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Does the NRL care about its fans?

Simon G new author
Roar Rookie
3rd April, 2014
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Paul Gallen and Nate Myles show that the states actually love each other by having a hug. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox)
Simon G new author
Roar Rookie
3rd April, 2014
73
1754 Reads

I understand that the NRL needs to continue to find new fans to help the game grow, but it should not be looking out for those potential new fans’ needs at the expense of the current fan, who has invested so much of their life and money into this great game.

Over the last 18 months we have seen the banning of both the shoulder charge and fighting in an effort to not only increase player safety, but to clean up the game’s image. While worrying too much about the game’s image for the sake of a few new supporters, a nasty word has begun to creep into many descriptions lately when commenting on the game – soft.

It is the ultimate insult to a game that has taken pride in its gladiatorial nature for over 100 years.

The game is worse off without the shoulder charge. When performed well, it is a great spectacle for fans and can be a huge lift for a team, while being of absolutely no harm for the victim. The shoulder charge should be treated the same way as any tackle – if you go too high, be prepared to face the consequences of maybe a couple of weeks on the sidelines.

The same can be said about fighting – the fans love a good fight every now and again on the football field. There has been an increase in the amount of niggle seen in the NRL since a zero tolerance to fighting was introduced, which could be seen as a bigger blight on the image of rugby league than fighting.

Two examples of this include the grabbing of Will Chambers’ testicles by Sam Burgess in a tackle, along with Burgess raking his fingers across the eyes of James Maloney. In days gone by, players would need to think twice before performing such grubby acts for fear of the opposition responding with a quick one, two.

Player safety and the game’s image has again been brought into the spotlight since the unfortunate incident involving Newcastle’s Alex McKinnon and Melbourne’s Jordan McLean, which has left McKinnon with a terrible spinal injury and an uncertain future.

Because rugby league is a contact sport, injuries and accidents will invariably happen, and while the injury to McKinnon is absolutely devastating to all involved, emotion should have be taken out of the decision by the NRL judiciary and only the forensics of the tackle should have be examined.

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The seven-week suspension handed down to McLean at the judiciary was a massive overreaction. Krisnan Inu received five weeks for a spear tackle on Greg Inglis last year, while Richard Fa’aoso received eight weeks for two separate spear tackles in the one match (coincidently, both were again on Inglis). The McLean tackle is not even close to these.

It was stated on Triple M’s Rush Hour program on Wednesday afternoon that rugby league-types were suggesting two weeks’ suspension of McLean, while non-rugby league types were calling for seven weeks or more. It seems as though the non rugby league-types – the types who do not know enough about the game to be commenting on it, the types who do not pour their income into club memberships, merchandise and match-day tickets, the types who do not spend time volunteering at their children’s junior grounds of a Saturday morning, the types who are not real fans – have got their way.

Why?

The great game of rugby league is trying too hard to accommodate people who do not really care about the game, while not worrying about or listening to the people who really matter most, the fans.

The fans want the big hits, the little man taking on big man, the aggression, the blood, sweat and tears. They want rugby league in its purist form, they do not want a watered-down version of it.

If the administrators allow this to continue, rugby league will lose the elements of the game which make it such a spectacle, and it will become a pale imitation of itself.

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