Clubs revolt to kill off World Sevens
By Steve Mascord
August 11, 2004
NRL clubs staged a successful rebellion over the World Sevens yesterday with Australian Rugby League chairman Colin Love admitting he would probably have to call off the tournament.
The 15 club chief executives used their monthly meeting to tell the league they did not want to compete in the pre-season competition.
The $100,000 event has been a crowd favourite since it was revived two years ago but remained a sticking point with clubs and players over the expense and injury risk of competing.
"I would need to speak to Richard Lewis, who is the deputy chairman of the international board, but if the clubs don't support it, we'd have serious reservations about running it," Love said last night. "It's a shame, as I think it was a good development tool for the international game."
Love said there had been proposals to stage the tournament overseas, and several club CEOs, including Brisbane's Bruno Cullen and St George Illawarra's Peter Doust, said assembling an Australian Sevens team might have merit.
"We've had approaches to play the event in Hong Kong, there are other options," Love said.
Despite concerns over the issue, no vote was taken yesterday on the question of expanding the NRL to 16 teams in 2006.
"We asked that our concerns be passed on to the partnership," said Newcastle's Ken Conway.
Canberra's Simon Hawkins said: "'No problem with a 16th team - we don't want to fund it' - that reflects a fair few people's view there today."
Parramatta's Denis Fitzgerald, the chairman of the clubs council, again aired his belief that Melbourne should be removed from the competition.
"I said there is no future for rugby league in Melbourne - nothing new," he said.
And last night all 15 club bosses were being emailed a proposal from South Sydney's Shane Richardson aimed at remodelling the game in NSW.
Under the proposal, NRL clubs would halve the number of players on their books by forming mergers with existing lower-tier clubs such as the joint venture recently formed between Cronulla and Newtown.
Each NRL team would have 25 senior players, five under-20s and five nominated over-20s players, with those not required each weekend playing for a feeder team responsible for its own recruitment.
Areas such as the Central Coast, Riverina and Western Division would compete in a 10-14 team league over 22 weeks, with ABC televising the match of the day as it does in Queensland, and other games acting as NRL curtain-raisers.
The money saved by senior clubs would facilitate a shorter, 22-round NRL season "improving the quality of fixtures and reducing the fatigue factor on elite players". Importantly, the document assumes no expansion in 2006, with Manly's feeder team listed hypothetically as North Sydney, who are aligned with the Central Coast bid.
And following a presentation from the West Australian Rugby League, Cronulla are considering the possibility of playing a home game at Perth's Members Equity Stadium next year, while Brisbane may have a pre-season camp in WA in 2006.
Elsewhere, Melbourne last night confirmed forward Danny Williams would seek leave to appeal against his 18-match striking suspension.
Judiciary chairman Greg Woods will accept submissions in the next two days and a closed hearing involving himself, NRL prosecutor Peter Kite and a Storm representative will take place tomorrow.
By Steve Mascord
August 11, 2004
NRL clubs staged a successful rebellion over the World Sevens yesterday with Australian Rugby League chairman Colin Love admitting he would probably have to call off the tournament.
The 15 club chief executives used their monthly meeting to tell the league they did not want to compete in the pre-season competition.
The $100,000 event has been a crowd favourite since it was revived two years ago but remained a sticking point with clubs and players over the expense and injury risk of competing.
"I would need to speak to Richard Lewis, who is the deputy chairman of the international board, but if the clubs don't support it, we'd have serious reservations about running it," Love said last night. "It's a shame, as I think it was a good development tool for the international game."
Love said there had been proposals to stage the tournament overseas, and several club CEOs, including Brisbane's Bruno Cullen and St George Illawarra's Peter Doust, said assembling an Australian Sevens team might have merit.
"We've had approaches to play the event in Hong Kong, there are other options," Love said.
Despite concerns over the issue, no vote was taken yesterday on the question of expanding the NRL to 16 teams in 2006.
"We asked that our concerns be passed on to the partnership," said Newcastle's Ken Conway.
Canberra's Simon Hawkins said: "'No problem with a 16th team - we don't want to fund it' - that reflects a fair few people's view there today."
Parramatta's Denis Fitzgerald, the chairman of the clubs council, again aired his belief that Melbourne should be removed from the competition.
"I said there is no future for rugby league in Melbourne - nothing new," he said.
And last night all 15 club bosses were being emailed a proposal from South Sydney's Shane Richardson aimed at remodelling the game in NSW.
Under the proposal, NRL clubs would halve the number of players on their books by forming mergers with existing lower-tier clubs such as the joint venture recently formed between Cronulla and Newtown.
Each NRL team would have 25 senior players, five under-20s and five nominated over-20s players, with those not required each weekend playing for a feeder team responsible for its own recruitment.
Areas such as the Central Coast, Riverina and Western Division would compete in a 10-14 team league over 22 weeks, with ABC televising the match of the day as it does in Queensland, and other games acting as NRL curtain-raisers.
The money saved by senior clubs would facilitate a shorter, 22-round NRL season "improving the quality of fixtures and reducing the fatigue factor on elite players". Importantly, the document assumes no expansion in 2006, with Manly's feeder team listed hypothetically as North Sydney, who are aligned with the Central Coast bid.
And following a presentation from the West Australian Rugby League, Cronulla are considering the possibility of playing a home game at Perth's Members Equity Stadium next year, while Brisbane may have a pre-season camp in WA in 2006.
Elsewhere, Melbourne last night confirmed forward Danny Williams would seek leave to appeal against his 18-match striking suspension.
Judiciary chairman Greg Woods will accept submissions in the next two days and a closed hearing involving himself, NRL prosecutor Peter Kite and a Storm representative will take place tomorrow.
