In 2019, the tectonic plates of rugby league are grinding against each other. Perhaps it should result in the creation of a new landmass?
In Australia, an evolutionary process which was frozen by the future shock of the Super League War more than 20 years ago is finally showing signs of picking up where Ken Arthurson and John Quayle left off that momentous Sunday morning of March 12, 1995.
On the day of the Western Reds’ first game, at Kings Park overlooking the city, they were forced to answer questions about rumours of a Super League that had broken in the Sydney press that morning.
The ARL chairman and chief executive had admitted four new teams and were prepared to let the existing teams in Sydney sink or swim.
But the rivers of cash invested in the game by a battle over the introduction of pay TV put everything out of whack. When News got their TV rights and the competition was stuck back together, everyone was so preoccupied with winning back existing fans that they daren’t suggest anything new and radical.
A generation-long coma now appears to be drawing to a close though; the people who snickered at the word ‘vision’ are not involved in the sport anymore.
We’re back where we were before Michael O’Connor climbed through that window in Townsville to sign players.
In Britain, the shock of the new is more recent. Expansion for Super League has not opened up new territories for television or sponsorship.
The loss of an estimated £800,000 because Catalans made (and then won) last year’s Challenge Cup final has the existing clubs along the M62 motorway panicking at the possibility of next year’s competition involving London, Catalans and Toronto.
Catalans Dragons celebrate (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)
And the idea of Ottawa and New York being admitted to the lower divisions, giving them a shot at the top tier too, is even more horrifying to some.
Their TV deal is up soon and not guaranteed to be renewed at all. As there is no TV money from France or Canada, many English clubs can only see disaster at what the expansionists are excited about.
Expansion isn’t good if you’re not set up to gain any advantage. Super League isn’t. If you’ve no TV money and fewer away fans, you’re stuffed.
The crucial error was not insisting that Toronto owner David Argyle take a cut of their TV money from the get-go – that way, they would have all got an even split of future North American rights, the way the NRL gets all the money from Sky New Zealand and the Warriors just get the same share as everyone else.
But that would require some foresight and a sport that isn’t keeping the debt collector at bay on an hourly basis.
New York and Ottawa are exciting for rugby league but are they exciting for the owners of League 1 clubs who will decide their fate? Part-timers required to take half a week off work, perhaps not get their visas in time, and get flogged by full-time squads full of former NRL players?
Likewise, Super League clubs who fear a Toronto team that will be great on the field next year but bring no fans can simply make ridiculous demands of the Wolfpack in exchange for admission to their competition next year.
Don’t drop your partner; treat them so badly they drop you.
We already know that works: ask them for £500,000 to compete in the Challenge Cup, they’ll refuse to pay and you can kick them out. So in 2020, business class airfares? Four nights in five-star accommodation? Even deep pockets aren’t bottomless.
Super League could just as easily go back into its shell over the next few years as spread its wings.
In fact, a dispassionate assessment of the situation would indicate the tortoise impersonation is more likely, given the clubs are running things and clubs always act in self-interest.
What then? What if we are left with Toronto and New York and Ottawa and Manchester Rangers and… Let’s throw in West Coast Pirates, North Sydney Bears, and switch to fish too big for their local pond, like Red Star Belgrade and Toulouse if they are also treated shoddily in a ‘SLexit’. Amsterdam Cobras have these sorts of ambitions too.
Bring back the Bears? (Photo by Getty Images)
The game should take a leaf out of two books: rugby union’s proposed World League and cricket’s IPL.
Put these teams in a six-week league that runs during the NRL and Super League pre-seasons. It would sit, structurally, above Super League and the NRL. The standard would be much lower but if it’s competitive, that wouldn’t matter.
Yes, it’s cold in America at that time of year. But the RLIF could run this without stepping on anyone’s toes. The teams could still go back and play in their domestic competitions afterwards but we would have a new property that could be sold to TV, private promoters and sponsors like the IPL.
Gradually, the number of North American teams could increase and other overseas sides would drop out. It would move to later in the year, and eventually become that American league we’ve been trying to run for decades.
These clubs have shown a willingness to do things out of the box. Their wages bills would be much, much lower than a full-time pro team due to the shortened season, and it could be done right through the front door of the game’s international governing body.
People with money want to put it into our sport. Just because our domestic competitions are two riven with self-interest and cursed by history doesn’t mean we shouldn’t find a way to take that money.
westernred
Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and make a decision RL has been talking expansion for 30 years. Just do it. The AFL did. The irony is never lost on me: we have a game based on fearlessness run by people too petrified to make a mistake.
Ghost Crayfish
Roar Pro
Dave Smith had the ability to carry the game forward and all the usual self-interested Sydney footy personalities (including journos, ex-players and administrators) forced him out. But that said, I think some of the talk around the game in Australia right now is ridiculously pessimistic. At the top level at least, we're actually back to an early 90s level of health, and in a good position to explore expansion and everything else right now - which they are doing! With the improved strength of the Pacific Islands and the World 9s emerging as another big event, Test footy is also at a point where it could become quite strong. I think the game here is in a great position to take the next step - just as it was pre Super League war. The game in the UK is another matter...the RFL are an embarrassment, and the game seems to be struggling. That can easily be turned around though - the England team is stronger than ever in my lifetime, and a big Ashes series in 2020, followed by a big RLWC in 2021 will generate huge momentum. At SL level, Toronto presents enormous opportunity - if they go to 14 clubs, guarantee expansion licences in London, France (x2) and Toronto, they'll have a good footprint for international sponsors, and the chance to build up even modest TV deals from France and North America. Of course, this stuff requires good admin - the RFL do not provide it, but the new SL CEO seems to offer more hope.
