The NRL is poised to embark on the code’s most advanced infiltration of New Zealand rugby union with an investment plan that will be targeted at schools and culminate with a second team across the Tasman.
The battle plan to break rugby union’s stranglehold at a grassroots and professional level in New Zealand has been formed during a period of record crowds and TV ratings for the Warriors.
Warriors fever has gripped New Zealand, with Sunday’s match against the Dolphins in Auckland the club’s ninth consecutive sold-out home game.
The NRL has a range of reasons to take advantage of this opportunity, including:
- The push to include a second New Zealand NRL team via expansion;
- The tactics of New Zealand rugby schools to discourage students from taking up opportunities with the Warriors; and
- The threat of a civil war at the highest level in New Zealand rugby union.
The Sunday Telegraph has obtained the strategic plan which was designed by Warriors CEO Cameron George and presented to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo last week.
It outlines the game’s focus to become the ‘premier sport’ by making New Zealand a breeding ground for NRL talent for the next 50 years.
It also details an action, strategy and investment plan that George believes will change the entire landscape of rugby league in New Zealand, and benefit all 17 clubs.
“We’re doing our job to fly the flag for the NRL and all the other clubs,’’ George said of the Warriors’ bid to embed rugby league into New Zealand.
“So it’s time. That’s why I went over to see Andrew Abdo. “It’s just so unique that the ARL Commission and Peter V’landys can use our brand and our vehicle to grow the overall game for its future.
“I believe every other club would genuinely support the plan because it’s not like we (Warriors) can take every player. “But what we can do is encourage every young kid and every potential coach to play rugby league.”
SCHOOL WORK
As it stands, the NRL doesn’t have a single schoolboy or girl competition, program or even an ambassador that runs junior boys and girls clinics in New Zealand.
The Warriors and the NZRL have largely been in charge of the game’s growth to this point.
Under the new plan, the NRL would invest like never before in grassroots and the school systems.
“This is about growing the entire NRL foundation in New Zealand over the next five, 10, 15 to 20 years,” George said. “The more kids we can have playing rugby league in New Zealand, the more kids that will eventually be playing in the NRL.
“The schoolboy competition that I’m vigorously chasing, through funding domestically and also the NRL, is that any number of schools will participate in it, so that when a Pacific Island expansion strategy is put in place, the investment in the school systems and programs in New Zealand will be a very big answer to what they’re trying to achieve.” Abdo confirmed the ARL Commission’s intent.
“We want to see more boys and girls in New Zealand aspiring to be NRL and NRLW players, and the Commission is working with the Warriors and all stakeholders to create an aggressive investment plan for New Zealand grassroots,” Abdo said.
CASE STUDY
George said that Melbourne Storm backrower Eliesa Katoa was the perfect example of an NRL player who could have been lost to rugby union because rugby league doesn’t have a presence at a schoolboy level.
“Eli Katoa is currently playing for Melbourne and originally comes from Tonga, but goes to Auckland for school, where he has to go to a rugby union college,” George said.
“But if we change tack, a player like Eli can come here (Auckland) and play rugby league at the elite level in the schoolboy system.
“Most of the kids, if not all of the kids (from the Pacific Islands) are coming here to play rugby union and then we’re taking them from rugby union, and then we’ve got to put them back into a rugby league system which takes them a few years to get going.
“If we’ve got 10 to 15 schools participating in a program dedicated to rugby league, we’re getting those teenagers from Samoa and Tonga straight into the system.
“Then what happens, because they’re in the system, they stay in their most comfortable lifestyle for longer, and stay in the game for longer, rather than getting taken to Australia at such a young age and then spat out because they had to leave home to join a dedicated rugby league program.”
ALL BLACKS
The NRL’s action plan is never more timely. According to reports last week, rugby in New Zealand is on the brink of civil war over a dispute between the country’s leading players and the NZR.
Despite the increasing tension at the highest level of rugby in New Zealand, George said this wasn’t about trying to usurp the might and power of the All Blacks in a country that treats the national rugby union team like a religion.
“The All Blacks and the Kiwis are the pinnacle of our two sports in New Zealand,” George said.
“We should always hold them in high regard because they represent our country. We do respect the All Blacks.
“But in a day-to-day retail market, where we’re playing week in and week out against rugby union, then well, we (NRL) should want to be the best choice for participation, engagement and attendance.”
SECOND NZ TEAM
The NRL is in the process of deciding whether to support a government-backed scheme to expand the competition into Papua New Guinea.
Many fans and media commentators, on the back of the Warriors’ success, believes New Zealand should be afforded a second team.
However, George said it would be premature to add another team across the Tasman without the NRL taking up a long-term strategy and investing in the grassroots and school system.
“You would not survive with a second New Zealand team right now,” George said.
“But in 10 years’ time you’re going to have more kids playing rugby league in New Zealand which is going to provide more rugby league talent to the game, which clearly answers the game’s expansion questions.”
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YES, PRIME MINISTER
The Warriors pathways system is being blocked by the tactics of rugby schools in New Zealand, which have been known to discourage students from taking up opportunities with the Warriors.
George said he is willing to go all the way to the Prime Minister to put an end to powerful rugby union schools attempting to deter youngsters from playing league.
“I spoke to the education minister the other day and the sports minister in New Zealand has reached out,” George said.
“We’re having a discussion in the very near future about it. “I’m not letting go of finding a solution because it’s completely unfair on kids and it shouldn’t be in our school system.
“If need be, we’ll be speaking to the Prime Minister’s office because I’m sure it’s not what he wants happening in his school system.’’
THE MUSCLE
With the powerful support of ARL chair V’landys, Abdo made his position clear on the code’s plan to invest in and support more kids to choose rugby league over rugby union in New Zealand.
“Whether it’s kids playing at grassroots, elite talent entering NRL pathways or families watching at the ground or on TV, we know New Zealanders are moving from rugby union to rugby league in droves and we want to encourage that trend,”Abdo said.
“If you want to see strength, speed and skill the choice has always been rugby league.
“The aim is for the NRL to cement its position as the premier live sport in New Zealand.
“The data shows that the Warriors have become New Zealand’s favourite team and a national icon.
“Covid kept the Warriors out of New Zealand, and yet despite that disruption on every key indicator rugby league is booming, including TV viewership which is up 36 per cent in New Zealand.
“Rugby league is the biggest sport community in the Pacific, and we want it to be the language that brings our entire region together, including in New Zealand.
“We’re thrilled to see the growth of the game in New Zealand, but the truth is we are only just getting started.”
