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With all the debate and opinion shared around Daly Cherry-Evans’ contract saga, perhaps we can take a moment to explore the wider ramifications of having Daly’s employment status being revealed to the world.
To do this authentically I need to declare that while understanding the public backlash against the backflip, put in the same situation with a young family and as a rugby league player whose career will last until 35 at very best, I’d probably make the same decision.
The guarantee of another three years’ employment and reportedly an additional five million dollars could make a huge difference to the type of life and opportunities I could offer my children.
Under those circumstances I’ll cop as much flak as you want to throw at me. However there are some wider issues attached to this situation that remain to be addressed.
Firstly, those who think the 10-day cooling off period will prevent our fans and stakeholders being disenfranchised by similar situations have missed the point completely. This will still see players signing for other clubs the season before, while still running out in their current team colours.
While the Players Association state that this is a protection of the players’ earning potential by taking opportunities when they are available, there is very little doubt that our fans, major sponsors and journalists dislike when this is happens. As an elite sport in the business of entertainment and member engagement this can no longer be ignored if we not want to disenfranchise these stakeholders.
The association’s argument is fundamentally flawed, as the money available to all its members is a set amount across the entire competition. This means that if a player has a form loss late in the season or gets injured, his contract value might be very different to what it was early in the season.
The result of this is that another player will get to elevate his value and secure a better contract by playing better at the end of the season. The ultimate outcome is that how the pie is shared changes, not how much money is available.
Let’s hope that the NRL’s new Head of Strategy, Shane Richardson, has this issue high on his agenda and delivers a system that not only fixes the current contractual short-comings but also makes our player trading an event that our supporters can get positively involved in, as we witness in the AFL and many American sports.
The American sport reference ties nicely into the next issue that we are going to have to address, as our players’ ‘reported’ incomes are spread across all media. This results in players being given celebrity status as the general community seeing them as rich and famous, and here the divide begins.
Spending time with Premier League players in the UK and NFL players in the US, very few have much interaction with the community on a daily basis. They go to exclusive clubs and restaurants, are members of closed country clubs, drink their coffee in five-star hotels, and get their shopping delivered.
The majority of their exposure to fans and members is at official events, where every situation is controlled and monetised.
If you think we are miles off from this situation being a reality think again. Between the unbelievably high level of scrutiny on players’ behaviour, the amount of people who come up to players when they are at any public venue, and the time already devoted to community projects, many players already stay away from mainstream places.
With the perception that they are all young men with truckloads of money, this trend of withdrawing is only going to grow.
The sport of rugby league has its roots deep in the community and unless there is a two-way awareness process entered into we are going to lose our most elite players into the world of rock stars and actors, as witnessed overseas.
Lastly, the reporting on the Cherry-Evens situation has also shown the need for better collaboration between the game and one of it’s most important partners: the media.
There is a divide growing, with coaches and players having a real mistrust and dislike for sections of the media.
Equally, as open and real access diminishes many of the genuinely good journos are becoming frustrated and are put in a position where they have to make assumptions on what is the prevailing situation being discussed.
This separation is worsening and an attempt should be made to bring these parties together to determine the best way of operating in the future.
While the NRL has its directives around availability and conduct with the media the real issue is not being addressed – the fundamental relationship between players, coaches and journos.
If there was a summit there would be zero chance of everyone agreeing on how best to interact, however having a better understanding of each others’ position would be far more productive, which would benefit not only the game but the media outlets as well.
We can either take the lessons that the Daly Cherry-Evans’ situation has presented us with, or ignore them at our peril.
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