Had a look but came up empty. However, I did stumble across something interesting in the form of a recently presented paper entitled: "Playing by the rules: an historical study of Queensland Rugby Leagues annual reports". .
http://www.afaanz.org/openconf/2011...ings&action=view.php&a=Accept+as+Paper&id=283
Some nuggets:
- "The code continually suffered public mockery from Rugby Union elitists in the early twentieth century, with QRL successfully defending itself from three attempts at secession by that code (QRL, 1929), to continue on to its present successful status in the highly competitive sports industry." (at 8)
- "A particular challenge at that time was the threat of Rugby Union, culminating in an
Attempt at secession in 1929 (QRL, 1929, p. 7). The QRL Committee responded to this
attempt by stating in its Annual Report (QRL, 1929, p. 7) that it would be able to weather
these temporary discomfitures since the merit of our code has been proven so many times
since the humble and small start of the League in 1908. (at 17)
- "The ARL is the governing body of Rugby League in Australia (ARL, 2010), receiving
approximately $8 million annually from the NRL, and distributing this to the Rugby League
governing bodies in Queensland (QRL), NSW (NSWRL) and other state Leagues to assist
with their operations (Badel, 2008). The fiercely competitive and highly publicised matches
in the State of Origin series began in 1980, and are arranged by the ARL, with teams fielded
by NSWRL and QRL. QRL collects sponsorship fees from the matches, and these are
distributed to the various Queensland divisions in the form of grants. However, revenue
generated from the legendary matches in the form of marketing, television rights, gate
receipts and sponsorships is received by the ARL and NRL." (at 10) (Doesn't really elaborate on what you already knew unfortunately)
