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Joined July 2019
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The NRL this year has been excellent, arguably the best season we have seen in many years. The footy has been more open and…
Several weeks ago, ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys announced the smart and common-sense change in strategic direction of playing out of oversized stadiums and…
It is the beginning of the end for cricket in Australia. Well, at least as we all know and love it. What is more,…
Cast your mind back to 2003. The week leading up to the final of the Rugby World Cup between Australia and England. A month-long…
International rugby league is a hard sell. The difference in the profile of the game in Australia compared to the United Kingdom, New Zealand…
Season after season, month after month, rugby league finds itself in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. Last weekend, there was a…
A friend of mine who strongly opposes a promotion and relegation system for the NRL recently suggested Australia's population size is the principal reason…
It was March 1995. Rugby league boldly marched into Perth and Auckland, announced it had arrived and put the other football codes on notice.…
The Magic Round in Brisbane was a superb initiative and a wonderful success for the game. Thousands of locals along with visitors from around…
October 1, 2000. Sydney had just hosted an Olympics for the ages. Australia excelled in the medal count, taking 16 gold for fourth place…
St George Illawarra lose again and by a convincing margin. Nothing new here, next sport story! Sadly for proud and expectant Dragons fans, this…
I have many childhood memories of watching Test cricket on television and at the SCG – there's just something about the long form of…
Well folks, here we are again with the Super League competition well into the second half of its season operating under another new structure.…
But stadium redevelopments generate construction jobs, as well as create jobs in the suburbs.
For example, a redeveloped Jubilee Oval hosting matches each week would generate economic activity around the ground (pubs, restaurants) and may catalyse a refurbishment of St George’s Leagues.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
It is actually a good idea, but yes, the land for a project like this is an issue.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
I agree with this. I still think the politics will be an issue. Nothing gets built north of the bridge easily. Labor aren’t interested in the north as they can’t win seats over there. The Liberals take the north for granted.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
It has been demolished. They built Concord Oval in a terrible spot for accessibility. I don’t know what they were thinking when that nice stadium was built where it was on the most congested roads in Sydney.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
Penrith is a 40 minute drive from Parramatta! Part of the reason why we are having this conversation is that Sydneysiders don’t want to travel on the weekends to watch their teams football matches after spending all of the working week stuck in traffic.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
But would you put up with ‘clunkiness’ twelve times a year as a season ticket holder or just watch your beloved Tigers in the comfort of your home or a pub?
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
I agree 100%.
The future for the West’s Tigers is the Macarthur area.
The future for the Dragons is the Illawarra region and the South Coast.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
It is a shame that the stadium on the central coast has been wasted. The lack of use of this facility by the NRL over the years is exactly why government would be cautious in funding new stands and/or stadiums in suburban areas.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
11000 seated capacity is half of what is required for an NRL standard ground.
Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?
Jeff, your last point is spot on.
For streaming devices, the tests are also behind pay walls and young people stream more than watch TV. You have confirmed my concerns.
The blind leading the blind: Australian cricket follows Rugby Australia into oblivion
Christo the Daddyo, I should read some of yours to see what a quality article looks like…. oh that’s right, you have written none!
The blind leading the blind: Australian cricket follows Rugby Australia into oblivion
The tests are on Channel Seven, but they don’t have the rights to streaming. To stream the test matches, you have to pay for one of CA’s subscription options. Cricket is played at times when most people aren’t home, so many viewers in this day and age have to pay to watch the tests.
The blind leading the blind: Australian cricket follows Rugby Australia into oblivion
I agree with all of this. An excellent article.
Rugby doesn’t understand that the Western Sydney market is, from a strategic standpoint, the most important and dynamic market for sport in Australia.
Rugby union could be the first casualty in the war of the west
Rugby league in the United Kingdom have far bigger problems to worry about than whether their test team plays as ‘England’ or under the ‘Great Britain Lions’ brand. Their clubs are struggling for supporters, the Challenge Cup is irrelevant, not enough kids in Northern England are playing the game and the game is being trumped by rugby.
A starting point would be to choose which brand to play as and stick to it, so they can actually built brand recognition! Imagine if the All Blacks changed their name around every few years?
Why rugby league has got the Great Britain Lions all wrong
There is one in October. Bankwest Stadium.
Five changes that can grow rugby league’s global footprint
Hi Soda,
This is a good idea. I like it.
