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Rugby league people are incapable of running the code

Roar Guru
22nd October, 2015
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Dave Smith may not have been a rugby league man, but that was a strength. (AAP Image/Damian Shaw)
Roar Guru
22nd October, 2015
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1518 Reads

With Dave Smith gone, it seems that the power-brokers and the media finally got their wish with CEO’s departure. From the beginning, Smith had an uphill battle to gain support from the rugby league community because he wasn’t a ‘league man’.

This insular mindset of needing a league person as CEO prevents the code from achieving its full potential. Those with league experience tend to have self-interest and agendas of their own.

Also, they do not have the financial and business acumen like Smith, who attempted to sort out the NRL’s money woes and was able to post a $50 million profit after a decade of running at a loss.

Whoever becomes CEO must have a clear long-term vision and plan to take the forward route rather than treading water constantly with clubs demanding more money. If anything the clubs should be held accountable for their respective administration and financials.

For far too long the NRL clubs have coasted on grants and have not been pro-active enough in improving their own club. Instead they have lived year by year on grants. Constantly demanding more cash to run incompetent clubs would lead to greater cash drain overall.

A majority of NRL clubs had decades to get it to together financially and to think in 2015 the same clubs are asking to be bailed out shows that rugby league people ain’t fit to run a professional competition.

If anything, it shows the need for professional financial and business acumen throughout the clubs to bring them from the mire and into professionalism.

Rugby league was professional from day one, but for the majority of the time it was anything but under rugby league people. If you want the code to decline by all means appoint another one and see the self-interest and agendas overrun the code once more.

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