Despite being over 80 years old, having a global reach and (officially) overseeing an industry worth billions of dollars, the RLIF has something of a start-up feel about it.
They’re the little guys on the world stage – scrambling to keep up with rugby union and barely fit to stand in football’s shadow.
But they’re not without hope. The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was a breakout success, which last year’s edition – due in no small way to the phenomenal efforts of Tonga – built upon.
Sure, both were held in rugby league strongholds, with the 2021 World Cup once again to be hosted in the game’s birthplace of Northern England, but in 2025 the global tournament will be held on the biggest stage of all – the US of A.
And the RLIF can take one of two attitudes towards the American tourney.
Either buckle down and do everything in their power to make the international game a feast of entertainment that will – if not turn into rabid fans – at least intrigue the everyday Yank enough to buy a ticket.
Or they can turn on their Everything’s OK alarm and just confidently amble towards what will then surely be an unmitigated disaster.
This is why the RLIF needs to embrace the scrapper attitude.
Start-ups like to describe themselves using words like ‘lean’, ‘agile’ and ‘flexible’ – seriously, you’d think they were gymnasts.
What they mean – and the irony that they don’t just say it isn’t lost on me – is they get shit done.
When you’re small (or at least smallish) it’s much easier to change what you do and how you do it.
I’ve worked at companies worth billions and the level of red tape that needs to be sorted through just to get your email address set up is staggering.
By comparison, I’ve worked at joints where employees had a direct line to the CEO, and good ideas were implemented minutes after they were suggested.
At the moment, the RLIF is more the latter.
Look at the ICC, which set its future tours program in June this year, outlining all international cricket to be played by full member nations from 2019 until 2023.
By comparison, next week’s Test between Australia and Tonga was confirmed at the start of September – some six weeks before the match was due to be played!
It was a simple proposition too: Tonga unexpectedly became the game’s hottest prospect, so a game was swiftly sorted for them to take on the world’s No.1 side – honestly, it takes more wrangling to get a pair of professional boxers in the ring than it did to organise two teams of 17 to face off in a country neither of them call home.
And yes it’s chalk and cheese, but for all the ICC’s planning, Australia is playing Pakistan with about six people watching on in UAE stadiums at the moment, while the Kangaroos vs Mate Ma’a will be packed to the rafters.
As for Tonga suddenly catching heat during the World Cup, that’s down to another bit of RLIF flexibility.
Where many sports are borderline insane with how strictly they determine international eligibility – Timmy Cahill almost never got a single Socceroos cap because he played two games for Samoa Under-20s when he was a 14-year-old – you can do a bit of chopping and changing in league.
So it was that established Kiwi and Kangaroo stars Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita shunned their respective nations of birth to play for the land of their families’ culture.
(Brendan Esposito / NRL Photos)
That saw New Zealanders David Fusitu’a, Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Manu Ma’u similarly defect.
Meanwhile, Tonga’s playing ranks already featured former Origin players Will Hopoate, Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou, as well as ex-Kiwis such as Solomone Kata, Siliva Havili and Sika Manu.
In many other international sports, most of these players would have simply sat out the entire tournament, having previously pledged their allegiance to a country where they no longer make the top team.
No, the defections on the eve of the tournament weren’t the best look, but it was far better than watching the Kangaroos slaughter a bunch of reserve graders – which was my first taste of international rugby league, sitting on the hill at Marathon Stadium in 1996 as Australia ran over Fiji to the tune of 84-14.
And, again, it was because the RLIF are in a position to simply change their eligibility rules. Not everyone was happy, but it was obviously the best outcome for the game, so it got done.
It’s lean. It’s agile. Dammit, it’s flexible! Someone say the word ‘culture’ and I’ll piss me kecks – I’m on a buzzword binge!
Ultimately though, you only want to be a start-up for as long as you have to.
The ICC’s five-year plan may lack the RLIF’s flexibility, but it’s also indicative of how much more organised and successful the former are.
Similarly, FIFA can afford to be sticklers about international eligibility because the five World Cups held since the turn of the millennium have all been won by different nations, while ‘lesser lights’ such as England, Colombia and Côte d’Ivoire continue to boast quality players and huge support.
I look forward to the day when the RLIF have a five-year tour program, stringent eligibility rules, and are generally just a big, frustrating glacier. It will (hopefully) mean they’ve done their job.
But, to paraphrase a slogan I once saw on a t-shirt, ‘To be slow and lumbering, you must first be lean and agile.’
And if the RLIF aren’t lean and agile in the lead-up to the 2025 World Cup, they’ll never be slow and lumbering.
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Same troll new name,
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Yes AussiekiwiTongan opps Alex, yes sir, we bow to the great white man's sport of rugby union. How dare we not know or place. Bring back colonialism, bring back elitism, being back all that is good in exploitation!
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Oh dear he is back.
