportingbet Stadium and why wasn’t the Melbourne Storm versus Manly Sea Eagles game played at AAMI Park instead of Brookvale Oval?

This is Round 1 after all.

The competition’s opening weekend!

An argument for another day is why Souths and the Roosters are given opening night each and every year.

The blockbusters will come when the teams begin to sort themselves out over the season.

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But do we not have a vested interest in showcasing every aspect of our great game in the first week of the season?

One day executives will realise that to grow crowd numbers you need to start from the beginning, and part of a great TV product is the picture behind the pictures.

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