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.
David Hayward
Roar Pro
Well you could easily argue as well AR that by the time GWS/Suns improve and increase their crowds (still no guarantee) the NRL will have expanded in some way so they are easily in the potential category. Sure Grant says no to expansion now, but its a strong possibility they will have to by the time the next TV rights deal is around and the poor Sydney clubs are struggling. Plus isn't the Perth stadium still in the potential category? And the new SCG isn't going to change attendances that much.
Australian Rules
Guest
A fair point DH...but you're comparing actual events to potential events. In other words... Most people expect that crowds will rise as GWS/Suns improve and the stadiums in Syd, Adel and Perth are completed. These things are ACTUALLY underway. vs "relocate Penrith / Cronulla to Perth / Central Coast, move Warriors to Eden Park, play Sydney blockbusters at SFS or ANZ, add a 2nd Brisbane team" These things are not (yet) on any agenda. John Grant actually said yesterday that expansion/moving clubs will NOT happen in the immediate future.
Brewski
Guest
Yes !! i know.
Brewski
Guest
I never suggested the NRL did not have the same opportunities, but as history usually repeats, the crowd averages and gulf between the comps will stay roughly the same. The VFL/AFL has been the leading football code in this country for over 100 years, perhaps if the 2 rugbys joined, the story may be different. To get more support and attendance GWS and GC have to be competetive, ATM they are clearly not, that hurts attendance, they don't have to be world beaters. Iwould also suggest by the tone of your posts, that
David Hayward
Roar Pro
It's just my humble guess Brewski!
David Hayward
Roar Pro
NRL has the same opportunities to increase attendances as the AFL with the examples you raise. Eg, relocate Penrith / Cronulla to Perth / Central Coast, move Warriors to Eden Park, play Sydney blockbusters at SFS or ANZ, add a 2nd Brisbane team. GWS and GCS are at risk of being swamped in terms of support with the new NRL TV rights deal, it is going to take years for them to be competitive and when they are, that will mean the top of the table clashes are being played by the teams with the smallest supporter bases which will reduce the total attendances by more than what they are today.
Brewski
Guest
What ... LOL, 2012 hasn't even finished yet !! Tigers haven't made the finals for 20 years . LOL.
David Hayward
Roar Pro
Sorry to nitpick but I disagree clipper. Over the past 5 years the AFL has gone from 6.51million in 2008 and will get approximately 6.28million in 2012, an overall reduction of 3.5%. I think the AFL will struggle to increase attendances in NSW and Qld as a result of the new TV rights deal. The only way the AFL can increase crowds is to move to the new Adelaide Oval and build a 60k seat stadium in Perth, or make the Piers, Blues, Bombers, and Tigers permanent Top 4 contenders. Otherwise the new norm for AFL crowds is 32k per year max, and it will drop to the high 20k's if GWS and the Suns ever start to dominate.
clipper
Guest
No - over the past 5 years AFL has gone from 6475521 to 6525071 - which, although only a 1% increase, is still not a decrease. Maybe it does show that the market has become saturated in the Southern states and the only way to increase attendances was to expand to NSW and QLD.
Brewski
Guest
All this could be true, if of course you believe that the NRL reports the actual real crowd. If we take all GWS and GCS games out this year, the AFL crowd average is over 36,000, that is on par with its best year ever of 36,900. In 1924 when Footscray, Nth Melbourne and Hawthorn joined the VFL comp attendances went down 27%, and then built back up over the ensuing years., history normally repeats. When both the SCG and Kardinia Park are reconstructed crowds will rise, when the new stadiums are built in Perth and Adelaide crowd averages will rise, as the GCS and GWS become more competetive and build more support crowd averages will rise.
David Hayward
Roar Pro
AFL crowds have been larger than the NRL's for over 100 years, so it has nothing to do with Vlad's leadership that the AFL will continue to remain in front. Interesting stat, AFL had average attendances that were 2.45 times more than the NRL when Gallop and Vlad took over the codes, now they are 1.95 times which is the closest they've been since 1993. You'd imagine that gap is going to continue to close with the NRL now having the ability to pay the best rugby league / union talent to play in the NRL, all the while the AFL crowds continue to level out or drop in the wake of the eventual (re-)emergance of low drawing teams like GWS, Port, Suns and Lions into the Top 8 if they successfully draft over the next 5 years.
David Hayward
Roar Pro
Well I could go on all day about stats Clipper but I thought selecting a 10 year period for average regular season attendances was most appropriate given Gallop and Vlad have been in charge for that same duration. If you take the past 5 years NRL yearly regular season attendances has increased by 3.5% while the AFL has decreased 3.5% even though it has "expanded" the league over that period. And over the past 10 years the NRL has increased 19% while the AFL has increased 7%. Either way, Gallop has been more successful than Demetriou in increasing is codes attendances.
David Hayward
Roar Pro
I take your points Hamish but at the end of the day Gallop restored the NRL to more than double its TV rights under the same FTA arrangements it had previously while matching the AFL's TV revenue which clearly the most important metric. It's too early to tell on how successful Vlad's expansion will be for the game, so far it has watered down the weekly AFL product and reduced attendances which may in the long term reduce the total revenue of the code. Agree that some NRL crowds are fudged, but I'd some AFL crowds are fudged in non-southern states as well.
Hamish
Guest
I dont understand your point. NRL crowds and TV audiences are below AFL on a week to week basis and will be for years to come. The 3 SOOs put NRL in front on Agg TV numbers. The AFL has had a better schedule this year so their TV numbers should be better but agg crowds will be down because of the increased availability of games on TV which cant be said for NRL nearly as much...I'm suggesting NRL crowds are light on in the cities despite St george and parra (not this year) having good years. The AFL have had Collingwood and carlton going OK as well but Richmond and Esendon doing well would see bumper crowds...
clipper
Guest
You're being a bit selective with the statistics there. If you take total attendance, then both the NRL and AFL have increased over 10 years. If you take the last 5 years, NRL has increased 3.5% -3024040 to 3124415 - is this saying the growth has slowed significantly from 27%? You need to take into account the two new teams in AFL will have far lower averages, and this will decrease the overall average. If you took out the 4 lowest attended teams, then the average would jump significantly - but would that mean the game is growing overall?
Hamish
Guest
Gallop had a hard gig and did well but there are plenty of other metrics - ground improvements (Adelaide Oval, Metricom, Skoda, SCG, eventual ownership of Etihad (pre Vlad), expansion of the game, total revenue, national aspect of the game incl 4 games live on FTA nationwide etc. The NRL has maxed its TV appeal because FTA games were the best of the round and rarely do games compete with each other. The AFL has many game clashes and as Gyngell said yesterday "I wont put 2 games up against each other on Friday night because it lowers the overall audience." The NRL has got a good cash deal but Fox saved its Saturday exclusivity and Sunday arvo FTA delay is still an issue.The AFL attendance aggregate will be double at least the NRL and NRL crowd figures are suspicious. The Raiders crowd 8.8K was above the GWS crowd 7K something in Canberra last Saturday but the Raiders ground looked a quarter full. (6K). The Warriors count their members even when they dont turn up and both Warriors and Melbourne said they had a better year even though crowds were down because they gave out less freebies. The crowds in regional areas for NRL are terrific but the city crowds are less so. Brisabne broncos crowds are poor given its the only NRL team in a League city..