- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the possibility, or the inevitability, of NRL expansion over the next couple of years.
For the record, I’ll state that I’m in favour of rugby league expanding into South-East Queensland, most probably based in Logan, and also into Perth.
The other areas being tossed up as potential expansion candidates include PNG, the Central Coasts of Queensland and NSW, Adelaide and Wellington.
Of those remaining areas, I reckon that only the two Central Coast teams have any prospect of admission in the next round of expansion. The remaining bids are long range at best (Adelaide, Wellington) and pie in the sky at worst (PNG).
But there’s one idea I’ve been kicking around in my head for a while. It’s an idea that I reckon at least deserves a little discussion. It’s the concept of a “Bush” team – the CRL Bushrangers.
Bare with me on this!
There’s been a lot of talk about protecting the “heartland” of rugby league. I personally believe that by putting a team into SE Queensland you’re in large part doing that, and it’s important to include a “sure money bet” into the first round of expansion.
A team based in SE Queensland seems to be that “sure money bet” in that it’s a growth area; it means an extra Queensland game every week, something broadcasters are sure to be attracted to, and it’s very much rugby league “heartland”.
Contrast this with admitting a team from the Central Coast of NSW. I can’t help but think that doing so would be a reshuffling of the deck of Sydney chairs. How many extra supporters would the game likely gain by putting a team in Gosford? I’d argue that it would be very few.
I’d further argue that the growth potential would be fairly minimal, and that there’d be little gained in terms of additional advertising potential for broadcasters, given the proximity to Sydney.
The bush, however, has been chronically under serviced by rugby league for years. The question is, how do you look after the bush, and is there any growth potential? My proposal is a reasonably simple one, yet I feel that it addresses some significant issues.
The CRL Bushrangers (or whatever you want to call them) would be dressed in the traditional maroon and yellow of the CRL Country teams. In fact, with the impending (and overdue) loss of the City/Country fixture, the “Bushrangers” could wear the same jersey.
The team could have all of their facilities based in Sydney, and rotate their home games through the various grounds around the bush. Dubbo, Parkes, Tamworth, Wagga, Bathurst, Orange and others all have grounds that, with a little investment, could sustain a couple of games every year, and would have strong potential for crowds consistently exceeding 15,000.
Furthermore, the home team could get to the ground a couple of days ahead of their opposition, get some training in on the ground, run clinics, sign jerseys, shake hands and generally help develop the game in the bush.
Growth of the game would be achieved in places like Wagga where AFL is extremely popular, and through the bolstering of flagging interest elsewhere. A couple of games every year would provide a small but significant boost to the economies of some struggling regional centres, and games could be tied in with other events to potentially create week long festivals.
Broadcasters could tailor their offerings to show games weekly into the bush, and this would create an additional revenue stream through advertising. Finally, it would give the administration of the CRL a legitimate and important reason to exist, and provide revenue to develop juniors outside of the city.
I also believe that their would be significant pride in playing for the country team for any player that happens to come from one of the regional centres in which a game is held.
Surely, if we’re going to take bids from places like Wellington, Adelaide and Central Queensland, a country NSW team would have to make at least some sense, and be worthwhile of more than passing thought?
Whad’ya reckon? Would it work? What could be the potential problems? Would you be someone who supports them?
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.