It's pens at 20 paces as NRL's cold war ends
Roy Masters
December 10, 2011
WITH the imminent withdrawal of News Ltd from rugby league, debate has turned to the date and place of the official ceremony marking what is, in effect, the end of the Super League war.
Sure, the ceasefire in the conflict between the ARL and Rupert Murdoch's empire was declared on December 19, 1997, but there has been a cold war ever since with News Ltd determined to kill off the ARL and replace it with an independent commission.
News Ltd's exit was to be announced on Tuesday, December 13, in the offices of Pitt Street law firm Kemp Strang, with representatives of the ARL, QRL, NSWRL, News Ltd, the NRL and all of its 16 clubs attending.
However, legal complications, including the details of a new contract for NRL chief executive David Gallop, meant the date had to be pushed back.
NRL clubs were informed of this in a message from Wests Tigers chairman David Trodden: ''The proposed date for establishment of the ARL Commission has been deferred to a future date, which is to be fixed. There are several approvals from various parties that remain outstanding, and as soon as these are satisfied the establishment of the ARL Commission will take place. All parties are working together to complete these tasks as soon as possible.''
Some of the delegates to the planned official ceremony would prefer it occur at a sport location, such as the SFS or the SCG, rather than a law firm.
Translation: there is more room for TV cameras at Moore Park to capture ARL delegates, such as chairman John Chalk, handing power to the beaming independent commissioners.
News Ltd's executives might be more camera shy but basically Rupert's men have achieved what they wanted: Gallop as inaugural chief executive of the commission, a $26 million funding package for Melbourne Storm and first and last broadcasting rights until 2027.
Stephen Loosley, one of News Ltd's three directors on the soon to be extinct Partnership Committee, believes the transfer of power has the best interests of the game at heart.
''Super League is being ended, giving rein to the better angels of our nature,'' said the American Civil War historian, quoting Abraham Lincoln's words at his second inauguration address.
Lincoln, who sought to unify the nation at the end of the 1861-65 war, was subsequently assassinated and replaced as US President by Andrew Johnson, who was less charitable.
Similarly, News Ltd boss John Hartigan, a rugby league lover, has recently been replaced by Kim Williams, a big AFL fan.
Williams was previously boss of Foxtel, and News Ltd holds the management rights to the company.
There are some who believe the Super League war will not end until News Ltd succumbs to the ''better angels'' and pays rugby league the same money it awarded AFL for pay-TV rights.
Meanwhile, a site for the official ceremony ending the code's civil war is unresolved.
The start and end sites of the US Civil War are also instructive. It began in the backyard of the McLean family farm, and ended four years later in their parlour.
But Loosley counsels us to be careful here, pointing out that the McLean family farm was at Manassas, outside Washington in 1861 when the first battle was fought. The family then moved as far away from the conflict as it could, taking up residence in West Virginia at Appomattox Court House.
The Confederate retreat finished just outside their second home, and the document ending the war was signed in their front parlour.
Rugby league's Super League war began in Goldfields House, near Sydney's Circular Quay on March 30, 1995, when John Ribot signed Bulldogs players to the rebel competition.
It might end a couple of city blocks away at Kemp Strang, or a short taxi ride to Moore Park before Christmas
or at News Ltd's Holt Street headquarters next year when Fox Sports pays a just price for the game.
But there was symbolism in an event on Wednesday at a Balmain pub celebrating the life of the late Arthur Beetson.
The ARL chief executive during the Super League war, John Quayle, was there, and spoke lovingly of Beetson.
Ribot, vice-president of the Queensland Former Origin Greats, was helping to organise Beetson's funeral in Brisbane. He called to ask how many seats should be reserved for the NSW contingent.
News Ltd has discarded Quayle and Ribot, yet when it came to the life of a former player, both gave rein ''to the better angels'' of their nature.
