I never thought Patrick Smith had it in him...obviously told what to write by his employer??....this is what we are after isn't it? News seem to be saying they also want an independant board?!?!?
News Ltd must go
The ARL must go
Rugby League deserves the best and brightest minds to lead it into the future!
Transparency and Independance are the way of the future
___________________________________________________________
Battle of the codes
Patrick Smith | July 23, 2008
EVERYONE, it seems, is going every which way. And for very different reasons. Rugby league is going nowhere - at least in Sydney - but has plans for expansion just about everywhere else. Like Papua New Guinea.
Soccer, if it makes the World Cup in 2010, can go just about anywhere it damn well likes. For the moment, though, it is eyeing off the gold in them thar tills - the Gold Coast and western Sydney.
Rugby union just wants someone to consider it relevant after living in a collapsed scrum for the past four years. A 15th Super licence could be available for Australia so surely Melbourne is the front runner but western Sydney lures rugby union, too. The good folk of Melbourne might be a better bet for they cannot help themselves to a bit of colour and movement of any sort.
The AFL - after it takes over South Africa, Dubai and Ireland - has Tasmania up its sleeve as well as second teams in Queensland and NSW by 2012. All of this sounds very exciting and, if completed, will mean West Wyalong is the only town that does not have a national team. However, the local council, according to the Fairfax media, is considering a plan to coerce all citizens whose names begin with O' and badge them as the West Wyalong Celtics and take on anything that moves.
What is undeniable is the pressure on all sports to shore up their heartlands and win new territory because with fresh markets comes new money. It will be in the obvious form of broadcast rights but the big windfall could come from new media. Technology is exploding but it needs product to grow with it.
The code that ultimately comes out in the strongest position will not do it by chance. There are too many smart cookies involved with these sports to be tricked or befuddled into obscurity. But the sport that becomes the No1 football code will triumph because it has its administrators best placed to act quickly and independently as well as, of course, the best product.
Soccer has been given an umpteenth but finally viable chance to succeed because it established an independent body to review and rebuild the national league. Its past was put to bed and its future woken up. The AFL is run by an independent commission that controls football's critical decisions and can only be over-ruled on the most vital issues by a three-quarter majority vote of the clubs. Rugby league is not and that is why its chances of winning the expansion battle are restricted.
That rugby league survived the Super League war years suggests that ultimately pragmatic decisions can be made. More are needed. The sport simply has too many voices and not enough clarity.
In 1998 both the ARL and News Limited (publisher of The Australian agreed to establish the partnership executive committee. It is a six-person body with three appointed by the ARL and three appointed by News. Major financial decisions are the bailiwick of this committee.
The NRL itself is run by another board, again of six people with three appointed by News and three appointed by the ARL. Considering the turmoil of the Super League war, the accommodation made by the competing parties back then to establish the partnership executive committee was appropriate and timely.
But it is hardly the right structure - nor is the NRL board in its present form - to handle the challenges that now face all football codes. To win the battle for new territory you must be light on your feet, quick thinking and not weighed down by compromise.
Here is the problem. News owns the Melbourne Storm and has a share of the Broncos. The ARL can appoint people to the board who, like Nick Politis, are chairpersons of NRL clubs. Politis is the head man with the Roosters. News is also part-owner of Foxtel which carries the majority of NRL games. As well, News is entitled to $8m as a percentage of its ownership role, though it is believed that the company has left in as much as $14m to help support the competition. However, the conflict of interests with all parties is profound and intrusive.
Under that incestuous layer are more bodies of control - like the NSW Rugby League, which has 46 board members and Country Rugby League - and alongside them is the ARL, which runs the State of Origin series and the representative Kangaroos team.
To stabilise the Sydney market and broaden the national profile of the code, rugby league needs to make decisions unencumbered by club loyalties or business interests. League needs a board that is beholden to no one.
If News and the ARL remain suspicious of each other then that is understandable. But they have presumed to administer rugby league and thus have a duty to run it in the best possible manner. That means both forces must withdraw and the game be handed over to a collection of people with business acumen and football knowledge. Under them should be an administrative executive equally unfettered by past loyalties.
If truth be told, News would more than likely want to concentrate its mind and resources on other matters and club directors sort out the issues that threaten their own dunghills.
Don't doubt that there is a strategic confrontation brewing for the hearts and pockets of Australia's winter sports fans. And it is not one for old campaigners serving the same masters or new ones with old loyalties. Only independence will bring true solidarity, only selflessness will serve the greater good.
