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Is Super League that bad?

28th November, 2014
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Sam Tomkins is plying his trade back in the Old Dart. (Image: Wikicommons)
Roar Guru
28th November, 2014
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1057 Reads

Of the two major rugby league competitions in the world, the consensus is that Australia’s NRL is better than its European rival, the Super League.

There are several reasons why that is considered so, and one of them is simple economics.

The NRL sets a salary cap limit of over $7 million per team in its competition. This figure increases with third party sponsorships that allow NRL clubs the opportunity circumvent salary cap limits.

Compare this with the restrictions set for Super League teams – whose salary cap is limited to what stands close to a paltry $2M – and we’ve immediate disparities in competition standards.

This is no doubt a real strength of the NRL. The spending power represents the massive point of difference between the two competitions. It gives the Australian league the ability to entice some of the best athletes that England have produced to come and play in its competition.

And of that competition, many say that NRL teams play a better standard of rugby league than their Super League counterparts. The results of the World Club Challenge over the years, however, suggest that the top teams are generally even.

It is true that the weaker Super League teams are not going to be winning challenge matches anytime soon. But it can be argued that neither would the weaker NRL teams, should they have played in them.

If the top teams remain more or less even, still few would say so of the national teams. Australia has enjoyed a dominance over England for many a year now.

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Ignoring the role that Australia’s State of Origin plays in preparing its players, this dominance would suggest that the NRL provides a higher standard of preparation for its players than that of the Super League.

So is the Super League really that bad?

In the view of some, yes. For many though, no it is not. The competition may need some tweaking, but that is a far cry from irrelevance.

The Super League must attain the ability to extract maximum value from its media. Exposure to a wider audience must be seen as imperative.

Besides this, the Super League appears to be on the right track with the introduction of numerous,and potentially far reaching, changes to its competition. Not least training academies, funding models and an updated promotion and relegation system.

Given the entertaining style of play favoured in the UK, Australian fans might start to give more of a nod to the Super League – if they were able to watch it.

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