The NRL has enough problems without media-manufactured crises

I was all set to write a completely different article this week when a column piece in a Sydney newspaper penned by rugby league reporter Danny Weidler popped up. It made me agitated and immediately motivated to reply.

It’s the perfect time for an opinion piece right? When you are a tad hot under the collar.

The offending headline and column contained an assertion that television viewing figures (552,000) for the Australian Indigenous versus New Zealand Maori All Stars game should send shockwaves through the NRL. Apparently, there was a drop of 23 per cent on the number of people that viewed the All Stars game the last time it was played two years ago.

In the same column Weidler went on to say that the NRL had lost 160,000 fans during the off-season but it is perhaps too early to blame this all on the much discussed player misbehaviour off season from hell.

Are we being serious here? This was essentially an exhibition game reinstated to the pre-season calendar under a new format (the Maori replaced the NRL All Stars) after a one year hiatus and we are saying NRL fans are leaving in droves because the TV ratings are down!

The season starts in March. If crowds and TV ratings have significantly decreased after six rounds – which is highly doubtful – then the NRL has a problem.

How about we talk about the almost 19,000-strong crowd that turned up for the All Stars game in Melbourne? Or close to 6,000 fans at a trial match the following week in Geelong?

Rugby league has embraced an Indigenous team. (Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

The Titans vs Cowboys trial match attracted a record crowd of over 10,000 punters on the Sunshine Coast on the weekend.

Are these indicators of impending crowd number increases at NRL games? I think not. Trials both on and off the field give little indication of how a season will pan out.

Rugby league journalists will tell you they are not here to be cheerleaders of the sport. The clubs employ their own PR and media staff to fill that role.

It is true that rugby league players cough up a steady stream of juicy and sometimes ghastly material for any news outlet looking for the next back page game in crisis headline.

It is also true that no other sport has a core group of mainstream media quite so ready and eager to paint the next tale of woe around crowds, television ratings, quality of referees, poor central administration and lack of vision.

Their argument is people are clicking on the stories and reading them so they are in fact providing their readers with what the stories they like to consume.

Rugby league has always been the beaten dog of the major sporting codes. Criticised for being simple, one dimensional, thuggish and lacking a real international presence by fans from other codes, we also have to live with our own media sinking the boot in.

They almost scream with delight when crowds and ratings are down, taking the ‘we told you so NRL CEO Todd Greenberg’ position at the drop of a hat.

Media sinking the slipper into our sport has become as synonymous with rugby league as a player posting a ‘yeah the boys’ victory shout out or a coach that laments ‘it was not the result we were looking for’ after a loss.

As fans of the game, perhaps we have been conditioned to expect negative headlines.

There is an influential group of Sydney journalists – we all know who they are – that lurch from one damming headline to another, using rugby league and its personalities as a lure to engage punters in stories that are often exaggerated and at times farfetched.

Last season the NRL experienced increases in crowds, memberships and television viewing figures.

Off-field player incidents have been an ongoing issue for the NRL. The problems unfortunately go well beyond the current pre-season.

There is much to be excited about as we draw close to the start of the 2019 NRL season.

The NRL regional centres initiative will see competition games played in Mudgee, Wagga and the Sunshine Coast while Bathurst and Tamworth will get to enjoy a top level game again in 2019.

There is no doubt the women’s game will continue to develop and grow with a repeat of the successful NRL women’s premiership and State of Origin match in 2019. The Jillaroos will play the Kiwis in a double header while participation is set to increase at the community and state levels.

Caitlin Moran of the Jillaroos (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

The brand new 30,000 seater Western Sydney Stadium (Bankwest) will begin its rugby league life with a sell-out clash between the Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers.

There should be no issue with the media holding a sport to account, questioning the actions of players, officials and administrators. After all that is the job.

When stories appear contrived and filled with doom, gloom and unnecessary pessimism then it is up to the supporters and sponsors to question the motives of certain news outlets.

Let’s tell it like it is, expose the truth and lies within our sport, highlighting the good and bad aspects along the way.

What we don’t need to endure is a pre-planned media bash up of our sport that starts in February and never stops for air.