'I'm staying put' - Gallop plans to lead commission Josh Rakic
September 5, 2010
The NRL CEO tells Josh Rakic that he is determined to continue as head of the game.
Independent commission or not, NRL chief executive David Gallop has no intention of relinquishing his position as the game's top administrator and plans to assume an Andrew Demetriou-like role once the much-vaunted commission is established.
Speaking openly for the first time about his aspirations for season 2011 and beyond - by which time the commission is expected to be up and running - Gallop said the new governing body would operate in a similar fashion to that of the AFL and he intended to lead it.
''I envisage I'll be the chief executive of the new structure,'' a jovial and candid Gallop told The Sun-Herald. ''The same role I'm in now. In the AFL system, [AFL chief executive] Andrew Demetriou is actually one of the commissioners too, but I'm not sure how that's proposed under our structure. The structure will be quite similar, I think.
''If they [Queensland Rugby League] or anyone else has an issue with my involvement, well, they'll have to work that out. I'm staying.''
Having overseen the game's most prosperous period - record crowd attendances, television audiences and commercial sponsorship - Gallop denied criticism that he couldn't serve on the commission given his working relationship with the game's current owners, News Ltd.
''The most debilitating part of rugby league is the long-held grudges and personal agendas that dominate what should be rational discussion on issues,'' he said. ''The 'family back home' analogy is a good one because I think the other thing that happens in rugby league is that most of the issues are actually only interesting inside your family.
''And so stuff gets written and you read it and you think, there's only about 50 people in the world who actually care about that and there's literally thousands who just love their team and want to follow the footy. They don't care about politics.
''The key part of the independent commission in my view is that people who hold key positions within clubs shouldn't be on the board, the governing body of the game.
''To me, that's the aspect of independence that's most important. Because it's very difficult to sit in judgment of a salary cap breach at a club when someone from that club is on the board of the game. We've had that in the past and it does make it difficult. I certainly don't have any alliance to any of the 16 clubs.''
While he fully intends to be involved in the commission, out of respect and professionalism Gallop has played no part in its coming about.
''I don't tend to go to the ARL meetings when they're talking about this particular issue.
''The key stakeholders in the game have indicated that they want me to have a role in the commission going forward so it's easier if I'm not part of the actual negotiations.
''But I think it's really important that the make-up of the new structure is a mixture of people with hard-core footy experience and experience with the business of footy, mixed with people who've got experience from other parts of the community that you can pull down on when particular issues come up.
''You also need someone who's actually making decisions and I've tried to get that balance right over the years. I'm a big believer in the 16 clubs as a forum but also, as one leading player agent likes to say to me, someone's got to drive the bus and make some decisions. And that's important.''
Gallop - still just 45 years old - defended the much-maligned process of developing the new structure, arguing it was a complex journey.
''It will definitely happen and it will be a good thing but it's fundamentally more complicated than some people realise because you're not merging two banks where the two businesses are very similar and able to assimilate easily.
''You're actually taking a massive amateur, grassroots organisation that's pretty loose and you're merging that with a fully professional business.
''And putting it under one structure, that's not like a merger in the business community, that's a merger with massive complications attached to it.
''It's actually made more progress than I thought it would a few months ago because there's an underlying realisation that it is the right thing for everyone to be working towards.''
Despite unprecedented criticism of Gallop for the NRL's handling of the Melbourne Storm salary cap rort, the delay in creating a commission and the Bulldogs betting scandal, he insisted the job was as rewarding as ever and he had never thought about walking away from the game he has led since 2002.
''Every year has its own set of challenges but I think one of the reasons the game's had such massive growth in crowds, membership, participation at junior level, sponsorship and licensing is not only the freakish talent of our players and the closeness of the competition, but the fact that when a hard issue comes along you deal with it appropriately. You're never going to please everyone and that's a part of the job, any job, that I've understood since day one.
''If you talk about job satisfaction, then seeing the product on the field, the closeness of the competition, the commercial growth - all of those things are important. But also, I get job satisfaction from dealing with the hard issues appropriately. That all makes it worthwhile. I'm still loving it. I still love watching the footy, too.''
