RL independence day arrives - NRL Independent Commission announced for November 1

[East Coast Tiger]

Wow, that hurts.:lol:


Listen very carefully..........no one gives a f**k what you think, because you made your point, and posted it again and again 100 times.

I have no doubt now that you are one of the blazer wearers on one of these boards, who have done f**k all for years.

I cannot wait until you and your mates have their grubby claws removed from the game.

Go and peddle your pathetic conspiracy theories to someone else.

Well of all the f**k wits who have periodically bobbed up on this thread and then disappeared because they've got nothing you have to be one of the worst. You talk about conspiracy theories and then claim I must be on an RL board, even though I have said time and time again that this is not the case. I'm 27 years old, how long could I have even been on a board? I just happen to know a lot about how they work at grassroots and international level and care about the ramifications of this ill-conceived News Ltd driven power grab. You're backing a this plan so I'd have a little think about just whose grubby paws are all over the game. You're just another Sydney-centric NRL dunce who is blindly backing a plan that has no detail with no understanding or interest in the game outside of your sh*tty club. It's people like you who need to f**k off and leave the running of the sport to people who actually care about the whole game and don't jump on the first News Ltd plan that comes along.

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...on-key-nrl-group/story-e6frg7mf-1225829346892

Maroons muscle in on key NRL group

* Brent Read
* From: The Australian
* February 12, 2010 12:00AM

THE Queensland Rugby League has muscled its way into the negotiation process for an independent commission, after the ARL yesterday announced it had formed a four-man committee to continue talks over the game's future.

Although the ARL said the committee -- which will be comprised of two representatives of the QRL and two from the NSWRL -- would help expedite the process, genuine concerns now exist over whether an independent commission can be formed before the start of the premiership next month.

"The board did reaffirm their commitment to an independent commission," ARL chief executive Geoff Carr said. "They have appointed a negotiating committee to facilitate and expedite the negotiations with News Limited [publisher of The Australian] to set it up."

While Carr and ARL chairman Colin Love are expected to be the NSW representatives, the QRL will meet today to finalise its nominees. QRL directors Terry Mackenroth and Bruce Hatcher shape as the logical representatives, given they have already held talks with News Limited.

Last month, representatives of the 16 NRL clubs unanimously voiced their support for an independent commission, calling for it to be in place before the start of the premiership on March 12.

At the time, that target looked optimistic. Nothing that occurred yesterday will have changed that view, although the QRL can now stop agitating behind the scenes and air its grievances at the negotiating table. "We're happy for it to happen," QRL chairman John McDonald said. "There has been no impediment whatsoever from the QRL and there's not likely to be."

While McDonald insists the QRL is in favour of an independent commission, it refuses to back the proposal put forward by the clubs.

Under that concept, the ARL and News Limited would relinquish their shares in the game, leaving it in the hands of eight independent commissioners elected by the clubs.

Only last week, the QRL issued a fact sheet in which it criticised the proposed structure. It insists on the ARL retaining a 50 per cent share of the game, and appointing four of the eight commissioners.

In a statement that inflamed the clubs, the QRL described itself as a "custodian of the game" and said it would not walk away and leave control in the clubs' hands.

The clubs have been largely driving the negotiations, headed by Gold Coast chief executive Michael Searle. Their interest is understandable, given they stand to gain significantly from any change to the game's ownership.

The formation of the independent commission has been identified by many as the panacea to rugby league's ills. Promises of an increasing salary cap and more profitable clubs have been identified as the key to warding off the threat of AFL and rugby union.

Yet as the negotiations drag on, fear increases that the entire process will lose momentum. Carr insisted yesterday's decision would help ensure that did not happen.

"It will be put in place very, very quickly," he said.

 

[Ziggy the God]

Well of all the f**k wits who have periodically bobbed up on this thread and then disappeared because they've got nothing you have to be one of the worst. You talk about conspiracy theories and then claim I must be on an RL board, even though I have said time and time again that this is not the case. I'm 27 years old, how long could I have even been on a board? I just happen to know a lot about how they work at grassroots and international level and care about the ramifications of this ill-conceived News Ltd driven power grab. You're backing a this plan so I'd have a little think about just whose grubby paws are all over the game. You're just another Sydney-centric NRL dunce who is blindly backing a plan that has no detail with no understanding or interest in the game outside of your sh*tty club. It's people like you who need to f**k off and leave the running of the sport to people who actually care about the whole game and don't jump on the first News Ltd plan that comes along.

