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The horrified public reaction to ‘our’ Aussie cricketers ball-tampering efforts in South Africa gave me some cause to pause this week.
Many thousands of words and social media posts extolled the virtues of how we Australians see ourselves through our love for sport – a people with strong moral codes who play hard but fair, abiding by the rulebook and taking responsibility for our mistakes.
Admirable sentiment, no doubt. But also a complete fantasy.
Want proof? Check the weekly reaction to any round of NRL games. In particular, look for the reaction to the one team that seems to cause half the league to lose each week – the referees.
An incredibly rare thing happened when Wests Tigers played Brisbane last Friday night. It wasn’t the 9-7 scoreboard, it wasn’t the Broncos being held tryless by the ‘wall of Ivan’.
It was that a referee’s decision literally decided who won the game.
The NRL has since said that the decision to award Brisbane the decisive penalty was wrong, copping to the error and demoting the referees involved. Tigers fans can rightly feel aggrieved but like I said, these situations are thankfully incredibly rare.
Going on the reaction from analysts and fans though, you’d think the greatest injustice in the history of mankind had transpired, and that it was a weekly occurrence.
Outrage and angst towards referees is hardly new – it’s pretty much ingrained in the rugby league community – but the most concerning issue is that holding the torches at the front of the lynch mob are people who should know better.
From Thursday to Sunday it’s an all-star pile on – Paul Vautin, Ray Hadley and Phil Gould spend the channel nine broadcast panning decisions, most of the time because they want transgressions ignored and for referees to pick and choose their decisions ‘in the spirit of the game’.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield regularly lights up Twitter with his disgust at how games are refereed. Rugby league immortal Andrew Johns is no shrinking violet when it comes to #RefsFault either, saying that last Thursday’s Storm-Cowboys game was “destroyed by penalties”.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Referees are staying true to preseason warnings around playing the ball after a tackle and keeping a consistent ten-metre defensive line. Indeed, Fox League’s stats says we’re averaging a tick over 17 penalties per game, the most since 2004.
Johns is right when he says games riddled with penalties aren’t a good look, but the only people who can change that are the players.
But surely people of Johns’ standing should understand that their constant (and usually wrong) ref bashing is bad for the game.
Don’t want stop-start play? Angry that your team’s getting penalised? Tell them to get their line back. To time their run better. And maybe, just maybe, to put their foot on the ball when they play it (it’s the easiest skill to execute in rugby league, but it’s still beyond some folks).
The rules are the rules. Stop whinging about them being applied correctly.
Rugby league’s future is American
It was disappointing this week to hear that moves are underway to torpedo the June 23 international between New Zealand and England at Mile High Stadium, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
It was even more disappointing to see the frankly laughable ‘health concerns’ being floated as part of why the game shouldn’t happen.
As the name suggests, the stadium is at a high altitude, 5280 feet above sea level. This, plus the travel involved, is the hook on which opponents hang their argument that the game is too much of an injury risk for players.
Spare me. This doesn’t stand up to even the most basic scrutiny.
State of Origin players compete in brutal midweek contests, backing up within days.
Just last week, four NRL clubs played in extreme heat with no water breaks or extended halftime.
Super Rugby teams regularly travel to South Africa and play at high altitude, returning to New Zealand or Australia and playing the following weekend.
Socceroos players regularly fly over 20 hours from freezing Europe to furnace-blasted locations in the middle east or to Australia for World Cup qualifiers, spending barely five days in town before flying back and playing for their clubs almost immediately.
The ‘rejigged’ Australian cricket team is about to play the fourth Test of their South African tour at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg – roughly 5300 feet above sea level. Those fellas will be out there all day for five days – should the Test be called off on account of the risks to player’s health?
The United States is a market tailor-made for rugby league. There’s a huge number of athletes who graduate from college but don’t get drafted, so have no sporting outlet. The physical nature of the game, combined with its skill is perfect for American tastes. The game is a treat on TV, which is a non-negotiable in the USA.
The growth potential for rugby league in the USA is phenomenal.
The Denver Test is a critical step in introducing quality rugby league to the ‘land of opportunity’ ahead of the 2025 World Cup. Rugby league is running out of chances to get its hooks into places like this and self-interested, here-and-now thinking makes the game’s future ever dimmer.
People can argue against playing the Test, that’s the great thing about the world we live in. But don’t insult our intelligence by trying to say it’s because you’re worried about the health of the players.
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Strategic Plan or Penske file?
In some good news, this week the NRL released their 2018-2022 Strategic Plan! I know that’s not really exciting for most of you, but my goodness I do love me a good strategic plan.
This one seems a belter, too.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg and ARLC Chair Peter Beattie hit the hustings, spruiking their five-year plan for increased participation, better rugby league pathways, the new women’s competition, better stadiums, expansion with possibly more overseas teams, you name it. The plan’s a veritable cornucopia of delights for governance nerds like me.
The NRL website carried four stories plus an awesome five-minute video hailing the strategic plan, the NRL’s social media saluted the strategic plan and overall, it seems the principles behind the new strategic plan were pretty well received.
I was excited by all the talk, inspired by the video and ready to delve into it.
There’s just one thing though…
Has anyone actually seen a copy of the NRL’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan? I looked everywhere and at time of writing it wasn’t available on NRL.com, or anywhere else for that matter.
I can only assume it will be released to all of us very soon.