When David Gallop fronted the media at NRL HQ to announce his resignation, I realised that the last remnant of Super League was now gone from the top.
As the chief News Limited lawyer during the War, Gallop’s tenure was often marred by accusations of his favouritism to News Limited.
Favouring News Limited was regarded as detrimental to the game, because they have never and never will care about rugby league. They waltzed in with their ‘vision’ and destroyed the game for their own selfish purposes.
They destroyed the game at a time when it was doing so well.
Who didn’t love the era of the Winfield Cup?
The 1989 grand final, the advent of the three-game SOO series, Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’, the introduction of nine new clubs, record crowds, wonderful football, and legends like Mal Meninga, Brett Kenny, Steve Mortimer and Wally Lewis.
What an era, what a time!
Recently, I haven’t been so sure.
If the game was going so well, how was News Limited able to entice eight clubs to their new competition, and many more close to signing?
If the game was going so well, why did some of the best players in the game sign with the new competition when there was no guarantee it would take off, when they would lose their privilege of playing for their country and their state?
As many celebrate News Limited’s exit from the game and herald a new era of independence, a couple of questions should be asked.
Was the Winfield Cup really the greatest era in rugby league’s history or has nostalgia set in because of the period that followed? And where would rugby league be now if it weren’t for the War?
The growth of rugby league under the leadership of Ken Arthurson and John Quayle from 1983 until 1995 is self-evident.
In 1983 when the two men took over, the average crowd in the 14-team competition was 7715. It was a very low and costly average.
Clubs were insolvent and the game’s reputation poor.
The game had to be cleaned up and it was. Players got heavily sanctioned for on-field flare ups.
State of Origin became an important rugby league fixture.
Tina Turner was introduced as the face of the game, with the purpose of attracting more women and children. It was a marketing ploy that worked wonders as more women than men began attending matches.
The 10-metre rule was introduced, as well as the interchange, which was designed to make the game faster and more open to scoring.
By 1995, the competition included 20 teams, boasting an average crowd of 14,642 people. It was a wonderful increase by the ARL.
When you crunch the numbers though, despite the spike in crowds, mass marketing and confidence in the product, the Sydney ARL clubs were still the ones struggling the most.
Wests, Sydney Tigers, Parramatta, Souths, St. George, Penrith and Sydney-City all averaged less than 10,000 people a game.
With the Sydney clubs struggling and the ARL keen to expand, they commissioned a report in 1992 that encouraged the league to cull the number of Sydney teams from 11 to 5.
Something the ARL were seemingly willing to do.
They kicked out Newtown and Wests in 1983 (Wests took the game to court and won re-inclusion), and in 1995 ARL CEO Ken Arthurson publicly admitted that the Tigers would have difficulty surviving in their present form.
What would the repercussions of such decisions be, especially considering what transpired when South Sydney were expelled from the competition in 1999.
Having said all that, and the ARL keen to go ahead with rationalisation, would the game have been able to maintain such aggressive expansion?
A common belief is that clubs like South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds would have survived had it not been for the Super League War. Perhaps the ARL would have had the patience to persevere with them if it weren’t for the distraction that was Super League, but in the case of the Western Reds they already had tremendous problems before the War.
The Western Reds joined Super League basically because they had to. With the ARL refusing to prop up clubs and the Reds swamped in 10 million dollars of debt, News Limited was perceived as the club’s saviour.
A mixture of poor results, a bad stadium and having to pay the air fares of travelling away teams contributed to the inflation of their debt. If there was no Super League, would the Reds have been able to survive?
And what about the South Queensland Crushers? They averaged a very healthy 21,000 in their first season, but they had to compete with the News Limited owned Brisbane Broncos, resulting in a significant drop off. Had there been no war, would Brisbane still have two teams?
This of course is just hypothetical, but who doesn’t like the hypothetical? Hypothetical debates are the lifeblood of sports fans. We love pondering the implications of events had they gone a different way. Every fan’s suggestions plagued by their inherent biases.
But the questions remain:
Where would rugby league be right now if it wasn’t for the Super League War?
And, was the game really in such great shape prior to it?
Nuttybott
Guest
@DamoS: "The fans don’t loose their team" Loose? @Johnno: " But Manly have done a lot of bad stuff for the games development in the 70′s and 80′s i could write an essay on that club." Ok, Johnno...we get it. You don't like Manly. But it is unfair to blame one club for all rugby league's problems the way you seem to be trying to do. Remember, Manly were just about the ONLY club who behaved with complete loyalty and integrity during the Super League War: they remained 100% loyal to the ARL throughout, refused to negotiate with News Ltd or even meet with them, were involved in no shady backdoor deals, and were straightforward and upfront about their position from beginning to end. And their reward for such integrity was that the club was almost forced out of existence three years later when - due to increasing financial pressures - they were railroaded into a shotgun marriage with North Sydney that neither side wanted, and which was doomed to failure from day one. Now, if you want to write an "essay" disagreeing with any of what I have said, please feel free to do so. But please restrict yourself to verifiable facts, not just spout another lot of prejudiced anti-Manly bile as you have done in your previous posts...
Pumpkin
Guest
lol(river)cats!
