Shouldn't the A-League and NRL work as allies?

Excellent Col, and i see that Jarrod Hayne also takes a soccer ball to training. Look, the reason i would like to push hard for league and soccer to help each other, it seems that Union and AFL would do the same. We need to be pro-active, and it would work quite well, without promoting the other code. If you bought a membership for one code, then for a discount you could buy membership to the other code. Its all about Bums on seats at the grounds. After a few years you could be less active, once memberships go up. As i mentioned above, parents could use memberships for their kids at the other code, or vice versa. Also i have just read that Perth rugby league has renewed their partnership with Perth Glory for the N.I.B stadium. So bed fellows is happening.

Rugby league is going nowhere in London while it is aligned to rugby union. They need to find a new home.And a new name.

Rugby league to summer, ? yeah that will work.

The "FFA" would never do it. They don't need the lead in their saddle as the only truly national code. The AFL knows this and they (and their media mates) are doing their best to ensure football fails. Rugby is not even a part of the equation outside of the expansion discussion where - in my opinion - their strong position will ensure the AFL fritter away a lot of cash. Thank you NRL!

Spot on!

.....and the winner in that vission in rugby - not football. The rugby development challenge and the football development challenge are at opposite ends of the player development / commercialisation spectrum. Won't happen because rugby needs juniors to protect its existing domestic commercial base and football wants domestic commercial development on the back of its existing in about one generations time.

I think the Broncos and Roar would be quite happy to share things between the 2 codes, now if only we get a CEO in charge who can see this potential.

You lost me Brett, look expossure on the footy show attracks customers. I watched a soccer show in the UK because Sam Burgess had a guest apperance on the show. Soccer and rugby league need to align themselves for better protection from the enemy.

The "Team Melbourne" concept came and went quickly in this town. Victory never participated, but Melbourne FC (AFL) Melbourne Phoenix (Netball), Melbourne Storm NRL) and the Melbourne Racing Club (Horses????) did. There were TV advertisements, shopping centre campaigns etc.... but it died with a whimper. Victory were right to keep out of it. Football is a growing code, rugby is stagnating, the AFL is saturated, and netball and horse racing are simply irrelevant from a strategic partnerships perspective IMO.

The bears and the mariners are working together .the both codes are fortunate to be community based.there is room for both codes on the coast.the bears are the winter sport and the mariners are the summer sport.we are in a very unique situation.mariners reps come to the central coast bears launch in Nov last year.and that partnership will only grow when the bears get that final nod.there will be a lot of cross code charity events both codes will be a part of.

As mentioned this might have some value on a case by case base generally for one-city teams only. The best place for cooperation is in stadium development. Both Perth and Adelaide need new or redeveloped 25k+ seat rectangular stadiums. The Bulldogs attempt to construct a new 35k seat seat stadium at Liverpool collapsed with the salary cap scandel. I think now is the time to revisit the idea. The Bulldogs(10-12 games), Wests Tigers(10-12 games) and Sydney Rovers(15+games?) could come together to get a new stadium built. This is a better location for a new stadium then Blacktown. 40+ games a year as a home ground for 3 clubs. Liverpool also has much better direct transport links to other parts of Sydney. Imagine, 40,000 fans, Bulldogs vs Tigers or Rovers vs Sydney FC at a packed Liverpool Stadium

I dont think so, Rugby League hates soccer as soccer is getting juniors from league at am alarming rate in the Qld, the death of the A- League would really help get the number back up. I would also suggest that the A-League will wake up and start some free to air television that will be in competition for viewers. Soccer will never be as big as League but the junior members in soccer are killing junior players in league.

I wonder where you live.

There are 2 rugbys but according to your post only one is called rugby. So how is that 2?

I think the only crossover is for social Soccer players to keep fit in the summer by playing Touch/Tag Rugby.

There have been past efforts at "co-promotion" of sorts, with mixed results. Carlton made an NSL Grand Final and were supported by the AFL club but it fell apart quickly. The Collingwood Warriors were a disaster of a similar idea. In both instances, the AFL club saw no reason to support an NSL side as there was no intrinsic value for them to do so. Parramatta Power were linked with the Eels and employed players as full time professionals for pretty much the first time. But this was in the dying days of the NSL and the "marriage" was a rocky one, with then-Eels chairman Dennis Fitzgerald very leery of the idea that they were helping to grow a rival code. In the late 80s/early 90s there were some noises about trying to partner most of the Sydney NSL clubs up with their rugby league counterparts to maximise ground revenue after the NSL switched to a summer competition (one of the rare brilliant ideas from the administration of the day). There was at least discussion about aligning St George (NSL) and St George (NSWRL), Sydney Olympic and Canterbury Bulldogs, APIA Leichardt and Balmain Tigers. It never happened, possibly because it was an uneven partnership to begin with, and there was very little crossover of support.

The problem with this is what Working Class Rugger has outlined ... one-sport fans will go "This is a great idea, as long as it advantages *my sport*". Regrettably, this level of dickhead stupidity will rule, despite the objective fact that the AFL is cleaning the floor with every other ball code in this country.

Dual memberships should have been looked at, especially for the 1 team towns ie: Gold Coast, Melbourne (more benefit for the Storm), Brisbane, North Queensland etc Palmer really did kill any chance of the Titans and United working together with his statements before last season

Well, here an interesting suggestion. There a murmurs that Super Rugby will further expand to 16 teams in 2013 with the inclusion of the Port Elizabeth (Sth Africa) based Southern Kings. With the recent discussion from League fans re: relocating say the Sharks to Adelaide would it be worthwhile having a joint venture between the ARU and NRL. Rugby had the bigger club scene and history in the State. In 2013 the Sharks could move to Adelaide and the ARU could enter the Black Falcons into Super Rugby. They could share Admin setups as well as development programs. The League season could move to Summer and the Rugby season to Winter.

The only way a collaboration between the two would work is if it served a mutual goal without promoting one of the organisations over the other. They certainly could collaborate to slow down the progress of the AFL but the A-League would not want to promote the NRL and vice versa. At the end of the day they are competing for fans and viewership. Why do two teams need to join together to provide all year memberships, if you are a fan of both you will already be purchasing memberships to both. I think the more important things to be looking at are how the A-League and NRL can work together to ensure that they have blanket coverage of the NSW and Qld markets where the AFL is trying to make inroads. If every kid in West Sydney is playing Football or League then AFL is going to have a hell of a time building itself up. Equally so if everyone in that region supports an NRL or A-League team. They could also possibly collaborate on matter such as better stadiums and facilities eg why not have a state of the art training facility for both Gold Coast United and Titans? Aside from that I don't see much benefit for the two leagues to work together!