These are some of the things Ribot also said to our club a couple of years ago, and it looks like you believe the crap that still comes out of his mouth. You are the dunce, just as is the QRL for letting that germ get anywhere near our great game again. They deserve no say in what happens to the game with that kind of form.

I am proud of the way that my club has involved itself in the community, and I see that you failed to see the development side of the game that we support.

Then again, that wouldn't fit your argument which is that we are just a money hungry private organisation that is out for ourselves, and we couldn't care less if the game died.

You are right that you couldn't possibly be a blazer wearer, and that is my bad. Blazer wearers are the ones only out for themselves, and are cunning enough to look like they are doing something, yet are the biggest bunch of sinecures one can find.

You are just the garden variety of moron that comes on this site from time to time.

Cheers

 

[Loudstrat]

I think all clubs look after their community pretty well. The modern Souths has a great community link, and Souths Juniors has funded junior league well and kept it thriving.

One could say the same about Parra, Penrith, Newcastle or even the Dogs. Grassroots footy in Kensington, Wentworthville, Maitland and Windsor is served well by these clubs.

Trouble is, grass roots footy also exists in Wagga, Gunnedah, Cowra, Taree, Moree, Roma, Gympie, Rocky.......

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I'm a moron? I'm not the one accepting a proposal without knowing what that proposal is. Who the f**k accepts a deal before they know what it entails? I think that would fit the definition of a moron far more than someone who has looked beyond the simplistic and incomplete notes provided by the clubs and the spin of the News Ltd press for the implications of the game beyond the NRL. So not only do you look like a goose for making ridiculous assumptions about my perspective but you also prove in your response that you only care about your own club. So when you add that admission on top of agreeing to a plan that lacks detail I think it's clear who the moron is.

 

[skeepe]

I think all clubs look after their community pretty well. The modern Souths has a great community link, and Souths Juniors has funded junior league well and kept it thriving.

One could say the same about Parra, Penrith, Newcastle or even the Dogs. Grassroots footy in Kensington, Wentworthville, Maitland and Windsor is served well by these clubs.

Trouble is, grass roots footy also exists in Wagga, Gunnedah, Cowra, Taree, Moree, Roma, Gympie, Rocky.......

The Raiders have been to a number of those very same towns you just mentioned very recently.

The Raiders are extremely active in the Riverina, sending their entire squad there just lat week.

I'm not saying one visit is enough, but there's a lot else that they do that isn't publicised as heavily.

I believe the Raiders plan to have a presence as far south as Albury, but there's only so much the club can do. The Dragons take care of a lot of the areas south of Wollongong, even going so far as to claim Batemans Bay I believe (although that's strictly Raiders terrirtory).

Clubs are not the bad guys you and ECT have painted them to be. They do a lot of work in the bush, often off their own bat. There's always a lot more that could be done obviously, but as it stands at the moment the ARL is supposed to handle a significant portion of that - and they've failed.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Really? How have they failed? I'd be very interested to know how someone who thinks the clubs do a wonderful job but reckons the ARL is a failure can justify such a position. Who do you think organises the trips to the bush that the clubs have been making this week?

 

[100%green]

Not that I place the greatest faith in Wikipedia, if you read the following link it seems the model being considered for the NRL is the same as the AFL and from what I understand the NFL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL_Commission

While people carry on about the past with News and the war or the ARL and the suits that ran the game, the other codes just sit back and rub their hands together.

There is something about the way the QRL is coming across in the media that is putting me off. I agree grassroots and rep footy needs to be safeguarded, but it will be to the detriment of the clubs to let the both of these side.

It's time we get the game running properly. We need to look to the future and not the past.

 

[Bluebags1908]

Not that I place the greatest faith in Wikipedia, if you read the following link it seems the model being considered for the NRL is the same as the AFL and from what I understand the NFL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL_Commission

While people carry on about the past with News and the war or the ARL and the suits that ran the game, the other codes just sit back and rub their hands together.

There is something about the way the QRL is coming across in the media that is putting me off. I agree grassroots and rep footy needs to be safeguarded, but it will be to the detriment of the clubs to let the both of these side.

It's time we get the game running properly. We need to look to the future and not the past.

The AFL model won't work for Rugby League because:

1. They have no international football to worry about
2. AFL State Of Origin is dead - I wonder why?
3. None of their clubs are privately owned
4. The AFL is the be-all-and-end-all of their sport. Not so with NRL/Rugby League

 

[100%green]

The AFL model won't work for Rugby League because:

1. They have no international football to worry about
2. AFL State Of Origin is dead - I wonder why?
3. None of their clubs are privately owned
4. The AFL is the be-all-and-end-all of their sport. Not so with NRL/Rugby League

I think things like that can be worked out. The clubs will not risk the money Origin brings in and International League is starting to not only get back to where it was but surpassing it.

