Why does Rugby League endlessly shoot itself in the foot?

[Jono Russell]

League is no different to any other sport. We as fans just focus more on our sport and notice the bad things more.

All sports have there good and bad even the massive American sports.

It wasn't to long ago both the NBA and NHL had shortened season due to player pay disputes.
All sports have had their fair share of sexual misconduct cases and DV cases.

We are not alone. It is not an NRL issue but a society issue.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

f**k me. Now it's "give them 20 years".


If I was given a pay rise of $100k and I spent $99k of it on shit that did nothing whatsoever to improve my life (and actually allowed a range of other problems to remain and grow that could have been sorted) would I realise the uselessness of my approach or would I just keep telling people I've got an extra $100k? Hmm.

 

[DiegoNT]

League is no different to any other sport. We as fans just focus more on our sport and notice the bad things more.

All sports have there good and bad even the massive American sports.

It wasn't to long ago both the NBA and NHL had shortened season due to player pay disputes.
All sports have had their fair share of sexual misconduct cases and DV cases.

We are not alone. It is not an NRL issue but a society issue.

Exactly right
Someone on here even suggested that soccer is better run in this country, yet they have had 3 clubs fold in the last decade, 2 are in the brink, they struggle to get coverage on free to air television and despite the massive free kick that was the Asian cup this year they are dropping in crowds and television viewership.

 

[adamkungl]

League is no different to any other sport. We as fans just focus more on our sport and notice the bad things more.

Rugby League - in particular the NRL - has a culture of negativity around it at the moment. Fan enthusiasm is down making it easy to pick on the bad things.

I believe some minor cleanup around the rulebook and refereeing and a successful national expansion could give the game a massive boost in the way it's talked about. We've got an important WC coming in 2017 and it would be great to ride some positivity into that.

Maybe the Cowboys GF win will put us on a bit of a positive roll but now's the time to address some lingering issues.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

The NRL are now below soccer in this country with regard to administration. The NSL structure is gone now and the FFA are doing good things.

I'd say it's.............


AFL - evil empire. Manipulative to the max, but the plebs blindly follow their rigged league so their hypnotism techniques work well.
FFA - on the up. They've got the Aussie mentality to administration which is bullshit but It is my summer sport in Oz and I go to every Sydney Sky Blues home match, Newy or Gosford game, and travel to one or two interstate matches. They have me hooked.
ARU - they can't help it if they have a sport which is boring as batshit.
CA - good things with BBL, but being the national sport, everything is scrutinised and they seem to make some crazy decisions.
NRL - seems to be infiltrated with self-interest.
NBL - they're starting all over again.

Lol @ sokka .

 

[mozza91]

It's extremely frustrating. The way the game is run and directed is to appease only those who don't care about it. The code bends over backwards to accommodate those who aren't fans with little regards to the actual supporters. This is most obvious when you have journalists who are employed to write about the game that seemingly don't like the game and would prefer to criticise every aspect rather than celebrate it.

The game itself is comfortably the most entertaining and skilful of any of the other codes played in this country. The athletes are so much better than any of the other codes. Yet those who run the game are continuously applying needless rule changes that hurt the overall quality of the product. This is done, once again to satisfy those on the outside rather than the game's existing fanbase.

Bringing new fans to the game is important but keeping the existing fans and trying to get the fans back that have lost interest is paramount.

 

[Pierced Soul]

It's extremely frustrating. The way the game is run and directed is to appease only those who don't care about it. The code bends over backwards to accommodate those who aren't fans with little regards to the actual supporters.

spot on. part of smiths strategy was broadening league's appeal but to the detriment of those who already followed the game. its like he knew the die hards wouldnt walk away regardless of what he did but he had this idea that changing the aggressive aspect would bring more people into the game.

 

[Through the Lens]

Amazing that people don't realise that we support a tribal game. Where we hate the opposition, we hate St George, Manly even more, we hate Queensland, we hate New Zealand and we bloody hate the Poms. So it's a challenge to get passionate people to sit down and come together as a united team.

We see on these forums people pushing their own agenda and preferences. City or the bush, NSW or Qld. So there are parochial issues in play. That coupled with the fact that we recruit very young kids directly from school. Although most are well educated and normal active kids, there seems to be a growing number of maladjusted and troubled ones, that cannot handle the culture, the booze and the sycophants. A culture where womanising is rife, where groupies are the norm and kids get too much money at too young an age.
In other codes many of these issues are managed, controlled and kept from public eye, but in the days of mobile phones that is hard to do.
It's probably true that our sport is a mirror of the wider society, but the concentration is like a convex mirror that focuses on the bad, the ugly and the sensational. You cannot wrap these kids in cotton wool. You cannot stop the good times and exposure to the evils of drugs, gambling and stray women.(Sorry to all the stray women.) So when we mix all these ingredients we get what we get and it will be the same in 100 years.