Alex Simmons
Roar Rookie
This comment has been removed for breaching The Roar's comments policy.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
October newbie Hmmm. Well according to the AFL they have a comp & there has been comments on here before that it is bigger than RL in London (smirk) so why wouldn't the sport & its players be a possible nominee for UK sporting awards?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Probably due to the fact both he( KWT )and yourself are more than likely, one and the same person.Same theme in your commentary.Joined October 18 hmmmm.
Alex Simmons
Roar Rookie
This comment has been removed for breaching The Roar's comments policy.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Our multiple multiple personality would go into meltdown if he read that a female rugby league player (no union or cricket player not to mention AFL in sight) is contender for the BBC young sports personality of the year! https://www.bbc.com/sport/sports-personality/45834257?ns_linkname=sport&ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=facebook&ns_campaign=bbc_sport
Matt H
Roar Guru
I bet the ARU would wet themselves to get 750k in TV viewership. they are the code that is struggling financially in Australia
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
A great crowd and a decent Sky Tv viewing audience for the SL final, also an exciting game to watch.Crowds in many sports can go up and down, even in grand finals. Tv viewership is important for many sports, where the Tv revenue makes up the bulk of the revenue.It's nonsensical to suggest otherwise. Anycase this has zero to do with the subject matter about the RLIF performance ,typically changing the debate to push your con tinsel overt anti rl agenda.
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Hi joe. The RLIF website has a great article about the international program atm. Over 40 nations are participating in it this year which can only be good for the development of the game. As others have stated here and elsewhere more funding is required to ensure the RLIF can drive this progress. But the signs are very good in my opinion.
RoryStorm
Guest
Who gives a damn that we don't get the numbers other world sports get, watching or playing? I for one don't. If we are a niche sport around the world, so be it for now. Last year and this year we have hadplayers swapping from their country of birth to their heritage teams. So what that other sports don't allow that to happen. There's no law that says we have to follow the eligibility laws of other sports and I'm very pleased that that is the case or I very much doubt that Australia would be playing Tonga next Saturday in Auckland. It's actually added a lot more excitement to the international competition. Don't be surprised if Samoa and Fiji are the next beneficiaries of Aussies and Kiwis deciding to play for their heritage country. The way I see it now is the only way for league to go now is up. That is if we don't have idiots in charge for a change. Yesterday's loss to the Kiwis is not the end of the World for Australia. It had to happen sooner or later.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Eligibilty rules to help ensure a competitive World Cup ,need to have the flexibility at this stage for the inclusion of heritage players.Cynics will have their passing shot, but RLWCs and the long term plan to grow the game, are not set up to please the cynics.Simply to play with the cards the y are dealt with. In stating that viewpoint ,it is worth noting the RLIF despite the lack of financial clout and indeed staff, have for example European countries playing qualifying games to secure entry to the 2021 RLWC. I cite the following recent examples:- 16th September in European Championship C,Norway defeated Germany 40 to 22 in Porsgrunn 7th October European Championship B ,Spain defeated Russia 32-24 in Valencia. 13th October European Championship B,Russia v Serbia at Fily Stadium Moscow. I also point out the overwhelming majority of players involved in these European Qualifiers , are local born and bred.Yes heritage players will be included in the 2021 RLWC ,some countries more so than others. Of course we want the RLIF to do better, but limited resources and bear in mind both the ESL and the NRL have committed funds locally, make this a huge task .The ESL with little surplus and the NRL trying to build a surplus after years of waste,SL war and TV deals that seemed undervalued.
AussiekiwiTongan
Roar Rookie
64k in a 76k stadium for 2 northern English team in Northern England fora GRAND FINAL is good? The smallest GF crowd in 10 years? Every other sport plays internationals on a saturday without worrying about TV viewers. They get crowds that come across alot better than Tv viewers. Was there 10k there last night Justin?
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
It’s a great crowd for a great game. By the way Saturday night is the wasteland for fta tv. The ratings were very good. Next week will be even better. I don’t expect that you’d know any of these things or anything else for that matter.
AussiekiwiTongan
Roar Rookie
Thats the smallest crowd at Old Trafford for a sporting event since the last Rugby League game played there! Where was the other 24,250,000 Australians doing not watching our sporting pride and joy?
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
65000 at old Trafford last night for the esl and 750000 tv viewers across Australia for the test. There is so much potential to grow the game and so much interest in it. The administrators have a big task ahead of them but the product is amazing.
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Negative Nellie isn’t he?
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
As a hater of RL & a thugby yawnion supporter I guess you'd think that way
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The biggest concern over eligibility rules is actually about countries stealing players. Not over players switching between countries they are legitimately eligible for thats not a big concern. There is a point of debate over the grandparent rule though. Italy have long exploited that to take South Americans players and won the world cup in 1934 through it. In basketball there is a rule saying you can't have more than one American which is a strange one. Rugby union was a joke because a country could buy whoever they wanted up until recently. Even know they can still buy players just have to wait longer to play them. The pattern is the Pacific islands gets robbed of its eligible players in rugby union. To be able to get them back in rugby league by not locking in players is not a bad thing.