The opinions of David Gallop’s 10-year-reign as NRL CEO vary from inept to competent to saviour. After taking some months to digest the Gallop era and subsequent ramifications for the NRL, you can argue that all three are correct.
Opinions on AFL CEO, Andrew Demetriou, on the other hand over the same period would generally be positive.
However, when you break down the performance of Gallop and Demetriou in the key categories, Gallop stands much taller than people realise, myself included.
With regards to promoting women in the game and cultural diversity and acceptance in their respective leagues, Gallop and Demetriou are equals. Both have been dedicated in these areas, resulting in positive strides over the past decade.
Surprisingly, crowd attendances are something Gallop has an edge over Demetriou in. Average NRL attendances have increased by 27% over the past 10 years under Gallop (13,000 to 16,500) whereas the AFL’s have in fact slightly decreased under Demetriou over the same period (32,000 to 31,750).
Much credit goes to Gallop for NRL’s attendance growth due to his commitment to pushing club membership and consolidating the NRL base after the Super League war. Similarly, credit also goes to Demetriou for the AFL’s growth.
The crowd figures are a direct result of his league expansion that has taken away the higher proportion of big Victorian club derbies that temporarily inflated the leagues attendances from 2007-2010.
This year the AFL will produce the lowest average attendance figures since 1996 and also the lowest aggregate attendances since 2006. This signals that the AFL competition peaked between 2007-2010 and will struggle to reach those attendance heights ever again.
By the way, if Demetriou’s salary is performance based which includes attendances, does he then take a pay cut when attendances nose dive like they have?
A common comparison between the two codes is that the AFL is proactive and the NRL is reactive, which can be viewed as a direct reflection of their respective CEOs performance.
The players and clubs of the NRL can hardly criticise Gallop for how reactive he was given they were the ones relentlessly restricting Gallop’s ability to be proactive in the game’s growth by creating serious player misbehaviour and club cheating issues.
On top of these issues, Gallop constantly battled serious external threats such as the 2003 Rugby World Cup, which included high-profile player raids that legitimately had rugby union on the precipice of surpassing rugby league in Australia.
He then faced the 2005 commencement of the A-League and the Socceroos appearance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, constant European union and league player raids and most recently the poaching of Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau by the AFL.
When you then combine these issues with the fact Gallop had to answer to two bodies of ownership in the ARL and News Limited, the NRL CEO position has for many years required a reactive operation, with little scope for displaying pro-activeness.
In terms of TV rights, while Demetriou oversaw significantly greater pay deals than the NRL received during the same time, Gallop was severely hamstrung by the fact at no point was there a competition by the networks that drove up the price.
Yesterday’s NRL TV rights announcement was so successful largely due to the work done by Gallop.
The degree of difficulty in Gallop’s role was remarkably higher than Demetriou’s as well, given the AFL was the most established and united sports league in Australia for the past ten years.
And given that the NRL has grown and improved in so many ways over the past 10 years to the point it has actually matched the AFL TV rights deal, Gallop has effectively been responsible for one of the greatest sporting league transformations in Australia’s history.
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.
Jason Demetriou has been punted as South Sydney coach after the board eventually decided his time was up. The Rabbitohs board met for more…
Daly Cherry-Evans has avoided being suspended for the first time in his 14-year career, rolling the dice to dodge a three-match ban after having…
All the team list information for Round 9.
Parramatta have suffered another body blow with the news that Clint Gutherson is to miss over a month of footy after having minor surgery…
With several players knocked out this season, evidence is mounting to scrap or shorten kickoffs - but Graham questions whether the concern is all…
In particular, he is furious over the Bunker constantly taking tries away from players.
