Rugby league fans’ propensity to always see a glass half-empty has again been graphically illustrated in the fortnight since the Nines World Cup at Parramatta was announced.
Even the people excited by it are also bagging it!
Surely there has to be a qualifying tournament! Why only 12 ‘same old suspect’ teams? Four women’s sides is surely tokenism!
Then there are the purists, who just deem Nines as a waste of time, either because it’s too much like 13-a-side rugby league or not enough like it.
Hang on. Can’t we pause to at least acknowledge something new-ish (if you weren’t in Suva in 1996 or Townsville in 1997) is being done, and that the NSW Government and a sponsor in Downer have been convinced to support the still-fringe international rugby league scene, before sinking the boot in?
Yes, it’s probably only on to lessen the impact on NRL players and satisfy a collective bargaining agreement and the RLIF at the same time.
But 12 teams, frankly, is better than none. In 1996, when Super League was throwing around cash like confetti, 16 teams were involved. Including the women’s teams, that’s the same as next year.
In 1997, we had 14 and that was intended to launch the brave new world of the Murdoch-backed competition.
It’s not really possible to have a qualifying tournament for everyone if there’s no Nines circuit. As hosts, you’d expect Australia to be in it. You’d also expect New Zealand. The Pacific nations will be engaged in post-season internationals and so will be going into camp anyway, so Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji would also likely get a start.
All these teams will be chock full of NRL players; having them released to play nine-a-side qualifiers before the Nines World Cup is completely unrealistic.
The home nations are a bit tricky. One, Great Britain is supposed to be touring the Pacific immediately after this tournament. Do England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales split up for the Nines and then come back together for the tour? It would certainly encourage GB to pick more players from the other three nations.
But Ireland and Scotland have important World Cup qualifiers on at the same time. They’d probably rather focus on that – to such an extent that there could be a fight over players between the Bravehearts, Wolfhounds and Lions.
However, elsewhere there is a scope for qualifiers. Jamaica, the US and Canada could easily play mid-season to decide a Nines World Cup spot. The Cook Islands, Niue and countries like the Philippines could do likewise.
So not everyone has to be handed a golden ticket.
To the fans who say it does nothing for rugby league, I say this: the international governing body previously only had one even every four years from which to earn money. Last year fell more than A$3 million short of budget. Now it has two. That’s enough for me.
Boyd Cordner of Australia celebrates a try during the 2017 Rugby League World Cup final. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
I don’t care if it encourages people to play 13-a-side. I don’t even care if I, personally, find it entertaining. I care that people come through the gates and pay money to do so. After that, go to the bar like they do at sevens tournaments all around the world and don’t watch a minute – I couldn’t care less.
Sevens got rugby union into the Olympics. It caused governments everywhere to invest in the sport. It’s the only rugby many people ever see live, even if it’s through a beery haze. It’s clear that putting on a big piss-up and encouraging people to come as one of the seven dwarfs is lucrative.
That’s enough for me.
I want rugby league as a business and a community to thrive. I don’t care about the whether it’s 13, nine or 123 a side. It’s what the sport stands for that matters, not the sport itself. So I’m 110 per cent behind Nines.
As for saying it should be seven a side because that’s a better spectacle? Sevens is taken. Nines is ours. We should do something with it.
So how about we wait to see which teams are in and which teams aren’t before we start whinging?
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