The Roar
The Roar

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The 'pretend' sport watched by millions

State of Origin apparently counts for little internationally. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Expert
26th May, 2017
241
8183 Reads

What does last night’s NRL game count for in the bigger scheme of things, and what about today’s match?

I’m not just referring to their importance in deciding who will become 2017 premiers, because if you subscribe to the view of SportAccord – the umbrella organisation for international sports federations – not even Wednesday’s State of Origin is of any greater consequence than your backyard game of hide’n’seek. That’s an overarching point that should never be far from our minds as rugby league fans.

Yet aside from a few diehards here and there, the fact the Rugby League International Federation remains unrecognised is something we choose to gloss over in much the same way a smoker thinks denial is the best path to a long and healthy life.

On rare occasions the lack of SportAccord acceptance is brought up in the press we usually branch quickly into two arguments.

The first is journalists and fans turning to bash the game’s administration for failing to promote, coordinate and act with diplomacy in such a way that rugby league can progress. Certainly, I’ve been guilty in that regard.

The second option is usually for the excited pack of hyenas who support other codes, sniping away to an audience before scurrying back to their cold, lonely den.

But now it’s time the blowtorch was turned in the other direction.

Why are the major media outlets, several of which are invested heavily in the success of the NRL, allowing their writers and reporters to blindly ignore what is essentially the biggest issue in the sport? That’s if, you know, I’m allowed to call it a sport.

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Where’s the award-winning investigation into the hallways of SportAccord, about who is pulling what strings, about what deals are being done, and a detailed justification of why rugby league is continually shunned?

(Image: AAP Image/Paul Miller)

As commentators wax lyrical about the looming Origin contest and the almost $600 million the sport generated last year, rugby league is still not even a blip on the radar when it comes to potential Olympic status.

Why would you devote an entire television channel, an entire afternoon of radio talkback or six pages of coverage every day to a pursuit deemed inferior to fistball? Yes, you read that correctly: fistball – State of Origin kicked off in 1980, the same year SportAccord admitted the International Fistball Association. When I surveyed my office to see if anyone had any idea what fistball entailed, my boss shot me a disapproving glare and several colleagues swiftly deleted their browser history.

But I don’t want to pick solely on a sport that is apparently widely popular in Europe – other recognised sports organisations include Federation Internationale de Roller Sports, among the first three admissions in 1968; the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness; the World Minigolf Sport Federation; and others covering sled dogs, tug-of-war, cheerleading and dragon boating.

Interestingly SportAccord statutes say that any organisation applying for membership should supply “a written declaration justifying that the sport or activity which they control does not conflict with or is not in rivalry with an already existing member of SportAccord”.

In the past this point has been pivotal thanks to the ongoing juxtaposition and confusion of rugby league and rugby union, but SportAccord recognises more than one form of golf organisation, several racquet sports and hoop sports that are startlingly similar and many combat sports that are only differentiated by a fancy outfit and an exotic name for kicking someone as hard as you bloody well can.

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Even grand old fistball is remarkably close to volleyball – they just play on a longer court and let the ball bounce once.

There are many contradictions in SportAccord statutes that demand closer attention. How can a body that admitted the International Federation of American Football almost 20 years ago have a stipulation that a recognised federation must have 40 active member federations from at least three continents?

A quick check of IFAF credentials claims it has 71 national federations, but it had only seven contestants at its last world cup and as few as four teams in 2003. Unsurprisingly, every time the USA has entered the American Football world cup, they’ve won it. How exhilarating!

The statutes say that winter sports only need 25 member federations to be recognised, but ‘winter’ is defined as being played on snow and ice. If surface conditions allow you to be recognised with fewer member federations, how many nations need to be playing sports on volcanoes or on the moon for them to be considered sports? Ten? Five?

The SportAccord Definition of Sport document includes the following guidelines:

  • The sport proposed should include an element of competition.
  • The sport should not rely on any element of “luck” specifically integrated into the sport.
  • The sport should not be judged to pose an undue risk to the health and safety of its athletes or participants.
  • The sport proposed should in no way be harmful to any living creature.
  • The sport should not rely on equipment that is provided by a single supplier.

I’d argue you could draw a line through half of the recognised federations if those stipulations were enforced. World Bridge Federation? Seeya. Equestrian Federation? Toodle-pip. Jumping on a luge and flying downhill at 140km/h with only your face and wall of ice to stop you? Possibly an ‘undue risk’.

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It’s time for a new level of transparency in this whole shemozzle. Rugby league bosses, tell us openly where you’ve fallen short and what you plan to do about it, and SportAccord should intimately outline the decision process that has seen rugby league rebuffed year upon year.

As for other sports, they should be honest about how the system works behind the scenes, while journalists ought to hold all these parties to account and ensure events like State of Origin no longer remain the equivalent of a well-attended hobby horse race or a grandiose game of cops and robbers.

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