 

[Loudstrat]

The Raiders have been to a number of those very same towns you just mentioned very recently.

The Raiders are extremely active in the Riverina, sending their entire squad there just lat week.

I'm not saying one visit is enough, but there's a lot else that they do that isn't publicised as heavily.

I believe the Raiders plan to have a presence as far south as Albury, but there's only so much the club can do. The Dragons take care of a lot of the areas south of Wollongong, even going so far as to claim Batemans Bay I believe (although that's strictly Raiders terrirtory).

Clubs are not the bad guys you and ECT have painted them to be. They do a lot of work in the bush, often off their own bat. There's always a lot more that could be done obviously, but as it stands at the moment the ARL is supposed to handle a significant portion of that - and they've failed.

I'm not talking about players doing clinics. I'm talking about distributing the games income.

If you think all the problems of bush footy are solved by sending some players to throw a footy with kids one arvo per year than you have rocks in your head!

Again, if you think that's all it takes - sending Tongue to Tumut - then explain how the ARL have failed the bush. If that's all it takes - well the ARL organised it. Your argument is self defeating, and all you have is hatred of the ARL.

And to suggest that clubs won't let grass roots die - have a look at how Union behaved since their version of the commission - SANZAR - became the sole breadwinner at sub Test level. Union's fortunes in Australia in the past decade has been artificially sweetened by poaching RL players. Now that the big promotional names have gone - ie Rogers, Sailor, Tequiri - union is in crisis in this country. The ARU recruited those 3 and three went 3 of the 4 wallaby backline spots available for the Union bred kids who have done their best all their lives for their code. The ARU made $43 million in their world cup, and the dividend for bush footy was for the Wallabies to go on holidays to Coffs Harbour. The money that dribbles out of the ARU coffers to bush footy is basically zip. That is seen in the poor health of their comps compared to League. The ARL through the CRL has been able to see some funding and support get through.

If you want to see League look as piss poor as Union in the bush then let the funding be done from the spare cash of any club in a charitible mood - and not as a duty of those who run the code as a whole.

 

[Parra]

The clubs will not risk the money Origin brings in

But they will take it

 

[griff]

A major selling point for the clubs was that the funding they received from the match helped offset money they were already providing for community projects, resulting in a financial saving while generating more attention for the off-field work the clubs and the players do.

So take away the spin, net gain for community projects was zero.

 

[Goddo]

And representative football will die with a commission.

I guess the above says otherwise...

 

[East Coast Tiger]

No one is saying it will die, but keep twisting the argument if you must. It's the only way anyone could justify supporting a plan before anyone knows what the plan is.

 

[Dogs Of War]

And to suggest that clubs won't let grass roots die - have a look at how Union behaved since their version of the commission - SANZAR - became the sole breadwinner at sub Test level.

It may be the breadwinner, but hardly the sole one. The ARU has contracts with Free to Air TV as well for Intentional matches.

Anyway, SANZAR has nothign to do with the development of Union in Australia, it's there for Super Rugby, nothing more, nothing less. The development of the game in Australia is entirely on the heads of the ARU, which offers exactly the same things as the ARL does for League. I have actually read some Union forums where they hope the ARU will be pushed away and there own version of an IC implemented.

For a final comment, I will leave it to following comments...

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...ll-that-couldnt-be-ignored-20100213-nyfm.html

The success of the match also highlighted what a brave new future could be like under an independent commission. Those involved with the All Stars game embraced innovations to generate more money that might not have happened under the ARL, which Indigenous team officials claim did not support the event.
While ARL chairman Colin Love, chief executive Geoff Carr and other NSWRL directors attended the match, Queensland officials were elsewhere on the Gold Coast hosting the QRL's annual conference.
Frustrated by the ARL's response to repeated requests for a full-strength indigenous team to play matches, officials began lobbying elsewhere and through Campbell - the first player signed by the Titans when a Gold Coast team was re-admitted to the NRL in 2007 - they gained the support of Searle.
The Titans boss then persuaded the other clubs of the merits of the concept.A major selling point for the clubs was that the funding they received from the match helped offset money they were already providing for community projects, resulting in a financial saving while generating more attention for the off-field work the clubs and the players do.
But indigenous officials believe their dream would never have become a reality last night if it had been left up to the ARL after Aboriginal teams were forced each year to qualify for the now-defunct World Sevens tournament regardless of their success with stars such as Cliff Lyons and Andrew Walker playing.
Despite 14,000 fans turning up at the SFS four hours before the 2008 World Cup opener between the Kangaroos and Kiwis to watch the curtain-raiser between the Indigenous DreamTime team and a New Zealand Maori side, a suggestion that a full-strength Aboriginal team play an annual match against Papua New Guinea was rejected.
''This is why we need an independent commission,'' said Gorden Tallis, who was on the Indigenous team's coaching staff last night. ''I know the ARL didn't want this game but these guys like Preston, Michael Searle and David Gallop have pushed hard and look what they've done. It's for the fans.''