Chris
Guest
I wish Australia was more like America with it's codes with all being different i.e. NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB instead of having 4 Football codes with 3 to the outsider looking the same i.e.AFL/NRL/Union.
dishes
Guest
Tigranes
Guest
Yeah whenever I think of the Crushers, their jersey reminds me of a XXXX can
Tigranes
Guest
would the ARLC throw away such an icon purely to meet the bottom line? Sheek they did that to Balmain Tigers, North Sydney, Wests Magpies
dishes
Guest
Yes, I agree. To be clear, I meant that the "brand" wasn't right for the Crushers. Terrible name, and even worse colours. I know that's objective but I don't think too many people would strongly disagree. I don't think the Bombers is the solution either. It is too similar to the Broncos in colours etc. The team needs to be quite different in order to create a rivalry. I think a Greater Western Jets or something playing out of Suncorp would be better. In any case, I think the next expansion is critical, if we get it right, the league would be in great shape again. I think NZ 2 would be ideal, but not necessarily a given. I mean it hasn't exactly been easy sailing for the Warriors over the years, has it. They are only stating to cement themselves. I don't think the timing is right, it needs a few more years
Brainwashed
Guest
Doesn't it blow your mind that the Rugby League mad state of Queensland only has 3 of 16 teams in the N.R.L. and even more disturbing the invaders have the same amount of teams in the S.E. corner of Qld that we do.Come on people this is not on,this needs to change come 2015.I hope Channel Nine don't get the T.V rights but they are on record as saying another S.E. corner team adds at least $100 million to the T.V deal which with other factors makes the new team pretty much self sufficeint and with the talent in the Super League and in the Q Cup to recruit from there is no excuse not to bring them in Please don't bring up that the Titans are a mess, a failure on deaths door and so on because that is absolute rubbish which was caused by a bad investment (which since has been resolved with new investors)and seized upon by trolls like the News Ltd media and League haters.Everyone includingTom,Dick and Harry were saying the same about the Cowboys 2 years ago and last time I checked they were going better than most on and off the field.Another thing,why is everyone picking on Souths correct me if I'm wrong,over 20000 members,crowd figures heading North,doesn 't sound like a club that needs to be merged or relocated.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
NF, Sure. None of what we see today was inevitable - decisions were made that had concequences.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Nafe, Homebush comfortably fits the sort of crowds Richmond, Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood get for club games.
Renegade
Guest
I know it's a hypothetical but why would the Roosters and Rabbitohs both survive?? Yet teams with juniors and their own catchment area - Penrith and Cronulla be abandoned! Souths and Roosters co-existing brings absolutely nothing to the table....The biggest setback of the past decade was allowing the rabbitohs back in.
sheek
Guest
NF, Complicating your argument, as Oikee points out below, Sydney Roosters are eminently wealthy. And removing the East from their name was a clever move on their part. As for thre Rabbitohs, they are also vulnerable in terms of geography & long-term sustainabilty. But their history & tradition, at least from 1908-71, is unparalled. would the ARLC throw away such an icon purely to meet the bottom line?
Renegade
Guest
Here, Here! I read in the paper the players are putting forward an increase in pay that equals to $40,000 per origin and $25,000 per test match.....which honestly makes me sick - how can representing your state be more valuable than representing your country....it's the most backward thing i've ever heard!
sheek
Guest
Johnno, I think that was something that Phil Gould proposed also. I think rugby league has a problem in that it is already close to saturation in terms of quality & depth of players.
Johnno
Guest
Thanks Tony i love sticking the boot into the most club in Australia manly, and maybe collingwodd is as hated. But Manly have done a lot of bad stuff for the games development in the 70's and 80's i could write an essay on that club. And now with the stadium problems at brookvale too.
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
Johnno on fire!!!
oikee
Guest
Roosters are the money club, and the entertainment tonite club. You wont ever get rid of them outta Sydney or you will just hand other codes a liceince to take over Sydney. If no teams will merge or move, then we will just have to move to a conference system if we need to add more clubs to the comp. Or we have 21 teams, every week one club gets a buy, and all clubs play each other only once. So you have 20 rounds of footy, the Origin period in which the comp stops for 3 weeks, we add some intwernationals also in this period along with maybe the NZ origin series. So 21 teams will include all cities and maybe another team in either Queensland or NZ. You then just make it top 10 for the finals. A 1 in 2 chance of making it each year, which should keep everyone happy.
Moz
Guest
Illawarra Saints (Playing 2-3 games at Kogarah) Perth Sharks Parramatta Panthers 6 Sydney teams are now: Manly Sea Eagles (Playing 3 games per season @ Gosford) East Sydney Roosters South Sydney Rabbitohs West Sydney Tigers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Parramatta Panthers
Johnno
Guest
I think sheek rugby league should move to super rugby style conference system. What do you think. Coz conference way can expand QLD and NZ with quite a lot of ease.
sheek
Guest
I don't know if "miss the Crushers" is the right terminology. It's an absolute disgrace in my view that Brisbane, the second largest rugby league city in Australia & NZ, doesn't has a second team. And giving the Warriors the whole of NZ is another disgrace. That's the role of the national team - the Kiwis. We don't need a NZ club that also has the whole country to itself. That's two critical matters that need immediate redressing - a second Brisbane club & a second NZ based club.