Chris Sandow celebrates his try during the round 21 NRL match against the Canterbury Bulldogs. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay
The balance of power in Australian sport was clearly visible in Sydney University’s Manning Bar on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking to around forty students, with no cameras or journalists in sight, CEO of the NRL David Gallop and SANZAR head Greg Peters made the cases for league and union in a forum entitled, “This is Our House: The Battle for Bums on Seats.”
Conspicuous in his absence was Andrew Demetriou, or any of his representatives.
I understand why Demetriou wasn’t there. The flight from Melbourne is a long one, particularly when you’re flying first-class, and the Big Dog doesn’t stir for small-time events like a student forum.
But why couldn’t the AFL at least have sent someone − maybe a junior executive, or, better yet, a minor employee from AFL House, someone who would have really underlined the gap between the country’s dominant code and the rest? You send your CEO, we send a cleaner. Take that, rivals.
The AFL can afford such arrogance, because unlike league and union, it doesn’t have to battle for bums on seats. While Gallop proudly delivered a ream of statistics about how well the NRL is doing, especially in Western Sydney, the fact remains that, in attendance at least, the AFL reigns supreme.
At Monday night’s match between Souths and Parramatta (albeit two struggling teams) there was a little over 10,000 people, and Andrew Johns commenting for Triple M thought that was a “good” crowd. If the AFL got a crowd like that for a match between say, Richmond and Melbourne, there’d be an inquiry.
True, the NRL’s major source of revenue is not from attendance but from television, and Gallop emphasised televised league rates very highly. Indeed, it rates so highly that it’s possible the upcoming TV deal between the NRL and its various suitors may be bigger than the AFL’s massive deal struck earlier in the year.
If so, then league people will be crowing. But the dollar signs should not blind them to the underlying weakness of league vis-à-vis AFL.
The NRL is strong in Western Sydney and Queensland, as Gallop says, and there is no prospect of its heartland falling to AFL any time soon. But the very fact that the AFL is expanding into these territories and that the NRL perceives it as a threat is a sign of the codes’ relative positions.
One is national, and growing, and the other is regional, and largely staying steady. The AFL’s biggest problem at the moment is that one of two clubs in South Australia is failing. Wouldn’t the NRL love to have this problem?
Union is a different case altogether. As the manner of Peters indicated (relaxed and jovial, where Gallop was pre-emptively defensive), the “game they play in heaven” − or what amounts to heaven in this world for rugby fans, the all-boys private school − has little to worry about.
Its international status means it’s not dependent on a single league or national competition in the way league and AFL are, though one might doubt whether it’s the “truly global” sport the New Zealander Peters says it is.
The least played and followed of the three codes in this country, Australian rugby nevertheless has a ready supply of cash from its hard-core of supporters on Sydney’s North Shore. While the domestic competitions get virtually no crowds, and Super Rugby teams (except the Reds this year) get small ones, the Wallabies are a national brand.
So while union will never be able to compete with AFL for dominance of the market, it doesn’t really have to. Content with its niche position, it can watch from the sidelines as AFL and league fight it out, perhaps hoping (though Peters was much too polite to say so) that league will ultimately fail and its supporters and fan-base can then be absorbed into a new super code.
Impossibly distant as that event may seem (and I don’t believe it will ever happen), it must be on Gallop’s mind. One of the most interesting things he said during the forum was that the reason the NRL doesn’t have a draft is that, if boys were faced with the prospect of moving from Sydney to Townsville, or Auckland to Melbourne, or vice versa, they would choose to play union rather than the league.
This is not, of course, something the AFL has to worry about. Though many of its youngsters could play any of the three codes, the possibility of leaving home does not deter from them choosing to play the unique, distinctly Australian sport.
Which brings us to what is really the rub for rugby league. Where AFL’s uniqueness is both its strength and limit − secure in Australia, it is hard to see how it could ever expand beyond it − and union’s international status ensures its safety, league is caught in no-man’s land.
Like enough to union to be vulnerable to poaching, but not offering the opportunities of a truly international sport, it is the only one of the three codes which could (which doesn’t mean it will, or should) go under.
kovana
Guest
"that is the way of elitism and union." Yea.. The Farmers and Fishermen in the islands of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji are a bunch of elitist scum. Also those Rugged men in the NZ outback as well.. Elitist pigs.. Also shame on the Coal Faced Rugby fans from Wales... Shame....
brad
Guest
Ok for you people that don't know, every Thursday is sports day in the Defence Forces. Until 2001 approx Rugby League was NOT allowed to be played. The effect of this was that Union become the prominent sport and to a lesser extent AFL. Since it has become available it has quickly become the main game of the Defence Force.
kovana
Guest
Dave... Please, what are you trying to say? Yorkshire is League Country. Fact.
