Existing RL fans - no. Potential RL fans - real danger. When do Union, AFL or soccer give us a free weekend?
RL is a success largely because the ruling body (be it NRL, ARL, NSWRL, CRL, QRL or whoever) has provided wall to wall top shelf sport in greater saturation than anyone else in population centres from Group 20, Group 9 and Group 16 all the way up to Cape York and the Gulf Country. This has been boosted by a mid season rep calendar (once 3 test series againt GB, France and NZ, now C v C and Origin) and culminating in the final series which generally supplies some of Australia's greatest sporting moments - now thankfully including NZ and the little fort built out of piles of contracts in Melbourne. All capped off by a once bi-annual 5 test tour of the northern nations, now an annual series.
No matter what happened with Union, soccer or AR, the constant League presence has dominated since pre WWI. It's closest threats have been mid season Union test series which have been well hyped - you get that when a rival sports pinnacle coincides between your peaks.
This weekend, our game did not produce the normal amount of news items or events to cover as usual. Not only that, but the home and away pattern was interrupted. I remember times when for some reason there was no NRL games in Sydney on a Sunday - because of games in Brisbane, Townsville, Newcastle, Auckland, Canberra, Gold Coast or Melbourne. In these times the match schedulers copped the blowtorch of criticism.
I take my hat off to Queenslanders this week -the fact that their teams were suspended from playing to accommodate a NSW only affair has hardly been mentioned (yes, they might be thick lol). At least the Kiwis got a test. Melbournes constant struggle to keep 14000 locals onside in he face of the AFL onslaught was surely hobbled - ditto the Raiders battle against the Brumbies.
GWS got it's first weekend as the sole football team representing Western Sydney too. When Kelvin Sneezby proclaimed that a few years ago, he looked like the biggest village idiot of all time. How ironic that in this 'battle' for Western Sydney, the NRL made it come true for them. It's a bit like the Red Army giving the Wermacht the keys to the city of Stalingrad, a ticker tape parade, and a f*cking cake!!!!!!!
If the AFL wasnt such a f*cked sport run by egotistical spastics, they would have scheduled a GWS home game at ANZ and handed out free passes all over the place. The NRL left the front door open and are f*cking lucky that the plasma, the jewellery and the Motorhead boxed set aint been pinched.
