Rugby league is an essential service. Is watching a game of league going to cure coronavirus like another essential services such as healthcare? No.
But there’s something within every footy fan right now that’s missing. A hole has emerged, and rugby league needs to fill it. By looking directly at the issue, it is easy for critics to say no games should be played. However, by taking the slightest step to the left, you just might find that the positives greatly outweigh the potential negatives.
By taking a more holistic view of this issue, it is clear that playing rugby league in a safe environment during this virus is of large benefit to every stakeholder.
The passion of the fans of our great game is unrivalled. We might not have great attendance to games sometimes, but the support for footy in general throughout Sydney is widespread. Almost any local you talk to at least follows a team, and anyone who says the biggest game in Sydney is something other than rugby league is kidding themselves.
Outside of Sydney, country NSW as well as all of Queensland, Storm fans in Melbourne and Warriors fans all dearly love their clubs and await the return of games. To say watching footy again might return some meaning to life might seem like a bit of a long bow, but this period of isolation has shown how much those games, news, jokes and even the rugby league tipping banter really means to the fans.
By bringing rugby league back, we can bring back that special meaning to people’s lives and draw closer as a community to get through this virus. Following on from this, footy makes people happy. The constant news of sickness, death and pain is sure to have a detrimental psychological effect on many people who are constantly exposed to it.
Rugby league can serve as the shining light for our society; something to look forward to for our community, who are collectively doing it tough. On a weekly basis, us battlers work hard knowing full well that at the end of a tough week we can come home, relax and watch our club play. Why should it be any different now? We’re still battling, perhaps even harder than normal.
The NRL is already in some serious financial trouble and without some form of 2020 competition, it seems the game might be out of business. Obviously, getting a season of some sort – even if it’s modified – is important. As well as this, if the NRL were to be the only sports league playing in Australia, the game would open itself to a range of new viewers who need their sports fix.
Even better than that is the possible global market rugby league could attract in the absence of any other major sporting competitions being played. We saw during Round 2 that while many other codes across the globe experienced postponement due to the virus, social media users went wild over NRL games. This possible expansion in viewership, especially from the American market that currently has barely any exposure to the code, can only be seen as good for our great game.
By no means am I saying that the safety and health of our players should be put at risk just to get our game back up and running. The players’ safety should always be prioritised in every situation.
But with the NRL innovations committee already trying to find possible solutions, surely this scenario can’t be too far off. For over 100 years, those who have come before us have battled for their chance to watch the footy. In many ways, rugby league is a great analogy for the world we live in.
Supporting your team even when it feels like all hope is lost and eventually having the ball fall your way. This is what we live for, at the footy and elsewhere in life. So please, someone, bring the footy back. We need it now more than ever.
Angela
Roar Rookie
Is any professional sport an essential service? Ask anyone working on the frontline, no it's not. It's a diversion, it's entertainment, it's potentially a big money-earner. Is it any more important than opera, the SSO, the movies, the theatre. Is the fate of professional sportspeople more dire than those who've died, lost their businesses, lost their jobs, kicked out of their accommodation? Get a grip and move out of your bubble.
c
Roar Rookie
the title of this article brought tears to my eyes :laughing:
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
How do you get these figures? The nrl averages 3 million viewers weekly. That’s a fact.
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Who’s arguing?
mushi
Roar Guru
Rock bottom: AFL and NRL fans arguing the global importance of their respective sports ignorant of the irony.
mushi
Roar Guru
Cruise ships are docking? Please list the ones that docked today? Yesterday? Or are you blame shaming isolated events to cover your own stupidity
Micko
Roar Rookie
ANOTHER Paul Kelly! :silly:
Lochlan Prentice
Roar Rookie
No doubt, The AFL does the crowds, grassroots, clubs and almost every aspect of the game better than the NRL in terms of management. Moving back towards my initial points though, my theory was more in regards to why the NRL should return
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
And yet, there's the AFL with the 4th highest average game attendance in the world. I'm not a fan of Aussie Rules at all but if you compare the two fan bases, in the same country, there is almost no comparison. And not all the teams are in Melbourne so the old chestnut "there's nothing to do in Melbourne" doesn't wash. I'm missing watching my NRL team as much as the next person but I'm not convinced it is any way an essential service.
Lochlan Prentice
Roar Rookie
Simply the fact that the Australian population is minuscule compared to the other countries leagues that zonecadet was referring to eg, USA, England, Germany etc.
Ball Burster
Roar Rookie
Can you provide some proof that youse are "...punching well above our weight..."?
Lochlan Prentice
Roar Rookie
Hey mate, thanks for reading. If you're measuring passion by game attendance, which is not necessarily the case. Elderly fans, regional supporters or those who just can't make it arent passionate under your definition. Additionally, compared to our population, both as a nation and the city of Sydney in particular, I'd say were punching well above our weight, even with the large drop in physical attendance seen in the last decade or so.
Kurt
Guest
Extremely well said.
Ball Burster
Roar Rookie
The NRL seems to have confused wishful thinking with innovation. The NRL also has a rather tenuous grasp of it's place in the great order of things. As the Commonwealth deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly says: “I don’t think they are a law unto themselves. Some of the players and coaches may think so, but they’re part of society and they have a part – as we have all done – to support not only safety for themselves but for all of us."
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
"The passion of the fans of our great game is unrivalled. We might not have great attendance to games sometimes...", Love how the second sentence contradicts the first. The NRL is ranked about 25th in the World for attendances so perhaps not quite the most passionate fans eh? Combining average ground attendance with average TV viewership puts the NRL at about 700,000 to 1,000,000 (i'm allowing for each 'viewer' counted as watching either Fox or Nine as possibly having someone else watching too) 'fans' each week. That's 1 in 26 Australians. I'd argue that's prrof it doesn't matter to a lot of the country.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
No apology required Rob. These are stressful times for all. You and I both want exactly the same thing , we just look at the issues a little differently. I saw some green shoots in our early games so bring it on.
Mitcher
Guest
No, no it doesn’t. The curve is flattening because less people are getting infected each day.
Lochlan Prentice
Roar Rookie
Thanks Philip, I think the NRL already has measures in place regarding player and staff safety, whether that be testing, screening, isolating or something else to ensure no player or staff is infected, given that they have announced a return date already. This, of course, would have to be given government approval, and given the news is public, I'd say that this has most likely occurred. By no means am I saying that Rugby League is the first choice for the world audience when they get home on a Friday evening, but in the absence of any other sport, a foreign game of big hits (with no pads) and good skills is better than nothing.
Lochlan Prentice
Roar Rookie
If none of the players is sick, then their contact can't possibly make each other sick?
Rob
Guest
It's weird Adam and not nice she is having her normal work life effected but hopefully she won't be getting a call up for other tasks if things go bad.