AE47
Roar Rookie
Ad-O who at the NRL has a “history “ of leading a multi billion dollar sport ?
AE47
Roar Rookie
JT hasn’t grown the game Alan tongue ? ( men’s health) Cliff Lyons ( bush footy) Ricky Stuart ( work with vulnerable peopl) Toovey (accounting) There are many , to many and it would be a better NRL if those who understood it ran it
Ad-O
Guest
The reason the game is in this backward position is there are already too many ex-players and coaches involved in management. A track record of leading a multi-billion dollar sporting organisation is surely a better indicator of success than the fact you used to be really good at playing.
Ad-O
Guest
The expansion argument in Australia is ridiculous, not just RL but every sport. This idea that you can just plonk a franchise down in an area because TV thinks it has the demographics to be sustainable has been proven wrong time after time after time. Even the NFL, with their limitless funds, only put a team in a city where the interest is already there. If you don't have a thriving regional comp that spectators are willing to attend, you don't have big junior numbers, and you don't have a history and culture for the game, you simply don't deserve to be represented by a team at the highest level. Admin should save themselves the time and money.
AE47
Roar Rookie
Yep ! You summed up everything wrong with current management
Tony Monero
Guest
Further to my comment on a similar topic a few weeks ago as to who might be able to fund and broadcast such a league as proposed by Steve.. I have read in recent days that Murdoch’s sale of Fox to Disney has gone through making all of his kids instant billionaires, surely they’ll reinvest into something and I’m pretty sure Lachlan at least is a league fan and also think he is in Australia at the moment. Now if there was ever to be a super league, it would be an intercontinental competition. Let’s pitch to him, he might have a few bob spare and he would own networks in every market teams would hail from. I can only imagine the shudder by some who witnessed the events of 1995, but it’s there for the picking once more.
AE47
Roar Rookie
And who in the NRL knows money? If you don’t know your history you don’t know your tradition , if you don’t know your tradition you can’t move forward, you like “entertainment” it’s obvious, I like sport and with it comes history and tradition
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hello there AE47. I am not too fussed the person running the game didn’t know a passionate fan died awhile ago. (Yes it was dumb and a bad look) Unless you watched the game, I don’t think young fans of other teams would know. I don’t care that my accountant doesn’t understand how to tune a car if I am a mechanic. I want him to know ‘money’ and be a cracker in that area.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Another timely and well written article. I hope others don't share my view as I would like to see the sport realise the potential it has but... I've given up on league in Australia and will probably give up on it in the UK too if the provincial types get their way.
Tony Monero
Guest
Top idea. Love it. It’s the future. The sooner you get into administration the better Steve. Like you mentioned, there are people with money and ideas that want to put them into League and they can’t just ignore them because of self-interest.
AE47
Roar Rookie
Know footy ? Really ! One of them wouldn’t know a basketball from a football
Bearfax
Roar Guru
You got one thing right and that is that the game froze with SuperLeague and has still not recovered in Australia. In fact with the present administration I fear the game will lose premier status in NSW within a decade. There's nothing wrong with expansion if you have the right people in charge. At present we don't. Just look at Australian Rules. They are looking at teams in Hobart, Canberra and Darwin. No fear there and they don't have to relocate Melbourne teams to do it. They've relocated only twice, but they still have as many Melbourne sides as Rugby League has Sydney sides. Its all in how the game is run. Like being serious about junior and country league, something our incompetents at the top have failed dreadfully to achieve. Kids are walking away from the game in droves. The NRL admin sits on its hands and worries about salary cap breaches while some teams have hundreds of thousands extra through the joke that is TPA, so they can have an extra two or three top liners more than other clubs. Get rid of the NRL admin group, stop News Ltd interference and start again.
DNZ
Guest
Those guys know footy, not growing the game or running a big business though. This isn't a local comp anymore, it is a billion dollar industry. Like it or not, the accountants/lawyers are here to stay because the majority of people in the community have absolutely no idea what such a business entails and how to ensure they don't lose market share to competitors like the AFL (who have come to dominate the sporting landscape over the last 30 years).
Meatpy Sausageraul
Roar Rookie
New comp(s) for new teams is an interesting proposal, Steve – and certainly better than the haphazard structure we’re sleepwalking into right now. That said, Union’s World League concept appears to be struggling to get traction with players and fans; and as far as I know, IPL doesn’t drive investment in cricket outside of India. Though I don’t know enough about it. Foresight – as you point out – is the key here. If the powerbrokers running the game on either side of the globe, and the too often shortsighted club owners in the NRL and Super League, could put aside the self-serving attitudes, keep our best people and best minds in the game, and put in place a long term strategy for growth, then Rugby League can equip itself to capitalise on new opportunities that would be to the benefit of all. Too simplistic? Pie in the sky? …or just maybe the most blindingly obvious first step towards a solution?
AE47
Roar Rookie
Look, jokes aside most fans have a big issue with this, and I can tell you why Rugby League doesn’t have the right leadership at present to take it into the future it’s that simple. There are many great retired players/refs/coaches and add some long time members who should have a say! Not accountants / lawyers or washed up politicians