South Pacific Rugby League (SPRL)

[Pneuma]

The NRL is no longer an appropriate name for our comp. We consist of teams from two countries, not one. The name is too Australia centric. My proposal is to rename the comp and to rebuild it into a truly South Pacific Competition.
I’m proposing three new teams:
PNG
NZ2
Perth or Brisbane 3

With teams from 3 different countries located in the South Pacific the comp name is a given.

The strategy creates a brand new dynamic for the game. It will set a new future. It will separate us from union and the fumblers by making rugby league the preeminent football code across the region in partnership, not competition, with football.

With the impacts of climate change hovering over the region rugby league will become the sport that brings prime athletes from Tonga Samoa Cook Islands etc to secure futures in the bigger safer countries .

The SPRL will work hand in hand with government to support the growth security and economies of the region. It will be the masthead of cultural growth and societal change.

Education health and social programs will be introduced in to communities through the agency of rugby league and government agency partnerships.

Womens participation will be a high priority. Women’s engagement in the administration of the game at every level will be paramount.

The war over participation in suburbs in Australian cities will be confined to history. Union and the fumblers can fight over the crumbs!

We will no longer be fighting over the scraps. We will bring the big end of town to the game because we will be number one!

Bring it on Pete!

 

[Pneuma]

To ensure the spread of the game across the South Pacific, the SPRL will adopt the junior football model utilised by the mighty Cronulla sharks which offers all versions of the games in every age group. League tag will offer a safe social option for kids and adults and can be played 12 months of the year. Contact versions of the game will run in parallel but over winter months. Over 30s league tag for men women and mixed will be a prime offering ensuring that you can play footy whether you are 5 or 55.

 

[Pneuma]

The SPRLC will replace the ARLC and consist of business people football identities and government appointments from each representative country.

 

[Pneuma]

International football will have a prime position on the rugby league calendar with junior and senior make and female competitions being held at seasons end

 

[Pneuma]

State of origin will fade into obscurity

 

[siv]

NRL these days is being marketed as the new term/name rather than using the term Rugby League

 

[SpaceMonkey]

NRL these days is being marketed as the new term/name rather than using the term Rugby League

Same with most sports dominated by one pro competition. AFL, NRL, NFL, UFC etc

 

[Wb1234]

Nrl is not an accurate term and does no justice to New Zealand

anzrl would work too

and nz needs a commissioner it’s a disgrace they don’t have one

further expansion in Brisbane and nz and expansion into png can fundamentally change the game

but I can’t see the Aussie focussed arl doing what’s needed for nz

heck just acknowledging that two of the founders of the nswrl were actually kiwis would help

 

[Wb1234]

NRL these days is being marketed as the new term/name rather than using the term Rugby League

I don’t like the name nrl

does nothing for me it’s a plastic name trying to copy nfl

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

I don’t like the name nrl

does nothing for me it’s a plastic name trying to copy nfl

Some mild consternation in English RL circles when we heard occasional references to the "NRL World Cup" last year.

Personally, I'm open to persuasion that "NRL" could be used as a term to help carve out a clearer identity for the game in all parts of the world. A means to distinguish our game from RU.

We spent a hundred years in the UK telling everyone that we existed to pay proletarians to play "Rugby". Every Welsh Union signing who "turned pro" confirmed the popular belief that the difference between League and Union was no more than the difference between professional and amateur.

No surprise then that we've struggled for visibility and relevance ever since Union went pro. A trend exacerbated by choosing the same time to put TV coverage behind a paywall. We made it difficult for the average English person to see RL just at the moment when the average English person thought our reason to exist had evaporated.

There is one major disadvantage with "NRL". The most recognizably comparable acronym is NFL. The game played in NFL is "Football" not "Football League". Casual observers can be forgiven when they assume that the game played in "NRL" is "Rugby" not "Rugby League". And hence no distinction is made from the code played by the All Blacks.

 

[Wb1234]

Some mild consternation in English RL circles when we heard occasional references to the "NRL World Cup" last year.

Personally, I'm open to persuasion that "NRL" could be used as a term to help carve out a clearer identity for the game in all parts of the world. A means to distinguish our game from RU.

We spent a hundred years in the UK telling everyone that we existed to pay proletarians to play "Rugby". Every Welsh Union signing who "turned pro" confirmed the popular belief that the difference between League and Union was no more than the difference between professional and amateur.

No surprise then that we've struggled for visibility and relevance ever since Union went pro. A trend exacerbated by choosing the same time to put TV coverage behind a paywall. We made it difficult for the average English person to see RL just at the moment when the average English person thought our reason to exist had evaporated.

There is one major disadvantage with "NRL". The most recognizably comparable acronym is NFL. The game played in NFL is "Football" not "Football League". Casual observers can be forgiven when they assume that the game played in "NRL" is "Rugby" not "Rugby League". And hence no distinction is made from the code played by the All Blacks.

Union has tried to take over ownership of the word rugby

goes with their claims they are the true version of the game which is bs

much like soccer in this country is trying to take ownership of the term football

 

[SouthsCountry]

Why not expand the PNGNRL and leave the NRL as the Australian comp. Then you have 2 South Pacific Leagues.

The NRL is big enough already

18 team NRL (add Perth)
10 team South Pacific League (7 PNG clubs, Kaiviti Silktails from Fiji, a Tongan club, and a Samoan club)

 

[Brian potter]

Why not expand the PNGNRL and leave the NRL as the Australian comp. Then you have 2 South Pacific Leagues.

The NRL is big enough already

18 team NRL (add Perth)
10 team South Pacific League (7 PNG clubs, Kaiviti Silktails from Fiji, a Tongan club, and a Samoan club)

The silktails and hunters need to be playing in the Aussie comps playing weekly against better opposition.

Would love to see teams from the Solomon Islands and Bougainville added to the digicel cup Though.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

The silktails and hunters need to be playing in the Aussie comps playing weekly against better opposition.

This is purely in terms of player development for the NRL. Optimistically, it could be deemed material to the vigour of the Bati and Kumuls, but not when international RL is so manifestly subordinate to the NRL premiership and Origin.

PNGRFL priorities would be more ambitious if they were aiming to enhance the Digicel Cup, rather than assuming that all RL roads will lead to Oz in perpetuity. If somehow the country could thrive like an Asian Tiger economy, their domestic comp could be a jewel in the RL crown. As the predominant sport their prospects of building a wealthy independent comp are greater than NZ or France.

The NRL is big enough already

There are 4 massive and prestigious Soccer leagues in Europe and many others in the middle-ranking category. It wouldn't benefit the game of Soccer if the EPL surged ahead to the point where German, Spanish or Italian clubs could only sign players unwanted by English clubs. Competition between the leagues is instrumental to the success of European Soccer.

The more the NRL becomes to other comps what the NFL is to other Gridiron comps, the less chance RL has of significant global growth. Eastern Australian States do not have the power to project their sporting culture worldwide like the USA can.

We need both a stronger international niche and prosperous leagues outside Oz.

 

[siv]

Why not expand the PNGNRL and leave the NRL as the Australian comp. Then you have 2 South Pacific Leagues.

The NRL is big enough already

18 team NRL (add Perth)
10 team South Pacific League (7 PNG clubs, Kaiviti Silktails from Fiji, a Tongan club, and a Samoan club)

PNG is strong enough to maintain its own domestic national comp

And NZ should be the same

But the idea of a Island club League has merit, where you extend it to Solomon Is Vanuatu, Fiji Samoa, Tonga