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To borrow a line from hip hop, ‘Mo money, mo problems’.
While the late, great Notorious B.I.G was probably not pondering the $9.3 million NRL salary cap when he penned the rap masterpiece shortly before his tragic death in 1997, the theme of the song is beginning to resonate more and more in the greatest game of all.
Over the past seven days, three NRL coaches – Des Hasler, Ricky Stuart and now Paul Green – have barred their players from competing in the last ever City versus Country clash to be held in Mudgee on May 6. While their reasoning is sound from a commercial point of view, fans of the game, particularly those in rural areas, are well within their rights to be up in arms.
We hear too often about the slow and sad demise of bush footy, and one can’t help but feel that recent events are only another painful shot to the heart for rural rugby league.
Ricky Stuart, a country boy himself, was particularly vocal in his concerns about the state of the fixture, arguing until he was blue in the face that it was no longer a genuine State of Origin trial and that he wouldn’t risk his players in what had essentially become a pointless fixture.
From this angle, it makes perfect sense. Imagine Blake Austin or Aidan Sezer going down with a serious injury when realistically, they are next to no chance of pulling on a Blue jersey come Game 1 of this year’s’ Origin series.
The argument becomes even stronger when you think of it from a financial viewpoint. The Raiders would have potentially risked $2 or $3 million worth of prime assets had all of their eligible players ran out onto the field in Mudgee next Sunday.
Despite all of that, to a 9-year-old rugby league die hard from Gulgong who idolises Jarrod Croker, it means codswallop. Sure, roster management and player welfare might be more important to those at NRL Headquarters than the posters on the wall of a young footy tragic, but the game needs to be careful that it’s not seen to be pushing away from those who keep it ticking over.
When the NRL restructured the season draw to include a rep Round 3 years ago, it’s unlikely that they envisaged the week leading up to each annual City-Country fixture becoming so farcical.
Indeed, recently it has become more about which team is going to have more players pull out, than who is going to come away with the shield. Irrespective of this however, the actual footballing spectacle itself has flourished.
Last season a young, raw City team, probably unrecognisable from the one Brad Fittler had pencilled in a week before kick-off, took their more fancied opposition to the cleaners.
Tyrone Peachey and Bryce Cartwright confirmed their status as future Origin players while Josh Mansour earned his maiden NSW strip then and there. More importantly though, fans everywhere, and not just the 8,317 at the ground, got to witness rugby league in its purest form – 34 young, hungry athletes, many of whom may never play rep footy again, ripping and tearing for 80 minutes to enhance their status as stars of the future.
When the call went out last November that the 2017 City-Country fixture would be the last, no one really batted an eye lash. It was time to move on they said, the game had evolved.
That argument is worrying. Evolved from what exactly? Putting on a show for fans in the bush? Giving young players the chance to be part of a representative setting? The NRL can market itself to whoever it wants when trying to grow the game, clubs can spend as many a million as they desire on sports science and video technology, but they all have a responsibility not to leave behind those who make our game the greatest of them all.
As we say good bye to the somehow controversial annual celebration of rural rugby league, I’ll lay praise to Jack De Belin who, when asked what pulling on a Country jumper meant to him, summed it up in these simple words.
“It’s an honour”.
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