The NRL is stuck in a horrible time warp

I have this to say: Every little boy who plays Rugby League idolized Mr. Folau, so he has hurt the nursery of league, he made his choice so stay away from our game and dont come back.

Don't start the I.C debate again Garry,the tooing and froing is beginning to seem as long as the War on Terror. To Sheek I have heard and read similar views about rugby league since the start of the SL wars,and ru going overtly professional. A Wallaby coach stated cira early 90s,that rl would wither and die.The head of the ARU perdicted as much in 2001 prior to the RWC03 that rl would designated to no 3 in the NSW and Qld pecking order.A former Wallaby P Fitzsimons has predicted the demise of intnl rl and predicted as sure as night follows day the Kangaroos would win the8 world cup,and in early 2000 the storm wouldn't klast 5 years.Another union tragic Mike Cralton predicted rl would die when afte couple defected to union,that when Clinton Schikofsk(spelling) defected ,the game was over red rover. They were all brutally frank,the trouble is Frank(sic) never arrived on time. I will take the words out of the mouth of John O'Neill when he noted coming back to ru,that rugby league has to be one of the most resilient of all sports,when you think it is down it pops back up. I was origninally from a non rl background,and followed the game for decades and from my layman's experience JON hit the nail on the head.

As from this friday all Central Coast Bears supporters can begin buying a new range of CCBears merchandise for toddlers and babies.. the Central Coast Bears have done a deal with Best and Less for their new apparel to be sold..the launch will be at 4pm 22/10/10.. at Erina( thats in Bear territory of course on the CC for those who may not know) go to our official website for more details.. www.centralcoastbears.com . many parents have asked us at our CCBs stalls when are we going to begin selling a toddlers range ,well here we are and just in time for Xmas.. once again the Bears are out there in the community this coming Saturday and we will be at Mcdonalds at Woy Woy 8am to sell merchandise and memberships.. we will pass the 3000 this week and ehading for 4000 for xmas.. Get on board the Bears.. because here we come...

DanW, From the turn of the 20th century, European observers commented that Japan might one day be a problem for the West. Okay, it took 40 years but it eventually happened. Just because something is mentioned ad infinitum, doesn't mean it won't ever happen. Apart from the odd money man like Crowe or Politis, rugby league generally struggles to attract the big money & big money men. This is a historical problem that has always haunted the game. Most NRL clubs are bleeding money, being held afloat by sponsors. The money generated by the game seems insufficient to go around. Indeed, rugby premier clubs are in exactly the same boat, but they have a much bigger sugar daddy or sugar daddies to fall back on, worldwide. Like I said, eventually the decision won't be made by fans, but in corporate boardrooms both in Australia & overseas.

Independence? There is no model being presented that is INDEPENDENT. Is Love on the NSW, Australian or International board? ALL OF THEM. And his incompetence is evident at every level. The involvement of News Ltd is of no concern whatsoever compared to what will happen when 16 NRL clubs get the majority vote in an Independent Commission. It is Love, Carr and their cabin boy, Gallop (bend over, cabin boy), that are screwing up everything from Folau to junior and regional development. THEY ARE HOPELESS!!!!!! No wonder QLD wins the Origin year in year out.

At least 700,000 people per year, as is the increase in aggregate crowd since ten years ago - increasing by 3200 per game. The standard is better than ever - the top level is not the concern - it is the middle tiers that are being affected by the player drain. The PD is still a big problem, and needs to be addressed, but by most relevant KPIs the game is going great.

The international governing body for Rugby League has endorsed the decision. This is not an NRL decision.

The problem with rugby league is there is too much conflict of interest When its time to do a tv deal, The NRL part owned by news limited negotiates a tv contract with fox sports who are also part owned by news limited. The NRL is not realising its full revenue potential with the pay tv side of the deal. In the last 13 years the NRL have left a lot of issues unresolved and have become a reactive organization than a proactive one. Whether its player behaviour, expansion, development, salary cap, or players leaving for other codes "because of the challenge". It seems to me that my perception of the NRL, part owned by news limited is they left all these issues purposely unresolved so that news limited could sell newspapers. If these issues were dealt with, then it be pretty hard for news limited to sell papers. The game needs independance . NOW!

Sheek it seems to me that as long as at least one TV station is willing to pay decent money to televise the game, then I can't see League having too many worries - certainly not in the next 20 years. As for the longer term, well, as an old boss used to say to me: I don't care about the long term - I'm dead in the long term.

