The NRL is losing its battle for integrity

Integrity is difficult to quantify and difficult to measure. But I believe it is the vital battleground for the NRL and one they are currently losing.

The NRL is in the entertainment business and while those two elements, business and entertainment, are co-dependent, they are uneasy bedfellows.

If the business side of the game isn’t generating income, then pretty soon there will be no entertainment.

If the game isn’t entertaining, and isn’t engaging fans, then there will be no revenue and eventually no game.

Now there is a lot that could be said about this balance and which side is losing out. Personally I would say that the entertainment side is suffering with the made-for-TV match scheduling and the video referee. But the issue that underpins the entire business/entertainment balance is integrity.

The competition has to be legitimate for the entertainment side of the equation to have any validity. The public can smell a shonky deal miles away and vote accordingly with their feet and wallets.

The NRL competition has to have integrity so the fans have confidence to invest their emotion and their loyalties to a team, so they are they willing to invest their money through club memberships, merchandise, TV ratings and ticket sales.

The sad end of the Ryan Tandy spot-fixing incident is a case in point. Why did the NRL come down so hard on him, banning him for life, while players that have assaulted women are still allowed to play again?

If there is any hint that the competition on the field isn’t fair dinkum, and perhaps one of the teams isn’t trying their hardest to win, then it erodes the confidence of the fans. That results in less loyalty, less engagement and goes down the road where the business/entertainment model collapses.

It’s why the State of Origin model works and why this week’s Trans-Tasman Test and the City/Country game doesn’t. It’s the same issue at work for match fixing, performance-enhancing drugs, salary cap issues and perceived referee favouritism. The public is only going to maintain interest if the competition is real and the contest is equal.

The question I want to pose is, if the integrity of the competition is paramount to the ongoing existence of the game, then why is the NRL actively eroding that integrity by not ensuring the playing field is level?

Third Party Agreements
As well as the on the field battles, clubs are also competing with each other off the field for fans and for staff. But, more importantly, for corporate dollars.

There is a salary cap for players, but richer clubs can build better facilities, implement better programs and ultimately put a better team on the field. That gives them an advantage in attracting sponsors and corporate dollars.

Andrew Fifita’s ‘almost contract’ with the Bulldogs was reportedly worth $850,000 a season, including third-party agreements.

Third party agreements are outside the contract with the club and don’t count towards the salary cap. Clubs that can attract that kind of corporate sponsorship to pay over the salary cap have a huge advantage over clubs that can’t.

There would be an outcry if the NRL awarded two or three clubs a salary cap a $1 million more than the other clubs.

Match scheduling
The supposed level playing field is dangerously tilted when it comes to match scheduling.

The first 20 rounds of the 2014 season have been scheduled and the Broncos play on Friday night 13 times. They have two byes and a remaining five matches in other time slots. Obviously this is due to the appeal they hold in Queensland and the TV ratings they bring by to Channel Nine on Friday Night Football, but it hands the Broncos an unfair advantage.

Apart from the advantage it gives to the players in being able to prepare the same way each week, without the short turnarounds, it must be a massive boost for the club in attracting sponsors. They can guarantee their sponsors the exposure of 13 prime time spots on free-to-air television, and guarantee corporate box sponsors six or seven home matches at a set time.

There are clubs that don’t receive anywhere near that sort of exposure – I can’t recall seeing Canberra play on free-to-air TV for example. It is an unfair advantage to particular clubs and erodes the integrity of the supposed level playing field.

State of Origin
The other major impact on the integrity of the competition is scheduling around State of Origin matches.

I would suggest that fans are loyal to their club team first and foremost with loyalty to their State far behind.

The club I support has won the Premiership once in my memory, while my state has won the Origin series … I don’t even know, 15 times at least. That one Premiership is far more satisfying, meaningful and memorable as a fan than any Origin win.

Origin series come around every year and are a two-horse race. So your team will win eventually and will likely win many in your lifetime, whereas the Premiership is a 16-horse race and you may never see your side win a Premiership.

The main game for fans is definitely the Premiership, yet the Origin period destroys the integrity of the competition every year.

– The burden on teams missing players is unequal and unfair.
– The burden on players forced to back up sometimes 48 hours after an Origin match is unequal and unfair.
– The ‘luck’ of the draw and who gets to play the disadvantaged teams during Origin is unequal and unfair.

Every year there is grumbling about the draw by coaches, but everyone seems prepared to sacrifice for the sake of Origin to really question the fairness of it all too loudly.

There are massive winners and losers in the setting of the draw throughout the Origin period, with there being a great benefit in drawing Melbourne, North Queensland or Brisbane.

The current system is effectively a lottery and should be intolerable. In a competition where one or two games can be the difference between making the semi-final or not, it can make or break seasons and even careers.

The only way to repair this situation is to tilt the balance back towards the entertainment side of the equation. Successful teams should not be made to suffer and sacrifice during Origin.

Origin should be played on club football free weekends – Saturday or Sunday night. Every club should have the weekend off. Players won’t have to stand down for a week and won’t have to back up a few days after a brutal Origin match. All clubs would remain on the same level playing field and no team would receive an advantage or disadvantage due to scheduling.

To fit this into the schedule, the season should be cut down to 20 matches. We won’t have matches where the public is expected to turn out and cheer two teams packed full of NRL rookies in a game robbed of its star attractions.

The changes may not be popular, but the integrity of the competition must come first.

@Armchair_Guru