 

[Dogs Of War]

No one is saying it will die, but keep twisting the argument if you must. It's the only way anyone could justify supporting a plan before anyone knows what the plan is.

So why do you want to put the boot into everybody who supports the "concept" of an Independant Commision, when you too do not know what the plan is.

I think until we see what the written objectives of the IC are, and conditions placed around how much money goes where, it's very hard to say that it's not a good thing. It's not like it will happen without everybody buying in, and people aren't stupid enough to sign off on somethign that will kill the game.

 

[Goddo]

^ exactly. To think that all these different organisations wouldn't put in place a system that protects the game is stupid.

The problem at the moment it the QRL and ARL are simply refusing to even concider it. They aren't even trying to suggest things to make it work. Why? because they don't want to be locked out of power. Very petty.

Parties need to agree to a structure, then get on with working out all the details.

 

[Bluebags1908]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...0213-nyfm.html

The success of the match also highlighted what a brave new future could be like under an independent commission. Those involved with the All Stars game embraced innovations to generate more money that might not have happened under the ARL, which Indigenous team officials claim did not support the event.
While ARL chairman Colin Love, chief executive Geoff Carr and other NSWRL directors attended the match, Queensland officials were elsewhere on the Gold Coast hosting the QRL's annual conference.
Frustrated by the ARL's response to repeated requests for a full-strength indigenous team to play matches, officials began lobbying elsewhere and through Campbell - the first player signed by the Titans when a Gold Coast team was re-admitted to the NRL in 2007 - they gained the support of Searle.
The Titans boss then persuaded the other clubs of the merits of the concept.A major selling point for the clubs was that the funding they received from the match helped offset money they were already providing for community projects, resulting in a financial saving while generating more attention for the off-field work the clubs and the players do.
But indigenous officials believe their dream would never have become a reality last night if it had been left up to the ARL after Aboriginal teams were forced each year to qualify for the now-defunct World Sevens tournament regardless of their success with stars such as Cliff Lyons and Andrew Walker playing.
Despite 14,000 fans turning up at the SFS four hours before the 2008 World Cup opener between the Kangaroos and Kiwis to watch the curtain-raiser between the Indigenous DreamTime team and a New Zealand Maori side, a suggestion that a full-strength Aboriginal team play an annual match against Papua New Guinea was rejected.
''This is why we need an independent commission,'' said Gorden Tallis, who was on the Indigenous team's coaching staff last night. ''I know the ARL didn't want this game but these guys like Preston, Michael Searle and David Gallop have pushed hard and look what they've done. It's for the fans.''

Talk about spin! The clubs propaganda machine is cranking into gear. Whilst I totally agree that the All-Stars concept supported by the clubs has been great, you'd be a fool to think they are doing this PR spin from the bottom of their hearts.

They are doing it because they want to gain power to vote in the 8 Commissioners. If/when they gain power you watch the clubs quicky change their tune.

Also, it's the proposed structure proposed by the clubs that is flawed - it is not neccesarily an attack on the integrity and commitment to the game from current club owners. Of the privately-owned clubs, I have 100% total faith in people involved in privately-owned clubs like Michael Searle, Russell Crowe, and the Penn family at Manly, and even News Limited in running the Storm to do the right thing by the game and not put their interests first. But what happens in 10 years time when Russel Crowe sells the Rabbitohs to another private owner? And what if/when more clubs become privately owned? The integrity and motives of future private owners of clubs in years to come may not be one with the game's best interests at heart.

It's not the current private owners of clubs that we're criticising, but the structure proposed which in years to come leaves the game open to abuse of power by people that only worry about making a buck for themselves.

 

[Ziggy the God]

So the QRL didn't turn up to the game? Is this true or is it a beat up?

If true, they must have their back up because of Searle and Co, and chucked a hissy fit and didn't show to a match of that magnitude. Petty.

Actually not petty, as that is what Blazer Wearers do, just looking after themselves.

Maybe someone forgot to tell Ribot that the match was on. That must have been it.