Time to bite the bullet now rather then find one firmly planted in your foot later.
___________________________________________________________
News Ltd must go
The ARL must go
Rugby League deserves the best and brightest minds to lead it into the future!
Transparency and Independance are the way of the future
___________________________________________________________
Battle of the codes
Patrick Smith | July 23, 2008
EVERYONE, it seems, is going every which way. And for very different reasons. Rugby league is going nowhere - at least in Sydney - but has plans for expansion just about everywhere else. Like Papua New Guinea.
Soccer, if it makes the World Cup in 2010, can go just about anywhere it damn well likes. For the moment, though, it is eyeing off the gold in them thar tills - the Gold Coast and western Sydney.
Rugby union just wants someone to consider it relevant after living in a collapsed scrum for the past four years. A 15th Super licence could be available for Australia so surely Melbourne is the front runner but western Sydney lures rugby union, too. The good folk of Melbourne might be a better bet for they cannot help themselves to a bit of colour and movement of any sort.
The AFL - after it takes over South Africa, Dubai and Ireland - has Tasmania up its sleeve as well as second teams in Queensland and NSW by 2012. All of this sounds very exciting and, if completed, will mean West Wyalong is the only town that does not have a national team. However, the local council, according to the Fairfax media, is considering a plan to coerce all citizens whose names begin with O' and badge them as the West Wyalong Celtics and take on anything that moves.
What is undeniable is the pressure on all sports to shore up their heartlands and win new territory because with fresh markets comes new money. It will be in the obvious form of broadcast rights but the big windfall could come from new media. Technology is exploding but it needs product to grow with it.
The code that ultimately comes out in the strongest position will not do it by chance. There are too many smart cookies involved with these sports to be tricked or befuddled into obscurity. But the sport that becomes the No1 football code will triumph because it has its administrators best placed to act quickly and independently as well as, of course, the best product.
Soccer has been given an umpteenth but finally viable chance to succeed because it established an independent body to review and rebuild the national league. Its past was put to bed and its future woken up. The AFL is run by an independent commission that controls football's critical decisions and can only be over-ruled on the most vital issues by a three-quarter majority vote of the clubs. Rugby league is not and that is why its chances of winning the expansion battle are restricted.
That rugby league survived the Super League war years suggests that ultimately pragmatic decisions can be made. More are needed. The sport simply has too many voices and not enough clarity.
In 1998 both the ARL and News Limited (publisher of The Australian agreed to establish the partnership executive committee. It is a six-person body with three appointed by the ARL and three appointed by News. Major financial decisions are the bailiwick of this committee.
The NRL itself is run by another board, again of six people with three appointed by News and three appointed by the ARL. Considering the turmoil of the Super League war, the accommodation made by the competing parties back then to establish the partnership executive committee was appropriate and timely.
But it is hardly the right structure - nor is the NRL board in its present form - to handle the challenges that now face all football codes. To win the battle for new territory you must be light on your feet, quick thinking and not weighed down by compromise.
Here is the problem. News owns the Melbourne Storm and has a share of the Broncos. The ARL can appoint people to the board who, like Nick Politis, are chairpersons of NRL clubs. Politis is the head man with the Roosters. News is also part-owner of Foxtel which carries the majority of NRL games. As well, News is entitled to $8m as a percentage of its ownership role, though it is believed that the company has left in as much as $14m to help support the competition. However, the conflict of interests with all parties is profound and intrusive.
Under that incestuous layer are more bodies of control - like the NSW Rugby League, which has 46 board members and Country Rugby League - and alongside them is the ARL, which runs the State of Origin series and the representative Kangaroos team.
To stabilise the Sydney market and broaden the national profile of the code, rugby league needs to make decisions unencumbered by club loyalties or business interests. League needs a board that is beholden to no one.
If News and the ARL remain suspicious of each other then that is understandable. But they have presumed to administer rugby league and thus have a duty to run it in the best possible manner. That means both forces must withdraw and the game be handed over to a collection of people with business acumen and football knowledge. Under them should be an administrative executive equally unfettered by past loyalties.
If truth be told, News would more than likely want to concentrate its mind and resources on other matters and club directors sort out the issues that threaten their own dunghills.
Don't doubt that there is a strategic confrontation brewing for the hearts and pockets of Australia's winter sports fans. And it is not one for old campaigners serving the same masters or new ones with old loyalties. Only independence will bring true solidarity, only selflessness will serve the greater good.
Time to bite the bullet now rather then find one firmly planted in your foot later.
___________________________________________________________