 

[DiegoNT]

People continually blaming Smith for making the game softer or more boring simply have no idea. Smith wasn't in charge of what happened on the field, that was under the control of the nrl head of football- Todd Greenberg. The panel that makes the rule changes include 2 coaches ( currently Bennett and Robinson ), a rlpa rep, a past coach (john lang, a past player (lockyer), refs boss ( Archer) andthe current Kangaroos and jillaroos captain. These are the people responsible for the majority of in field changes. Bizarrely Smitg is even being blamed for golden point, a rule change brought in ten years before he became in charge.
The big 3 changes that people complain about- shoulder charges, no punches, concussion rule, had to change regardless of who was in charge of the nrl. After the drama the NFL went through with their concussion findings, we had to change otherwise the nrl were opening themselves up for potential massive lawsuits. We have also lost the life of a Queensland cup player from what would of been a legal shoulder charge 3 years ago. The punching rule has caught up with the rest of society. If you throw a king hit you're facing huge jail times now days, so that should reflect on the field to.
The things that smith should be judged on are things off the field. His secured the best free to air deal of any sporting code in australian history. He has layed a strategy for the remaining rights that may see us have a huge pay day while also funding expansion.
Membership numbers have exploded in recent seasons, bringing more money to the game and it's clubs
He has secured 1.6b for a desperately needed sydney stadiums, Townsville have also been lobbying for a new stadium. Crowds are down, but improving the stadiums and their infrastructure and improving the game day experience is a step in the right direction.
He has modernised the way the game is run, he has added touch into the nrl's control, has improved the female game and has the nrl running at a profit.
Nrl has the highest rating shows on aussie tv, state of origin continually gets bigger despite the qld dominance, and the international game is getting better and we are strengthening the pacific, we have a png side in the qld cup and fiji are set to join the nsw cup.

But he didn't know cameron smith's name and called ben barba 'benji' so he has been a total disaster

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

It's extremely frustrating. The way the game is run and directed is to appease only those who don't care about it. The code bends over backwards to accommodate those who aren't fans with little regards to the actual supporters. This is most obvious when you have journalists who are employed to write about the game that seemingly don't like the game and would prefer to criticise every aspect rather than celebrate it.

The game itself is comfortably the most entertaining and skilful of any of the other codes played in this country. The athletes are so much better than any of the other codes. Yet those who run the game are continuously applying needless rule changes that hurt the overall quality of the product. This is done, once again to satisfy those on the outside rather than the game's existing fanbase.

Bringing new fans to the game is important but keeping the existing fans and trying to get the fans back that have lost interest is paramount.

Nice post.

Is there a sport anywhere in the world that changes its rules year in - year out as much as rugby league? I know the bosses just want to improve things but the constant changes kinda sends a signal that the game just isn't good enough and keeps needing fixes.

 

[Perth Red]

I think a lot of the work that has been going on over last 3 years is clearing up the neglect, under funding and mess from the previous 15. Sadly we don't get to see much of this and the outcomes are longer term so no immediacy of impact to the avg fan. If Smith got anything wrong it was in not having some big wins for fans every year that would show us all that the squillions of $'s a year they have is it actually being used for something we will appreciate. In fact some of the obvious changes have put fans offside, raised ticket prices for event games, shoulder charge and biff decisions, same old same old in regards to clubs pleading poverty and impact on expansion decision, player behaviour and unfiar treatment, reefing and in particular the overuse of video ref killing the game. These are the thinsg the fan see and feel. The infrastructure stuff, NSW cup team v Qland cup team, DO in PNg and Fiji are important stuff but have minimal impact on the perception fo how the game is going with your avg fan.

Hopefully the next CEO addresses this and gets a better balance.

 

[_Johnsy]

You are one one bitter man

You think the only difference between Smoth & Gallop is the toplayers earning more .
What f**king planet are you on .

lol .
You've really lost the plot .

& as much as I also dislike consultants ..the simple fact is that is how the Business world works ..

Do want to go back to chook raffles at the pub to raise $$$$ .

You want a debate fine ,
List what was better 5 yrs ago

f**k me. Now it's "give them 20 years".


If I was given a pay rise of $100k and I spent $99k of it on shit that did nothing whatsoever to improve my life (and actually allowed a range of other problems to remain and grow that could have been sorted) would I realise the uselessness of my approach or would I just keep telling people I've got an extra $100k? Hmm.

Wow, just wow.

 

[gUt]

Some good #crisis in this thread

 

[BrisbaneRhino]

The AFL has had an independent body running the sport for a long time. They don't mind making decisions that are in the best interests of the sport as a whole, even if it angers their biggest teams individually. The NRL has only just started to loosen ties with News - it was always going to take time.

