If only it was like this all the team but still good effort for the 3 games and it's nice to put the finger up to the A-League lot and so-called RL writer's.
That's the thing teddy, when RL first really took off in the 80's, just as it was about to peak in the mid 90's, it was chopped off at the knees in it's original Australian heartland!
Rugby League on and off the field is a tough bloody sport, $1.3b or there abouts after all the crap of the last 15 years, tell em the're dreaming!
You are right about Rugby League as a tough sport on and off the field as I don't know how many other codes have had hits off the field and still survived and even prospered.
I know iam quick to be doom and gloom but go back up and hit a high when I see great crowds this weekend and previous.
The only thing I wish the NRL/SL could do is bring some nice v neck jerseys back;-).
Very good Teddy.
Now shut up.
Too many teams in Sydney.
The records keep tumbling..
This is true. However, it is worth noting that the NRL today is a different organisation to the one that Gallop was CEO of, and if you are going to judge his legacy, it is only fair to recognise that there were very real constraints to how he was able to exercise his power.
And under those circumstances, he took the game from one that was constantly on the ropes to one that by about 2009/2010 stopped being considered a joke and started to gain some self-confidence and started to boom again.
<rant>After living through: Super league has killed the game, AFL is going to kill the game, the Rugby World Cup is going to kill the game, the Socceroos World Cup qualificiation is going to kill the game... etc etc, it is good to be back out there on the front foot. I remember an article in the Courier-Mail back in 2003 that interviewed some nuffy PE teacher in Logan who said that he wanted to bring in Rugby because rugby league wouldn't exist in 18 months time. Around the same time, I remember a colleague who said to me that I needed to follow the Lions for pretty much the same reason.</rant>
Gallop was always fairly negative towards the game but to be fair to him he didn't have the money to promote games. I've seen more ads for games this year than the last five and your kidding yourself if you think it doesn't make a difference. I also think there's a much more positive vibe about the game since the IC took over despite News trying to deathride us at every opportunity.
I'm just not sure how much of this was because of Gallop. I agree that the perception of our game had gotten quite poor but it didn't help that our CEO would talk down our game and talk up our competitors whenever he got the chance.
He did oversee the TV deal that saw our game get screwed over and massively under payed.
& that is because gallop undersold our game .This is true. However, it is worth noting that the NRL today is a different organisation to the one that Gallop was CEO of, and if you are going to judge his legacy, it is only fair to recognise that there were very real constraints to how he was able to exercise his power.
& that is because gallop undersold our game .
Every constraint due to lack of $$$ can be laid at the feet of Gallop.
Will the DT bag out the GWS crowd in tomorrow's paper? Anything over 4K would be a made up figure