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It is well documented that the birth of rugby league in Northern England stemmed from the fact that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) ‘banned’ clubs from paying rugby players.
The Northern rugby clubs, primarily made up of working class players, needed to pay players to compensate them from time away from work. In the south, rugby was played by ‘gentlemen’ who were wealthy enough to play without the need for financial compensation.
The game was governed by the RFU in the south, but the northern unions were the ‘powerhouses’ and the better rugby teams. It was the clamp down on professionalism by the RFU, in its bid to maintain control of the game, that forced the Northern Rugby clubs to break away from the RFU and form the Northern Union, which ultimately became rugby league.
After the split, the Northern Union initially played rugby rules. The game at this time was dull. It was a game designed for the players, not the spectators. At the same time, throughout England, the recently formed professional Associated Football (Soccer) was attracting large crowds and top athletes who would receive large gate takings.
The Northern Union (rugby league) relied on gate takings to pay the newly ‘professional’ rugby players, however spectator numbers were dwindling because the game, where the ball was often lost from view at the bottom of the ruck, was less ‘entertaining’ than football, where the ball was continuously in play.
In a bid to make the game more ‘entertaining’ the Northern Union began to tinker with the rules, initially removing the line out and replacing the ruck with a scrum; and so began the evolution of rugby as a sport for the spectator.
Fast forward to 2004. Rugby union, the once amateur game, is well and truly professional. Spectators are key to revenue, through game takings, media rights and sponsorship. However, the game itself is not appealing to the masses.
The IRB embarks on the development of the infamous EVLs in a bid to improve the game and make it more spectator friendly. Due to the poor implementation of the EVLs, the game became less appealing and drove fans away, but in 2010, the correct interpretation of a ruck rule brought about a more entertaining spectacle and brought fans back to the game.
The common theme in the evolution of both rugby league and union is the desire to make the game more spectator friendly by opening the game up and by increasing the movement of the ball by running it. Union is heading down a similar path to league but league has about 100 years head start.
I was drawn to write this article after a comment by Spiro Zavos in one of his recent columns who quoted the rugby league historian Sean Fagan: “rugby league ‘shouldn’t be so smug’ as to think that the rugby union code cannot ever evolve a game that will rival the entertainment value of the 13-man game.”
Reading about the evolution of the rugby league and union rules on Fagan’s website, I can’t help but wonder what is rugby league and what is rugby union.
Both of these games were vastly different spectacles 100 years ago. The game of league in 2010 is only linked to the game of 1908 by name alone, and likewise for union. It occurred to me the games we see today are composed of a transitory set of rules that evolved with the need to appease spectator tastes. That is why, when I read about code wars between league and union, I find them pointless.
The codes are supported with a fervour that rivals the passion for a footy club and the arguments supporting each code are usually based on historical events that none of us were directly involved in but are trotted out in debate as if they are some personal insult. But why? What are we really ‘rooting’ for?
The game is constantly evolving, so what is ‘the game’ other than a name?
The only things that remain constant during the rule evolutions are the clubs. In rugby league, for example, St George and South Sydney have been essentially the same clubs for 100 years, but they are playing a different game today to the one they first played in their foundation year. To me rugby league is not a set of rules, it is the collection of clubs.
That’s why Super League was so keen to take them over rather than start up new ones. How passionate were the South fans when Super League kicked them out of the national competition or the Bears fans when they were ‘merged’ with Manly? These fans lost their place in rugby league and no matter what the rules, or how entertaining the game, they weren’t going to follow the game until their team was/is reinstated.
In Australia, rugby league is likely to always be the king of the ‘rugbys’, but as Union becomes more entertaining, the chance of rugby league gaining a significant international foot print over union is quickly diminishing.
In Russia and in the Pacific Islands, many clubs play both rugby union and rugby league – in fact the same players play both games.
Why can’t the same happen here in Australia? Why must there be a divide? For the good of both codes why don’t they work together?
I propose that the ARL/NRL form a partnership with the ARU, under the umbrella of the Australian Rugby Cooperative (ARC). The ARC will support the development of 15s (union), 13s (league) and 7s (union). I have what I am certain will be a controversial proposal, on how 15s (union) can be played at an international level whilst 13s (league) is played at a domestic level, which I will describe in more detail in another article.
Having played both league and union I am acutely aware that the games are different but they are similar enough that players can switch between both codes if they are brought up playing both.
Therefore, kids should be schooled in both games at a junior level.
For union the attraction of the ARC is the need for a domestic competition to nurture talent and the need to keep talent like Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale from switching codes. For League the attraction is more revenue and the removal of a ‘competitor’ who poaches top players as well as juniors.
The cooperative can keep NRL players in the NRL and provide them with larger salaries. It will allow Wallabies to play NRL, provide the national squad with more talent and allow the rugbys to pool their resources for greater efficiency.
At this point in time, league brings more to the table than what union does, however no one can predict the future. Through the ARC, league and union will slowly converge in Australia and this new set of rules may acts a blue print to help the international game (union) evolve into an even more spectator friendly game and expand its foot print even further.
To many this may seem impossible and even ridiculous but ultimately, as history has shown, it doesn’t matter what rules the game is played under, as long as it’s entertaining and the clubs we love, continue to proposer.
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