gunning_for_panthers looks nervous as he takes a run from dummy half in his debut match.
*****
Should money speak louder than fans?
This year we celebrate 100 years of Rugby League in Australia. Many people in this great land love it for so many reasons like the passion, speed, intimidation, determination, drama, controversy, toughness, camaraderie and the mateship.
But when asked why you love Rugby League, most people wouldn’t list any of these factors.
Most people will say they love the rivalries the most. They love the rivalry matches such as the Rabbitohs v Roosters, Manly v Newcastle, Penrith v Parramatta, and in the State of Origin arena, New South Wales v Queensland.
These people would say that without rivalries, Rugby League wouldn’t be as good as what it is today. I tend to agree with this, however, there are some rivalries that have harmed Rugby League.
We have the rivalry between the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL) who attempt to take over each other’s heartland and the rivalry between the NRL and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) who annually poach some of the other code’s best talent.
But these are not the worst rivalries that have affected our game; in fact the rivalry that has affected our game the most is not even a rivalry between sporting clubs or organizations.
The rivalry that has affected our game the most is the rivalry between companies who earn millions of dollars a day. Rivalries between companies affects not only them, it affects the most important people in Rugby League, the fans.
The best example of companies at war is the Rugby League civil war, which is commonly referred to as the Super League War. I believe this was the darkest chapter in Australian sporting history.
In one corner we had the Australian Rugby League (ARL), who were backed by the late media mogul, Kerry Packer, and in the other corner we had Super League, who were backed by Rupert Murdoch.
Thanks to these rivals, representative footy in 1995 was diminished as the ARL ruled that Australian players who had signed for Super League clubs (Auckland Warriors, Brisbane Broncos, Canberra Raiders, Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys, Penrith Panthers and Western Reds) could not play for their state in the annual State of Origin series or for their country in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup, which was held in England and Wales.
Thanks to these rivals, we had two Rugby League competitions running parallel to each other in 1997.
More rivals were brought into the ring as the ARL sides played for the Optus Cup, and the Super League clubs played for the Telstra Cup.
The rivals even tried to split up Newcastle, as Super League established the Hunter Mariners who played out of Breakers Stadium.
Even when the ARL and Super League kissed and made up in 1997 and created the National Rugby League, the fans were still getting hurt as part of the peace deal was that the number of teams in the 1998 season would be 20, and in the 2000 season, there would be 14 sides.
The South Queensland Crushers, Hunter Mariners and Western Reds were the first sides on the chopping block - they didn't play in the 1998 season, while the Melbourne Storm entered the competition in 1998.
From late 1998 to 2000, the Adelaide Rams, Gold Coast Chargers disbanded, the St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers merged to become the St George Dragons, Western Suburbs Magpies merged with Balmain Tigers to become the Wests Tigers, North Sydney Bears and Manly Sea Eagles merged to become the Northern Eagles and the South Sydney Rabbitohs were kicked out of the NRL so the league would achieve it’s dream of becoming a 14-team league.
But the Rabbitohs fans and administrators had a never say die approach. 80,000 fans marched through the streets of Sydney so they could bring back the so-called “pride of the league” into the NRL.
Thankfully, common sense prevailed and the Rabbitohs were re-admitted via the Federal Court into the National Rugby League for the 2002 season.
In late 2002, the Northern Eagles reverted back to the Manly Sea Eagles, but wouldn’t have had to merge if it weren’t for money hungry pigs.
All of this happened in the most farcical decade or so in Rugby League history, which we still haven’t recovered from.
Here’s hoping that future administrators don’t feel that money speaks louder than fans.
*****
731 words.
Sources:
http://www.rl1908.com/Clubs/South-Sydney-Rabbitohs.htm
http://www.rl1908.com/Clubs/Northern-Eagles.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_League_War