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This morning, I woke up to The Sunday Telegraph’s cover story entitled ‘Women to fix rugby league’. In a week where we have really focused on the NRL and its image, it seems that this topic is also one the NRL administration has on its mind.
The article is about a series of reforms which the NRL will be introducing over the next couple of years. It looks to me like Dave Smith and the game’s administration is taking its first steps in attempting to engage corporate Australia and more females in its ranks. And it’s about time.
It seems that the administration is beginning to stop and think about why despite women being the biggest growing influence group in the NRL, more women attend AFL matches than NRL. They are beginning to think about why rugby union gets much better corporate sponsorship than rugby league.
They are beginning to think about why, despite other codes having players that disgrace themselves off the field, NRL is still seen as the code for ‘boofheads’.
What is most encouraging is that the NRL is not just thinking anymore, it’s about to act, in a major way.
Not only is the NRL intending on increasing female participation at a board level, but the other issues Dave Smith has his eyes on include player misbehaviour and management of the salary cap.
There are a series of reforms which are being pushed out and which will be applicable to all 16 clubs including:
• a seven member board with at least three independent directors;
• at least one female representative on each board;
• less tolerance of misbehaviour; and
• an independent chairman at every club.
These are a series of very brave reforms being put forward. Rest assured, not all of them will be widely embraced. For example, just in relation to player behaviour, we have seen many people come out this week and say that Todd Carney’s behaviour was dealt with too harshly.
If NRL wants to continue to grow and prosper, this sort of attitude is not good enough. With Todd Carney a very strong message has been sent. This message needs to continue to be sent until men like Andrew Johns realise that sort of behaviour is not acceptable.
It needs to continue to be sent until it is no longer the norm to see a player’s name in the headlines for domestic assault every few months and it needs to be continue to be sent until people in society associate rugby league with men like Alex McKinnon, Hazem el Masri, the Morris twins and Ben Smith.
Bad behaviour impacts sponsorship. It impacts and influences women who decide what game their kids play. It’s no longer good enough for players to pretend that they are not role models and don’t represent the game, because they are.
They need to learn that their behaviour has very real consequences for the way the game is perceived in society.
There’s not just going to be a crack down on player behaviour. There are also reforms focused on clubs and their boards and they are very much focused on introducing accountability, reducing conflicts of interest and seeing that professional people get involved with the administration of our clubs.
The reality is that clubs are businesses and so many of our clubs are facing financial difficulties. Today, more than ever, the NRL is like a business and the people at the top need to have the appropriate skills.
No longer is it simply appropriate to appoint former players or people who just love the game – the people appointed to boards need to have a range of diverse attributes.
Parramatta are a good example of a club where a lack of professionalism and in fighting has been rife. As a Parramatta supporter it has been extremely embarrassed to see my club governed like a circus. These reforms should prevent such infighting from happening again.
The reforms also seriously focus on getting more women involved in the game.
We all know there has also been much to celebrate in the last 12 months. Significant achievements include the appointment of Raelene Castle as CEO of the Bulldogs, the appointment of Corene Strauss as Men of League CEO, the appointment of Rebecca Frizelle as the Titans Board Chair and Linda Burney as the ARL Indigenous Council Chair.
The Jillaroos won the Women’s Rugby League World Cup for the first time, we won the Trans-Tasman series in all three divisions last month and Kasey Badger and Belinda Sleeman have become the first female referees to be included in the full-time elite match officials squad.
I have many female heroes who are involved in our game.
Just think of Raelene, Catharine Lumby, who advises the NRL on a pro bono basis in regard to gender issues, Maria Tsialis, journalist at Big League Magazine, Lara Pitt who work with Fox Sports, Debbie Spillane who runs the fabulous Hens FC and of course Catherine Harris, the only woman on the Australian rugby league Commission and the tremendous woman who declared that she wanted to see a woman on the board of every NRL club by 2014.
These women demonstrate that women have a lot to offer and can make a positive contribution to rugby league when given the opportunity.
The first step we need to take is to make women involved in rugby league more visible. While I have often blogged about the lack of women who are involved in the game at higher levels, there are a number of women who play a really important role in our game.
We should celebrate these women. Often, when females think of the NRL, the only women they can think of are the cheerleaders and the mums who operate the canteen.
While these women are crucial to our game, we need to celebrate all the women who contribute to NRL in a positive way. We also need to encourage women to be brave enough to put their hands up to be involved in NRL.
I was once someone who was fiercely against quotas or imposing minimum requirements for female inclusion on boards. However, over the past couple of months, my view has begun to change.
There are many barriers which prevent women from raising their hands and putting themselves forward for positions of influence. These revolve around confidence, believing that they don’t have all the necessary skills to fit the position and there still being a perception that in areas like rugby league, the arena is still very much dominated by men.
If we need to introduce quotas and minimum standards to make women a presence on our board – then it is time we did it. It is time that women start looking like the norm sitting in our NRL board rooms rather than the exception. With Dave Smith so passionate about seeing this happen, we will see dramatic change in the next couple of years.
There are reasons why we don’t have more females involved at a governance level in our game and I can assure you that those reasons aren’t skill based and it is to our game’s detriment because women bring a unique perspective.
They encourage diversity and in a game where almost 50 per cent of the fans are women, it’s time that the game, at an administrative level begins to reflect this, no matter how slow progress is.
I want my game to have a future and its time for some tough love. Congratulations to Dave Smith on these reforms – I look forward to the next 12 months.