I strongly suspect that Smith had to go to enable Fox to make a deal with the NRL. It doesn't change the free to air deal that's been made, but it allows Fox to come back to the table without having lost too much face. Believe it or not those sorts of issues around prestige are just as prevalent in multi-million deals as they are elsewhere, and there were some serious Fox execs made to look stupid by the NRL. IMO it doesn't change the fundamental fact that the NRL would do fine without any new Fox money, just the free-to-air deal. Its Fox that needs RL, not the other way around.

On almost any measure I'd say Smith has been light years ahead of Gallop. The idea that a massive muti-million dollar industry such as the NRL should be run by some bloke who played a decade ago or was a lawyer at some meetings involving the sport is frankly embarrassingly amateur.

As for players acting up, shoulder charges etc, I think its taken a long time for the sport to realise that whilst some hardcore fans might like the sight of players beating each other up on the pitch or getting p*ssed and acting like d*cks off it, sponsors and the like hate it - as actually do a large number of fans and potential fans. It's a working class sport, but that doesn't mean it has to pander to the lowest common denominator. You want blue-chip companies to put money into the game, then act like you deserve it. If you're happy with the local chip shop sponsoring an NRL side, then bring back the biff and all its associated garbage.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

Agendas and self-interest is what hold the code down from day one, everyone getting there own agenda in instead of thinking about the overall code. It's club over code and has effected RL for the worst. Instead of a long term vision of improving and growing the code instead it's all about helping the clubs who year after year incompetently manage there clubs and there blame the NRL admin and not there own.

The constant short sightness and agendas is the reason the game hasn't grown to where it should of been, the other codes put there game first and are a result was able to expand and prosper. With rugby league, the self-interest and short-ness hinder the growth of the code.

 

[Exsilium]

Nice post.

Is there a sport anywhere in the world that changes its rules year in - year out as much as rugby league? I know the bosses just want to improve things but the constant changes kinda sends a signal that the game just isn't good enough and keeps needing fixes.

A lot of this is fuelled by the media, the very thing that has crippled our game internally until Dave smith decided to bring control back to the commission.

Not many sports have media outlets that not only praise the game but create disharmony and conjecture. It's all agenda driven stuff. Tie that in with the old boys clubs who don't like losing control over how money is to be spent and you have a scapegoat. Guy gets knocked out, papers run a scare campaign about how it needs to be changed...rest is history.

If the game is serious about improving it still needs a businessman running it with a better head of football operations.

 

[elbusto]

Body count this week is two afl players accused a rape, two NRL ex players accused of domestic violence, an AFL 'Rising STar' sending selfies of him snorting a 'white powder' and an NRL player stalking and threatening women.

A dishonourable draw I reckon

 

[Ice_Storm]

Basically it's love v like.

A hell of a lot of people like RL. Not that many love it

Compare that to say soccer or afl and most of the people that like also love it.

This translates through to all levels. Journos. Sponsors. Club management. Nrl management. Etc

If you love the game you would do anything to protect its image. If you just like it. You will be like meh aka Dave Smith

Gillon mclachan has had a shit start to his ceo run but he wouldnt walk away as it hurt the image of a game him and his family love it

You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly the reason the NRL will ever threaten or match the AFL in any kind of level.

 

[Ice_Storm]

The NRL are now below soccer in this country with regard to administration. The NSL structure is gone now and the FFA are doing good things.

I'd say it's.............


AFL - evil empire. Manipulative to the max, but the plebs blindly follow their rigged league so their hypnotism techniques work well.
FFA - on the up. They've got the Aussie mentality to administration which is bullshit but It is my summer sport in Oz and I go to every Sydney Sky Blues home match, Newy or Gosford game, and travel to one or two interstate matches. They have me hooked.
ARU - they can't help it if they have a sport which is boring as batshit.
CA - good things with BBL, but being the national sport, everything is scrutinised and they seem to make some crazy decisions.
NRL - seems to be infiltrated with self-interest.
NBL - they're starting all over again.

I'd say their more like the Galatic Empire. Whoever is in charge is like Senator Palpatine. Manipulating the media, fans, TV bosses, Sponsers into thinking its the greatest thing since sliced bread. Little do they know that it's really the Emperor that is behind it all blinding their minds with the dark side of the Force.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Agendas and self-interest is what hold the code down from day one, everyone getting there own agenda in instead of thinking about the overall code. It's club over code and has effected RL for the worst. Instead of a long term vision of improving and growing the code instead it's all about helping the clubs who year after year incompetently manage there clubs and there blame the NRL admin and not there own.

The constant short sightness and agendas is the reason the game hasn't grown to where it should of been, the other codes put there game first and are a result was able to expand and prosper. With rugby league, the self-interest and short-ness hinder the growth of the code.

Rather than citing Smith and and other recent behavoral issues, this was what the thread was supposed to address. The question is why? Why does rugby league get embroilled in the petty stuff and can't put it aside for the better of the game whereas other codes can and have? It has deadset been like this for 100+ years.