kovana
Guest
"Is it the reason countries like Japan who have had every resource available to them but can’t win their way out of a paper bag " Yet they are Pacific Nations Champions for 2011.. They defeated Both Fiji and Tonga... and they of course defeated Samoa last year. They are now Ranked 12th.. And just over the weekend they nearly had the better of Italy..losing 31 - 24.. At halftime the Japs were leading 17 - 14. The match was played at the 23,860 capacity Stadio Dino Manuzzi.. In front of a crowd of 14'800... Not bad. http://www.espnscrum.com/italy/rugby/story/146222.html
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Lacrosse is quite popular in Melbourne, and many schools in the Western suburbs provide it as a sporting option. In fact, Brendan Fevola's dad is a long standing lacrosse coach, and Fev himself was a junior Victorian rep, and would have been a national rep if he had stuck with it.
kovana
Guest
Tristan.. CAN YOU PLEASE Let "Matt S/ ParraEels/ Paley/Gort" that i am not Siva Samoa or Dave.. I expect an apology from you Matt S.
Kovana
Guest
Tristan.. STOP playing the peacemaker... Lol......
Kovana
Guest
League IS played in Samoa. I have never stated that it wasnt. Unless of course you still think im siva samoa, dave etc. But i dont really follow domestic league in Samoa. But it does exist. Dont be paranoid.
oikee
Guest
They stole our cash then banned the game. You do the math. Notice in a country like Australia where the game is unchallennged, League and AFL rule. Your only fortress is NZ, when league and AFL turn their sites on this country, watch out, both will take no prisoners, it might get ugly. Not trying to get down on union, but face facts, compared to the might and power of Australia's powerhouse economy, and our clubs like Broncos, Collingwood, Geelong, Rabbits, Knights, and so on, it wont be to long before both codes rip NZ a new one. And if your a sponser, a kiwi with any self worth, trying to fight off codes who have billion dollar tv deals is like commiting suicide. We will eat you alive, you will become the lone wolf in amounst the millions of angry hoardes. P.S, just to let you know, we take no prisoners. We will eat you up like your vincy ate us up. :)
sledgeandhammer
Guest
The only error in this article is suggesting Super 15 crowds in Australia are poor.
oikee
Guest
Oh, so you admit it is a weapon, of what, mass destruction. Look Dave, your waepon is countered by sellout crowds for AFL and rugby league in Australia, the Broncos Storm and Knights are all got sellout games to club games, then we have our 50 to 80 thousand finals, and AFL, like i said, they get 100 thousand, make you game look like fish'n'chips mate, hows that not getting any going. Stop trying to compete with the big boys, or i will release the hounds, you want 10 million angry origin supporters on ya, or how about 6 million headhunting Papuens. :) Chill dude.
NF
Guest
Crashy I'm with you man let call a truce and admit that both union & league have problems that needed to be sorted out by there respective administrations and we can all go all our merry way.
oikee
Guest
Well that has solved that mystery. Thanks CC, and no, why should we forget Vincy, its part of our history, in 100 years time it still will be.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Enough, thanks guys. Tristan, The Roar.
clipper
Guest
Ted - the figures for Friday night week 33 are as follows: 8 Nine’s Live Friday Night Football Nine 842,000 494,000 *** 348,000 *** *** 10 Seven’s AFL: Rnd 21: St Kilda Vs Collingwood Seven 778,000 9,000 522,000 3,000 144,000 98,000 Bit of a difference, but then you could pick two days earlier and get a different result in AFL's favour 12 Seven’s AFL: Rnd 19: Collingwood Vs Essendon Seven 710,000 64,000 390,000 52,000 93,000 112,000 18 Nine’s Sunday Football Nine 509,000 328,000 *** 181,000 *** *** All is does is get people going on and on about the ratings, which like statistics can be manipulated to your point of view.
Crashy
Guest
ok how about we call full time on this gents? I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp. Lets just head to the sheds.
Ted Skinner
Guest
Just as a matter of interest last Friday FNF RL achieved a TV audience of 1.379 million This was better than the AFL game Collingwood v Gelong by at least 216,000 (Top 40 cutoff 1.163 million) but probably closer to 400,000 as the AFL rarely get above 200,000 in the Regionals. Ref: Think TV Week 33
Matt S
Guest
If union is so strong in Yorkshire, why isn't the sport represented at a professional club level for any great time? Is it the reason countries like Japan who have had every resource available to them but can't win their way out of a paper bag. For all league's faults, union has many examples of poor development despite all the resources.
Matt S
Guest
Just as the are many schools in Scotland, Somerset, etc that play soccer and not union. Are Kovana and Siva Samoa the same poster?
Siva Samoa
Roar Pro
There are many schools in Leeds and in Yorkshire that dont even play rugby league but have been playing rugby union for over 100 years and are not private schools.