https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sp...raises-serious-questions-20200410-p54iwy.html
Bloody hell! Talk about a kick in the teeth. In the global history of sport, does anyone recall a broadcaster giving the administrators of the main game it puts to air such a public bashing? Channel Nine didn’t miss the NRL with the statement it released on Thursday afternoon and if you will hold them still for a moment, I’ll give it a quick burst.
“This health crisis,” a Nine spokesperson said, clearly with the imprimatur of the Nine CEO Hugh Marks, “has highlighted the mismanagement of the code over many years. Nine has invested hundreds of millions in this game over decades and we now find they have profoundly wasted those funds with very little to fall back on to support the clubs, the players and supporters. In the past the NRL have had problems and we’ve bailed them out many times ...”
As to suddenly announcing the start of the whole NRL comp again at the end of May, that’s easy. No. I tell you nothing you don’t know in saying it is so totally against the government’s diktats that it ... takes the breath away. But do consider that we are in a week where police are patrolling beaches, insisting the public stay home or face heavy fines.
But it’s OK to train, cheek by jowl by towel with another 30 players in your squad?
We are in a week where
a NSW government minister is fined $1000 for travelling between his Sydney base and his Central Coast holiday home, as the official government position is that this behaviour puts the public at risk.
But no problem with players travelling to and from training and crossing state and international lines for games?
We are in a week where the most important institution in the country, the Federal Parliament, meets at only half-strength because it is important not only that they stay safe, 1.5 metres apart, but are seen to stay safe, setting the example for the rest of us.
But, full-on rugby league, wrestling, tackling, spraying sweat and bursting breath all over each other as the cameras roll? Great idea!
We are in a week, where families across the country are split up, and are frequently conversing between glass, or on FaceTime, for safety’s sake.
But the NRL wants government and public blessing to have its players train and play, and go back to their own families.
Friends, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
True, the Deputy Premier John Barilaro has made risible blandishments that “the NRL is the tonic we need to get through this virus,” but for that comment and $5 you can maybe get a cappuccino.
So let’s look to the Prime Minister and the Premier. In recent weeks both have been strong in setting the tone on this, in underlining the gravity of what is at stake. If they allow this to go ahead now – which will obviously include full-on training now, not in seven weeks time – it is not just their credibility in insisting on social distancing that will be shot to pieces.
If they start up rugby league again now, while the rest of us are in veritable lock-down, it will be a blackening of the league brand they will take years to overcome.
Yes, yes, yes – I get that this is all seven weeks away, that things will hopefully have settled down by then. But if that is the government’s view, can all businesses be told and given the green light to get their crews tightly together in preparation for re-opening at the end of May?
And another thing
But the NRL has medical advice on this you say? From
who specifically?
Why can I see dozens of medical professionals put their names and professional standing behind the notion that public safety demands we all stay 1.5 metres apart, while the only biosecurity experts backing the league in the public domain are anonymous? When Peter V’landys opened the competition at the start of the season it was, he told us, because the NRL's expert said it was safe. He then shut it down because the league's expert said it was not safe. Both times, by his own account, her word was law and we the public had to trust her expertise.
NRL set to return on May 28
Nine's Neil Breen has the latest from the NRL and their plans to resume in late May.
That might just pass muster if that was still the case. But now the NRL has moved on from her and found another expert to rely on, because the former expert was not on board with starting up again.
Get it?
You can’t veritably say “Trust Professor X, because she knows more about it than any of us,” and then say “We have moved on from Professor X, because we were not happy with her advice.”
As for that other virus
Dear TFF, writes Tom Chapman:
Just a thought on the opportunities that may arise with a societal reset on the cards with coronavirus ... If sport is able to rebuild post-COVID we as a society shouldn't let gambling, a toxic family wrecking virus, anywhere near it.
This also goes for pokies and casinos. This is our opportunity for a societal reset on gambling.
Just a thought. Looking for a silver lining.
