Last year your correspondent wrote a reasonably well-received column on The Roar about not going to the grand final for the first time since 1985.
I didn’t pick a good one to miss, did I? The greatest of all time, in fact.
But the story was about the changing face of the media, about how being at the game is now of dubious benefit to sportswriters given the expansion of television coverage and contraction of access by non-rights holders to athletes.
Despite missing the greatest grand final of all time by blogging from an office, I think I’ll be doing the same for the State of Origin series this year. Put simply, you can do a better job.
Tonight, I will not be at Hunter Stadium for the Australia-New Zealand Test. I had a gig – sideline eye for Triple M – a parking pass and media accreditation.
But the reasons behind my absence tonight have nothing to do with the changing face of the media. I won’t be at an office blogging. I’ll be at Iron Maiden, actually.
(Warning: this is where I start to sound middle-aged and cranky. Change channels now if you wish.)
I began to regret committing to run the sideline when Semi Radradra was picked. You’ve read enough about that.
To my way of thinking, Australian sports fans have not lost interest in the national rugby league team because they are no longer number one.
They’ve lost interest because in rugby league, Australia has almost no-one to play against. Fans have gravitated to sports with a better international scene.
The way to ‘make Test football great again’ (from an Australian perspective) is to fast-track other countries to competitiveness, not to assemble a team that will whoop the Kiwis’ asses.
The NRL’s complete rejection of the notion they are responsible for any national team bar the Australians leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The Evil That Men Do, indeed. But still, I was committed to the sideline gig.
The final straw was the succession of clubs, starting with Brisbane, then the Warriors followed by others, pulling players out of this weekend’s Test matches.
Here’s the thing: perhaps the Warriors trio shouldn’t be playing tonight. But ‘in my day’ (you have just witnessed the first time I have ever typed those words in that order; won’t be the last), national federations sat above clubs and clubs asked them to do things, they didn’t tell them.
Andrew McFadden would have said “we have some issues regarding those players we will be speaking the NZRL about. What happens, we’ll know when their team is read out”.
But those days, when clubs respected the authority of representative teams, are Caught Somewhere In Time. Kevin Naiqama passed a Fiji team medical and was withdrawn by Wests Tigers anyway.
We are now out in the open about something that has been happening for a decade: clubs can pull players out of internationals for any reason, or no reason.
Therefore, internationals involving full-time pros are not ‘Tests’ of anything except the sweet talking skills of the respective team managements.
The Australian team has cache, connections, power and money so they have a full strength team. The less of these qualities you have, the weaker your side is.
That’s not a Brave New World that particularly interests me. We achieved so much at the 2013 World Cup in terms of engagement, competitiveness and the strength of the teams. Now they look like Wasted Years.
So I’ve bailed on what Test football has become – I decided to Run To The Hills.
clipper
Guest
Never said there were more League / AFL fans than League / Soccer fans - obviously it's the latter as Soccer has been well established in NSW for many years - I was just agreeing with AG074 that Soccer is more a threat to NRL than AFL - popular in the same demographics and an ever increasing Junior base.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
There seems to be a never ending supply of rugby union supporters who come to rugby league sites to bag the code. Rightly or wrongly, many rugby league supporters start to develop a defensive reflex against it all, even on the occasion when the criticism is well-intentioned. That might go a long towards explaining it.
NaBUru38
Guest
International basketball is serious matter in Europe and Latin America.
duecer
Guest
Have to agree with Chris - RL had a chance to match and maybe overtake RU in the 50's and 60's, helped by being professional. They missed their chance once RU managed that transition and started a world cup. It's really quite sad to see what has happened to international RL since then, which has only been accelerated by the double edged sword that is SoO. To go from a strong 4-5 contenders to just 3 and see Englands continued decline really is a dire situation. Can't see this situation changing anytime soon.
hutch
Guest
You're trolling an article about rugby league, a sport you obviously don't like and you're telling other people to get a life? Weirdo!
Republican
Guest
But we don't whip the Kiwis asses, on the contrary they whip ours and will continue courtesy of our altruistic largesse towards NZ League amongst others.......
Jason Hosken
Guest
Nevermind brushing the Test, Iron Maiden snubbed their classic Run to the Hills at Homebush last night leaving a disgusted Mascord and Co ripping Eddie patches from their 70s denom. What next!!!
Scrum
Guest
Good grief - Edward did you & Cathar actually read what I wrote. I acknowledged that RL has it all over Union in Australia. I repeat what I cannot understand is that any post critical of League must be countered by a reference to Union. Why do RL supporters feel threatened by Rugby. In NSW & Qld it is a one way street- just look at the FTA coverage be it matches or magazine type coverage.
nerval
Guest
You have to start somewhere. There are more than 4 now.
nerval
Guest
Yes they are.
Yoda
Guest
You mean 4 countries constitutes a WORLD cup,get a life.
Yoda
Guest
No their not
Chris
Guest
No it hasn't...have a look how big crowds were for GB team tour of Australia from 1914 to 1974 the 1920's-1960'S got bigger crowds for RL internationls then a lot of Rugby Union internationl's. The club game in Australia didn't really get good crowds till the 1940's war years.
Michael l
Guest
How many times did he beg for the ball on the 4th tackle only to hit the ball up when there was a clear opportunity on the flanks. Statistically he makes good meters which deserves merit but overall his not much of a team player and so often overplays his hand.
AGO74
Guest
For what it's worth I agree with cathar. In my family and friends and work colleagues (not 4m people but certainly a reasonable sample size) there is a strong crossover amongst many fans between the two sports. Certainly a lot more than nrl/afl or afl only.
nerval
Guest
"League really only gets media coverage in Queensland and NSW in the entire world." Rugby league club games in England are more highly rated on TV than their union equivalents.
Birdy
Guest
3 words , green and gold! How can anything be more important than that? Support it or lose it!
Tom of Brisbane
Guest
For one thing, RL has had a World Cup since the 50's, so it's other sports copying RL, not the other way around. For another RL is as entitled as anyone else to have a World Cup, why wouldn't they be? Every sport from archery to zebra racing can have a World Cup and noone bats an eye, RL has one and everyone loses their mind
nerval
Guest
No it hasn't always been a club game. It invites "derision" only from those with nothing better to do.
Uruk 1st 15
Guest
International League should only be the annual Aus-GB-NZ text series, maybe with France or another to make up the numbers. League lets itself down attempting to copy other sports with its world cup, shoehorining players into nations where the sport isn’t even that popular. It just invites derision, and articles like this one. Other than that, League has always been a club game. Nothing wrong with just having a strong domestic comp, look at the NFL.