:) i agree with the article, stuck in a time warp, thats a understatement, accually does the game justice. Mate, dinosaurs still roam the earth, welcome to rugby league.

talk about hyjacking a thread! I thought I went into the league section, now all the rahrah fanboys have done it again. Snuck yawnion into the discussion that has absolutely nothing at all to do with it. Nice work guys, the IRB would be proud of your efforts. Now P O Q and let the people who actually like the game discuss something that involves it without you onion fanboys coming in and changing the subject.

Wonder if Sheek's neutral friend is Jon O'neil. :) I made a simalar prediction for rugby union not long ago, my prediction had basis. Scrums being banned, rugby league raiding union 7's for talent, much like union is doing now. I see 5 players are in the Wallaby squad, what confidence rugby union Australia.? I will say it again, rugby sevens is a breeding ground for league players. They require our main factor, speed. Skills can be worked on. ;) I could see this prediction for the death of rugby league coming true, if we were not pushing for a commission, but once that is in place, it should do fine with business leaders running the game, its like amatuer turns professional. The only thing holding rugby league back Sheek is money.

I humbly consent to your ammendments to point one. Now lets get this to John O'Neil!

Arguments that the codes should merge and that League should die out have been around for years - and they are usually the thoughts of people who have little understanding of either game (I believe the "Rugby Codes should Merge" thread is one of the most viewed in Roar history). All they see is that both games are "Rugby", and that one code is dominant internationally, and the other is dominant in Australia - so why not merge? Since RL's development in 1907ish in Sydney, the rugby codes have grown into separate and distinct sports, and they will continue as such, at least in Australia, New Zealand and England, where RL is professional. RL has been doing very well in the last ten years in terms of building revenue streams and increasing popularity. RU has been through a bad patch in Australia, but its increasing international profile means that it is capable of rebounding.

Neutral Fan, I assume from your nom de plume that like me, you support all the footy codes more or less. I merely conveyed a workmate's views who is usually close to the mark with his thoughts. As mentioned, he doesn't exhibit any emotion or sentiment, so his thoughts aren't clouded. I suppose I mentioned them because deep down I'm inclined to agree. I can't see the two rugby codes co-existing ad infinitum. Sooner or later there will be rationalisation (terrible word that it is). As always the fans will be on the sidelines, & they can rant & scream all they like, but the decision on the future of the two codes will be made in international boardrooms. Anyway, I just offered a mate's view on the future. I'm not personally interested in any D & M discussion about it. I like both codes but can't see two codes existing forever. I also love test cricket, but I can see that going by the dashboard light.....

Sheek Well League tends to roll with the punches throw at it by the media and it's own wrong-doing but no need for the death talks. I'm all for the discussing the future of sports but to call death of one is really left-field and unwarranted in my opinion but if people say that then that's there opinion, just that a opinion.

Mark/Ken, I thought it was worth relating the thoughts of a workmate who basically doesn't give a toss what anyone else thinks, & tells it like it is, brutally. His words certainly caught me off-guard. I shall question him further about this. Neutral Fan, it's true we all get sick of things people say. Unfortunately, we just have to suck it, or we can always ignore what we don't want to hear.....

I'm sick of people saying league will die as a major sport statistics say otherwise with ratings,membership, and attendance trending positivity. Sure League has shot itself in the foot so many times it's take too long to count but it's slowly making amends for lost time. No major sport in this country or around the world should just die it's just wrong variety is the spice of life. So the more choices there are the better for us sporting folk.

Hey Sheek, I know you're not making any concrete statements but your mate's call of 'the game was unable to generate enough money or interest outside its tribal enclaves.' puzzles me. On first reading it sounds deep and dangerous but paraphrased it's really saying 'except for the fans nobody cares' but couldn't this be applied to any sport? If anyone else cared they would also be fans... Anyway the death of RL has been prophesied often pretty much since the birth of RL yet it's really in rather rude health at the moment after getting over shooting itself in the foot back in the 90's. The game is making more money than ever before with all major revenue streams (TV contracts, memberships and merchandising) trending upwards. There's certainly interesting times for all sports ahead in the already saturated environment of Australian sport. There's only so many sponsorship and TV dollars available and everyone is jostling for their share. I don't think anyone's going to die out in the foreseeable future though

Just in reply to your points.. 1. No.. That will just cause teams to cheat more.. Unless the Ref starts throwing the Yellow card earlier. .. However.. One change would be.. All PK's within the 22 are done by Drop Kick... Makes it that much harder...Place PK's for Penalties outside of the 22. 2. Yes.. They should. 3. Yes again.... They should only play each other Twice a year.. Like next year.. Unless they meet in the RWC.