@Babyface O'reilly Just to clarify - I did preface my statement with Super league and News Ltd “for all its faults”.
If I recall correctly, the brisbane licence was granted on the basis no other club could be within south east Queensland. Hence, Gold Coast Giants were based in NSW over the border.
Then the resentment from NSWRL once broncos became a force and decisions were made for the benefit of shit Sydney clubs over Queensland. Broncos had to share their revenue (merchandise) with the whole comp.Then the perception NSWRL suspended queensland/broncos players more than nsw/clubs etc.
A privately run and professional run club like the broncos saw the extreme flaws of NSWRL/ARL decision making and cracked the shits. NSWRL/ARL treated their cash cow in the broncos like morons and refused to have a long term strategy for the game, it’s growth and rationalising Sydney clubs.
A lot of bad decisions and bad blood from mid 80s snowballed from there once News Ltd couldn’t get media rights for foxtel/galaxy.
Anyway, not gonna rehash the history of bad decisions NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL and Sydney centric bias that’s undermined the growth of the comp for 40 years.
But ultimately, I’d suggest NSWRL/ARL poor governance and Sydney centric decision making saw them up ending up with SL war. It didn’t happen to the AFL for good reason. They had better administration, vision and governance from the 80s onwards.
In regard to rationalising Sydney clubs NSWRL/ARL had 3 options:
1. Cull Clubs (Newtown)
2. Merge (SL idea that would have worked long term but disaster short term)
3. Relocation (not one NRL club has ever been relocated interstate), retain core supporters in Sydney and build supporters in a capital city.
NSWRL/ARL was all about expansion in mid 90s to prop up NSW clubs. It was never truly about growing the game and it’s junior base in foreign markets. That was a secondary thought to Sydney clubs.
So reasons why VFL/AFL governance structure and performance is miles ahead of NRL.
1. Murdoch could never poach AFL Teams for a new league for a start due to the different governance structure the AFL had as Clubs aren’t able to leave the league at the click of the fingers.
2. The AFL championed rationalising Melbourne clubs from the early 80s -
- South Melbourne moved to Sydney,
- Fitzroy was encouraged to move to Brisbane in 1985,
- Fitzroy and footscray encouraged to merge in late 80s,
- Fitzroy forced to merge with lions with removal of licence for benefit of 2nd Adelaide club.
- Melbourne and Hawthorn encouraged to merge
- Stk we’re encouraged to play in Tassie with a view to moving there
- North Melbourne we’re offered $100m to move to Gold Coast prior to the suns. And it was only media rights that allowed the suns and gws to exist.
Despite all the backlash from supporters etc about rationalisation from the early 80s the VFL/AFL were always trying to relocate and merge Melbourne clubs. They had vision and were prepared to cop the hate from fans for the long term security of the code.
Victoria originally had 12 clubs - 11 in Melbourne and one in Geelong. They’ve reduced it by 2 since the 80s and attempted to shift two others (north to Gold Coast and Stk to Tassie)
In contrast, it was only the SL war that forced mergers. NSWRL/ARL had no intention to reduce Sydney clubs. The intent to reduce clubs in Melbourne is completely different to NSWRL/ARL/NRL intent to prop up Sydney and Newcastle clubs at the expense of Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane 2nd and 3rd teams and NZ 2nd team. Part of the Lions and Swans success is die hard Melbourne fans still support them. More local Sydney mergers is not the answer.
Two less teams in Sydney won’t reduce its popularity in NSW or Sydney. Sure a fews supporters will crack the sads - but long term their kids will support another club or they’ll embrace a perth side originally from Cronulla or Wests etc.
3. NRL has no killer instinct - One of the key reasons AFL put Fremantle and Port Adelaide in as 2nd clubs in Perth and Adelaide was to saturate and dominate the market. The Western Reds quickened this process. AFL read the tea leaves and wanted to squash a foreign competitor growing in AFL heartland. So the dockers were born two years later.
Again, AFL has completely different intent than NSWRL/ARL/NRL. AFL put the Lions in the south and west of Brisbane to grow their game where the population will be in 20/30 years. Same with GWS.
If the NRL had the same mentality as AFL did for Perth and Adelaide - NRL would put the 2nd Brisbane team south of the river to squash the Lions.
They went with Dolphins to appease News Ltd. Again, more evidence the administration of NRL is no match for AFL.
Want more evidence of killer instinct - Back in the 90s AFL met with NSW Government. Offered $1m toward the Olympic Stadium to ensure it remained an oval for the swans to play at. Main strategy for this - grow the game in the west and screw the ARL/SL/NRL buy making their new jewel a white elephant. Mission accomplished. That one decision has undermined the NRL crowd growth ever since. Phenomenal leadership and vision to do that.
4. The afl plays 10 out of 3 (soon to be) state of art venues in MCG, Marvel and Kardinia Park. 10 clubs out of 3 stadiums.
AFL has 9 clubs in Melbourne playing out of two stadiums. No suburban grounds. People travel to attend games. The two regional towns that have two to three games a year in Ballarat or Bendigo has the State government funding upgrades for Commonwealth games.
In contrast, NRL never really embraced the NSW government 3 stadium strategy. First chance they got NRL requested $800m for suburban shit holes.
Having 7 stadiums for 9 teams is so ridiculous and such a waste of money it’s not funny. One tenant at Allianz is laughable. The financial drain on maintaining 7 state of the art grounds over the next 20 plus years is just going to be enormous. It’s financial mismanagement to retain a 7 stadiums policy plus Newcastle and Wollongong that’s 9 stadiums needing money for maintenance and upgrades every 15 years. NRL will constantly have its hand out begging State and federal governemnt for hand outs.
Why build or maintain 7 stadiums in Sydney for 9 clubs with supporters who can’t be assed to travel to the next suburb let alone to watch their team 20km away? It’s lunacy.
5. commitment to junior development especially in foreign states. In the 80s AFL introduced a draft. The afl has taken control of all junior development. Kids from all over the country enter the draft and get picked. They allow NSW and Qld teams to have junior academies and have access to the best local talent. This commitment to youth didn’t start 10 years ago. They grew it from the mid 80s.
In contrast, NRL draft got scuttled by court challenge by Terry Hill. Again poor implementation by NSWRL/ARL in an attempt to catch up with AFL framework. You need the players to “buy in” to a draft. And it needs to be set up right to avoid “restraint of trade” challenges. The AFL smashed this out of the park. And all junior development now thrives off this. Kids see the NBA and NFL and now want the limelight of draft night. AFL foresight was 40 years into the future. And NSWRL/ARL botched it and has never bothered to revisit it.
6. media rights… I don’t need to go on about why AFL is so far ahead. We know this. Great leadership, governance framework and vision from the 80s. Eventhough Optus go the rights for AFL pay tv in 90’s Murdoch never tried a SL on AFL because he couldn’t. AFL has control of the clubs. They can’t leave the league.
So in summary, for all the above reasons all AFL decisions from 80s just comes back to having better overall organisational governance, Club control, strong leadership and vision to build the game across the nation - even at the expense of Melbourne clubs.
From the 80s NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL have never really been free to put fwd a 40 year vision and build for the future because the organisational governance, Club control and leadership has never been as good as AFL.
Sadly, after Alpha Gil announced the new rights deal - I doubt the NRL will ever have better administration than AFL.
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