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Sydney-centric approach is killing rugby league

Roar Rookie
29th April, 2014
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Dave Smith may not have been a rugby league man, but that was a strength. (AAP Image/Damian Shaw)
Roar Rookie
29th April, 2014
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3633 Reads

When NRL CEO Dave Smith boldly declared rugby league would be the most played code of football in Australia, some people scratched their heads in confusion. Others shook their heads in embarrassment, while many more just laughed at the absurdity.

This statement may have been true had the powers that be demonstrated a little foresight in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the damage is so bad it may be irreversible.

The problem here is that the NRL wants the rewards but doesn’t want to do the work. They want to be the most popular code but they refuse to address the notion of expansion seriously.

The only way rugby league can gain dominant popularity is to become a truly national competition.

I know that when the subject of expansion rears its controversial head everyone says “no we can’t support anymore teams”, and that’s fine. We can ignore the change that is required and every year we can enjoy the spectacle of the clubs with all the big money dominating year after year.

We can watch clubs like Canberra, Cronulla and Melbourne (now that News Ltd has withdrawn their funding) die slow and mediocre deaths. Every year the crowds will dwindle a little more and the AFL will completely engulf what is left of rugby league territory.

Every now and again some brave individual stands up and says “we need a second Brisbane team!” You mean like when we had the South Queensland Crushers?

More recently, large numbers are declaring “we need to head into the West and get a team in Perth!” You mean like the Western Reds who were abandoned by the Sydney-centred leaders of the competition? Those who, ever so meekly, gave up a valuable western outpost to AFL and rugby union without so much as a word of protest?

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It’s also worth noting that seven of the players from the Reds were directed to Melbourne, who two years later won the premiership!

Or we could look at the Adelaide Rams, who had the highest number of memberships of any team in the competition and were then kicked out before they even really started.

The problem back then wasn’t Perth, Adelaide, South Queensland or even the Gold Coast Chargers (at least the Gold Coast have were given a reprieve in the form of the Titans). They just copped the punishment, the problem was Sydney.

The problem is still Sydney. As the North Queensland Cowboys so rightly suggested there is a conspiracy that favours the Sydney clubs and Brisbane purely because they are too powerful to be excluded.

If you don’t have pay T.V. you wouldn’t even know the Raiders and Warriors exist, and all of Sydney is praying that Melbourne falls in a smoking heap.

The league has been in an uproar for years because Parramatta and the Wests Tigers have been struggling since 2009. Everyone has been suggesting different strategies to help these ailing clubs.

Canberra hasn’t achieved any real success or recognition since Mal Meninga retired and not a single word has been said. The NRL doesn’t seem want the the Raiders and Warriors to succeed, just like they didn’t want Melbourne to succeed either.

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If the NRL wants to be the dominant code they need to look outside of Sydney. They need to fix the awful mistakes they made and reinstate a team from Perth, Adelaide and the second Brisbane team.

Equally as important is that the NRL needs to provide equal assistance to the clubs outside of Sydney.

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