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Rugby league returns to its unquestionable home this Friday night as the table topping Manly Sea Eagles take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The SCG has hosted more than 1100 top flight rugby league premiership matches and this Friday night’s match promises to be of the highest quality.
It also offers a possible look forward to September and possibly October, with many rugby league experts tipping both sides to line up against each other in the grand final.
The situation surrounding the match ironically draws a number of similarities with the 1970 and 1971 South Sydney premiership seasons.
In 1970, South Sydney not only finished with the minor premiership but also with a grand final victory over the Manly Sea Eagles. The Clive Churchill-coached and John Sattler-captained side won 23-12 in front of more than 53,000 people at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The following year, Manly would go on to win the minor premiership only to lose to South Sydney in the first week of the finals and again to St. George the following week. Souths went on to win their second consecutive premiership in front of an overflowing crowd of 63,000 people, which until now is their last success in the NRL.
South Sydney fans will undoubtedly be hoping for a similar result this Friday night and in September and October as they look to break their premiership drought.
With the current NRL season being plagued by off-field incidences, poor crowds and refereeing blunders, the match this is shaping up to be of increased significance leading into the NRL finals.
After a poor turnout from Bulldogs and Panthers supporters last Friday at ANZ Stadium, the NRL will be hoping for a large turnout at the newly redeveloped SCG, which hosts a fixture rich in history.
With no other major sporting events taking place in Sydney, a big crowd should flock to the ground to see both teams battle it out. South Sydney will want to keep the pressure on Manly for the minor premiership, while a win for Manly will all but secure top spot and give Geoff Toovey the opportunity to rest some key players leading to the finals.
A big crowd is all but expected this Friday night right? No.
This is where the NRL seems to be struggling in my opinion. Games such as this promise to be of the highest quality and are extremely rich in history. The NRL should be actively promoting the game based on these two criteria.
Don’t get me wrong, the NRL has done an exceptional job this year working closely with clubs to ensure that the crowd average goal put in place by NRL CEO Dave Smith is achieved, but based on the attendances of several matches the assumption that games between two high quality opposition will draw large crowds can all but be dismissed.
Many of the games that have been promoted vigorously by the NRL and clubs this year have been games that the NRL has come to expect small crowds from and thus they have tried to increase attendances.
Fortunately for the NRL many of these matches have attracted larger than expected crowds, but it appears that matches that would normally attract large crowds have been forgotten and ignored in terms of the NRL’s marketing campaign.
Hence, many fans and critics are questioning the NRL’s ability to successfully promote and achieve large crowds.
Last weekend’s match, in which third and fourth faced off, proved detrimental to the game as many fans decided to stay at home rather than travelling to watch a battle for outright second. The poor crowd could be blamed on a number of factors, but none of them were down to the quality or competitiveness. Just two wins separate fourth to 12th on the table and mathematically the top 13 sides could all still make the top eight.
From this it is easy to note that the quality of rugby league being played is not to blame for some reasonably poor crowds so far this season.
Friday proves a huge challenge to the NRL. With the match to be played at the SCG, the NRL will be hoping for a big crowd to try and pave a way to the finals series that is fast approaching.
If a big crowd turns out to watch the match between South Sydney and Manly, you can be sure that Saturday’s back page will be focused on the individuals that created moments of brilliance or that match winning field goal.
Let’s hope the NRL can avoid making the back page of the newspaper for all the wrong reasons, as was evident in last Saturday’s criticism of the turnout to ANZ Stadium. And let’s hope the referee’s can stay out of the headlines for one week too.
What do you think Roarers, will this Friday night’s match at the SCG draw in a large crowd or will the NRL be left scratching its head once more?
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