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<H1>League headed to foot of class
Peter Lalor September 21, 2006
CONSTANT sexual misdemeanours and an inability to adapt means rugby league is headed for the wooden spoon in the battle for supremacy among Australia's four football codes.
Author and academic David Rowe believes the outlook for the sport is bleak and will tell its power brokers so at tonight's annual Tom Brock lecture in Sydney. The head of the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, the professor says that, despite a million dollars spent on cleaning up the league's poor sexual reputation, it is stuck in a "groundhog day" cycle of repeated indiscretions.
"Rugby league in Australia and a small number of places, then, is alive and kicking, but confronting a diminished place in the hierarchy of Australian sport," Rowe said. "It is not so much threatened with extinction as sporting subordination."
Rowe says that the league wars of last decade still haunt the code "like Banquo's ghost at a Macbeth family dinner".
He believes the game is vulnerable and points out that union, AFL and soccer are going from strength to strength.
He cites the success of the union and soccer world cups contrasting this with the "fiasco of the the rugby league World Cup in 2000".
"It is not yet a national sport, having failed to establish itself in Western and South Australia, and with the Melbourne Storm still resembling West Berlin surrounded by the rules bloc," Rowe said.
"Indeed, the last decade represents something of a retrenchment and retreat from league's forays into central and western regions. Neither has the process of consolidation been a stunning success."
Rowe contrasts the average crowd figures for league matches in August this year of 13,906 with the AFL's 31,205.
However, it is at a cultural level that Rowe believes the game struggles the most.
"It is fair to say that rugby league in Australia has in recent years gained more media coverage for all the wrong reasons than any other code," Rowe said.
"It is apparent, though, that rugby league as an institution has been slow in coming to terms with the demands placed on contemporary sport by its affluence and visibility.
"There has, then, been a limited 'bourgeoisification' and 'feminisation' of sport, not least because these processes open up rich new revenue streams for contemporary sport.
"Rugby league has been unsettled by these developments. Its larrikinism runs deep and, so, is resistant to the concerns of the disparaged 'trendies' and 'pseuds' who want to talk about racism, sexism, homophobia and other serious subjects concerned with equity and power."
Rowe says league journalists have "aided and abetted" the code in its shortcomings.
"My overall argument, clearly, is that rugby league is the most vulnerable of the football codes in Australia and the one with the slightest prospects for future prosperity," he said. "The professionalisation of rugby union, the belated rise of association football, and the enduring appeal of Australian rules football are pressures from without.
"The unedifying legacy of Super League, and recurring sexual violence and club financial scandals, are disintegrating factors from within."
However, it is not all bleak. Rowe says league's deep history, a team to be located on the Gold Coast and slight toe-hold in the Melbourne market are positives.
He believes the dream of globalisation is dead but that is not all bad.
"It is the truly unique Australian game and, so, must remain girt by sea," Rowe said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20447729-2722,00.html
</H1>
Peter Lalor September 21, 2006
CONSTANT sexual misdemeanours and an inability to adapt means rugby league is headed for the wooden spoon in the battle for supremacy among Australia's four football codes.
Author and academic David Rowe believes the outlook for the sport is bleak and will tell its power brokers so at tonight's annual Tom Brock lecture in Sydney. The head of the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, the professor says that, despite a million dollars spent on cleaning up the league's poor sexual reputation, it is stuck in a "groundhog day" cycle of repeated indiscretions.
"Rugby league in Australia and a small number of places, then, is alive and kicking, but confronting a diminished place in the hierarchy of Australian sport," Rowe said. "It is not so much threatened with extinction as sporting subordination."
Rowe says that the league wars of last decade still haunt the code "like Banquo's ghost at a Macbeth family dinner".
He believes the game is vulnerable and points out that union, AFL and soccer are going from strength to strength.
He cites the success of the union and soccer world cups contrasting this with the "fiasco of the the rugby league World Cup in 2000".
"It is not yet a national sport, having failed to establish itself in Western and South Australia, and with the Melbourne Storm still resembling West Berlin surrounded by the rules bloc," Rowe said.
"Indeed, the last decade represents something of a retrenchment and retreat from league's forays into central and western regions. Neither has the process of consolidation been a stunning success."
Rowe contrasts the average crowd figures for league matches in August this year of 13,906 with the AFL's 31,205.
However, it is at a cultural level that Rowe believes the game struggles the most.
"It is fair to say that rugby league in Australia has in recent years gained more media coverage for all the wrong reasons than any other code," Rowe said.
"It is apparent, though, that rugby league as an institution has been slow in coming to terms with the demands placed on contemporary sport by its affluence and visibility.
"There has, then, been a limited 'bourgeoisification' and 'feminisation' of sport, not least because these processes open up rich new revenue streams for contemporary sport.
"Rugby league has been unsettled by these developments. Its larrikinism runs deep and, so, is resistant to the concerns of the disparaged 'trendies' and 'pseuds' who want to talk about racism, sexism, homophobia and other serious subjects concerned with equity and power."
Rowe says league journalists have "aided and abetted" the code in its shortcomings.
"My overall argument, clearly, is that rugby league is the most vulnerable of the football codes in Australia and the one with the slightest prospects for future prosperity," he said. "The professionalisation of rugby union, the belated rise of association football, and the enduring appeal of Australian rules football are pressures from without.
"The unedifying legacy of Super League, and recurring sexual violence and club financial scandals, are disintegrating factors from within."
However, it is not all bleak. Rowe says league's deep history, a team to be located on the Gold Coast and slight toe-hold in the Melbourne market are positives.
He believes the dream of globalisation is dead but that is not all bad.
"It is the truly unique Australian game and, so, must remain girt by sea," Rowe said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20447729-2722,00.html
</H1>
