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The NRL recently announced $3 million National Footy Facilities Funds to non-heartland areas is long overdue. This is something the administration should have focused on a long time ago.
At $500,000 per year among six states and territories (VIC, WA, SA, ACT and NT) the money spread annually is pretty thin if equally split. Grassroots funding and promotion of rugby league in Victoria should have been a priority with all the Storm’s success.
The Storm have been one of the most successful NRL clubs in the past 15 years, and it is a shame to think this has not been capitalised upon by the NRL.
Compare this to the AFL with its multi-million dollar investments in Queensland and NSW to attempt to grow the game. The money spent annually on the GWS Giants and Gold Coast Suns is more than any expansion funding the NRL has ever provided.
The NRL since the Super League war has neglected areas such as Western and South Australia the moment the Rams (97-98) and Reds (95-97) folded.
All that lost time since 1999 has created the very situation the NRL is in right now, having to reboot potential expansion from scratch once more.
Every year gone in a potential expansion area in Western Australia is another opportunity lost for rugby league to expand and nurture the game into having a national footprint. To think, it’s 2016 and out of all the professional competitions in Australia, the NRL still doesn’t have teams in Western Australia or in South Australia.
This is an embarrassing reflection on the lack of long-term planning and vision from the NRL.
Being heartland focused for decades has blinded the NRL into short-sighted, myopic thinking. Expansion is always put on hold to tend to clubs who had decades to get it together financially.
How much longer do we have to wait to clubs to be financially stable? The current 16 clubs have been given numerous chances to get it together. Surely, the NRL in the future will come out with a clear plan and outline for expansion teams.
As the Footy Facilities Fund is one small step for expansion, and expansion itself will be the biggest step the NRL needs to take in order to remain competitive in a cutthroat sports market.
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