I can’t understand why we haven’t seen more NRL players from PNG come through.
Five changes that can grow rugby league’s global footprint
Hi Paul,
Regarding your questions:
1. A quota system could be a cap on the number of matches each player can play each year for their club. To be honest, I can’t see this suggestion ever getting up, but if the game really cared about player burnout, it would be an ongoing conversation.
52 players? No way! Lol. Just like the old kangaroo tours, where there would be the test team and a shadow player for each team member.
2. Both. I think both are achieved. I get that it is club football, not test football, but having the Australian brands go and play in England and possibly France promotes the international growth of the game.
3. The English and Kiwis scheduled a test in America last year (or was it 2017?) during an origin week. We already seen something similar a few weeks ago for the origin match in Perth when no club football was played and it worked really well.
4. The PNG Hunters won the QLD Cup in 2017 and there is a huge league following up there. Wellington have a history of solid rugby league crowds and they should have got their own team by now with a TV/streaming viewing audience of 840,000 for the NRL in New Zealand. Both cities have quality stadiums. It is a matter of both areas getting the green light from Todd “do nothing” Greenberg and the NRL to make this happen.
What I mean by ‘simple’ is, you wouldn’t have to promote rugby league and propogate the clubs for 20 years like the Melbourne Storm, or the Swans and Giants in the AFL. There is already an appetite. Of course there would be teething problems and growing pains but t wouldn’t be a mulit-generational project like the Storm has been.
5. The north americans bid for the 2021 World Cup and won the rights for the 2025 World Cup. They have since had the rights taken off them and a new bidding process has started. However, the crowds Toronto are getting at a dilapidated ground show that this event can work if promoted right and if underwritten by people like Eric Perez. Considering what he has achieved in such a short period of time, the RLIF could do alot worse. The game needs people like him involved and encouraged.
Five changes that can grow rugby league’s global footprint
Peter, I openly criticised the way the NRL is handling player safety at the moment. The point I was making was that this article is using rugby as a shining example of player safety when it is not.
In the Bledisloe Cup match on Saturday night, was the Wallabies player hit high sent for a HIA? Is this a protocol in rugby like it is in the NRL? I don’t recall the player hit late going off for any medical checks.
Union head and shoulders above league for player welfare
Paul,
Brisbane has one team, Sydney has nine.
More teams means less quality football. There’s not enough NRL standard players for more than 16 teams.
The tale of the NRL's two neglected cities
You make some very good points. Moylan was unconscious before he hit the ground. A high shot like Burgess’s hit has the potential to kill someone.
I am seeing more foul play creep back into league. Late hits, crusher tackles and deliberate thuggery. I never thought I would see eye-gouging return but under Greenberg’s “do nothing” leadership style it has been allowed to.
But not all is rosy in rugby. Three players in the French rugby competition have died in the last year. The very nature of their game is high risk. At least league doesn’t have rucks and mauls that resemble a free for all street fight. 120kg players charging in to the ruck with defenceless players that are static is more dangerous than anything you see in league.
Union head and shoulders above league for player welfare
Marco, I think you are comparing apples to oranges. Sydney people are very different to people in the other capital cities and the circumstances here in Sydney are completely different to Perth.
Look at the attendances for ALL sporting teams across ALL codes in Sydney for evening games.
People don’t like going to football at night and don’t want to leave their suburbs on the weekends. There is also the cost of living here as well, which compounds the issue.
The tale of the NRL's two neglected cities
Seriously, how on Earth can anybody compare the benefits of a new team in Perth or Ipswich/Logan to a new club in Gosford?
Central Coast: 300,000 approx
Perth: 1.5 million approx
Brisbane: 2 million approx
Central Coast fans shouldn’t have to grin and Bear it
Mbp,
This proposal would be absolutely disastrous! People would leave the game in Sydney in droves.
Two teams in Auckland and Melbourne? You serious?
The game would just be making the same mistakes it made trying to merge and relocate teams during the Superleague war.
The tale of the NRL's two neglected cities
And what wasn’t mentioned was the number of Souths fans at the game. Most likely drove up the F3.
The tale of the NRL's two neglected cities
This whole debate is based on hypotheticals. The NRL clubs won’t allow players to go on regular tours and play two tournaments in a four year cycle.
What is the future of International Rugby League?