| Major Issues - League Freak Breaks Down The Issues Facing The Greatest Game Of All |
 Its been known for some time now, but The League Freak has some issues.
This section of the web site shows where The League Freak stands on certain well known issues in the game. You can use it as a reference when debating with him or just read through and see if you agree with him on certain points.
This is not the Rugby League bible, these are just opinions. Sometimes these opinions will changes as The League Freak changes his ideas and some would say....even as he grows up a little.
Anyway have a look through and see what you think. Does the League Freak talk sense...or is he just a dribbler?
Promotion And Relegation
The League Freak is against Promotion and relegation. In an ideal world it might work, but in practice it does not work well in any sporting competition in the world.
You take a team that's had one bad year at the top grade and you force it to be stripped of its assets including sponsors, players, coaching staff and income and play in a lower grade competition where is will get less sponsorship, and less fans through the gates.
You then promote a side from that same lower grade competition and encourage it to spend beyond its means to get up to speed in the top grade. This of course fails as good players and coaches are already signed up, or don't want to go to a lower table team that hasn't proven it will stay in the top grade.
You have this situation in place for 12 months and because of its poor start, its almost certain that the newly promoted side will not be able to life itself out of the relegation zone in its first season in the top grade.
So what happens? This team that has spent beyond its means to just survive in the top grade gets stripped of its assets, a major part of its income, the players it has acquired and so forth....and sent back to the competition from which it came. In a lower grade competition that it once dominate, its not once again on the back foots as it tries to get over the shock of relegation....but also tries to build its side up again.
Promotion and Relegation does not work!
State Of Origin Eligibility Rules
I believe there should be two rules to cover who can play State Of Origin football.
1. You should be a naturalized Australia and therefore eligible to play for Australia.
2. You should have played your first junior football for the state you have been selected for.
Anyone who does not fore fill those two requirements should not be allowed to play in the State Of Origin series.
International Eligibility Rules
To play for a Rugby League nation you should a naturalized citizen of that nation.
If you were born somewhere else and you REALLY want to play for the nation you live in, prove it. Become naturalized and show you really are a citizen of that nation in every way.
Outside of this, I do no support players playing for more then one nation. I do not support players being drafted into a team one the "Grandparent" rule.
I think the IRLF should take an active role in this area and with the support of its member nations it should put this one simple rule in place to bring back some credibility in International Rugby League.
I know I would have no problems if Tonie Carroll played for Australia after going through the naturalization process....but fans wont cop seeing Queenslander Brent Webb play for New Zealand just because he played for the Warriors in the NRL for four years.
NRL Expansion
I believe the NRL should have a long term plan for expansion. One day I want to see every major population base in Australia being represented by an NRL club. I also want to see new clubs based outside of Australia.
After the Gold Coast's admission into the NRL I would look at add teams to these major centers.
1. Wellington
2. Perth
3. Adelaide
4. Second Brisbane Side
Once these teams have been added the NRL will be able to look at truly exciting expansion opportunities. Will we one day see an NRL representative side from PNG. Could we see a Pacific Islands NRL club, or an NRL club from South Africa? Maybe the NRL would look towards Asia as new locations for NRL clubs....but it can only happen once the five locations listed have gained a footing in the NRL.
Thats not as far off as it would see either. Adding those teams would give the NRL 20 teams. At one time during the SL war, we had 22 sides running in the ASL and ARL competitions at the same time.
Super League Expansion
I believe Super League needs to expand to stay relevant in todays sporting environment. It needs to expand so that it can cast its net wider for sponsors, media attention, fans and eventually, players and allow Rugby League in the UK to grow.
Aside from admitting top French League teams into Super League (Who should not be subject to relegation once making the commitment to Super League), I believe the RFL should not only entice current clubs to move, but set up franchise teams to cater for expansion into new areas.
The RFL should look to add a Welsh expansion club and not only make sure that club has direct ties to the WRL and conference clubs. The RFL should hold an expansion draft in which all current SL clubs are allowed to protect their top 17 players and anyone on their books outside of that top 17 are allowed to be drafted by the Welsh team to help establish it in the early years.
The RFL should take a hands on role with the club and make sure they are able to spend at least 80% of the full salary cap figure in their first season. They should go out and sign two top class Australian international players to help boost the clubs playing ranks as well as looking to head hunt either a top Australian coach, or one of the many talented League greats who have been forced to take their coaching talents out of the game due to lack of opportunities.
The Welsh team should play in Red and play in a stadium with a capacity of at least 20,000. It would partly be funded by the RFL and would gain the extra funding from Sky and other Super League sponsors that would pay extra for extra content and exposure into new areas.
The RFL should encourage current SL clubs to play at least two games a season "On the Road" and take SL games to areas like Scotland, Wales, Southern England, The Midlands and even Ireland. This will not only help build a following for Rugby League and SL, but gauge the support a possible SL team in those locations would have.
Gold Coast vs Central Coast
I believe the Gold Coast has it all over the Central Coast in the bid for the 16th NRL licence.
When Gold Coast were forced to close by the ARL they had $2,000,000 in the bank. This at a time when even the biggest clubs in the game were bleeding red ink.
By 2020 the Gold Coast will have a bigger population then Adelaide, it is one of the fastest growing areas of Australia. In fact South East Queensland in general is seeing huge population growth....and currently that population has only one NRL team, the Brisbane Broncos. Its the biggest area of growth available for any sporting code that wishes to embrace it.
The Gold Coast gets big crowds for NRL trial games in a stadium that will be upgraded and reconfigured should they gain entry into the NRL. They have a coach and junior development offer in place, guarantees by sponsors and backers and they are ready to sign players for entry into the 2007 season as early as this year!
The Central Coast had a team in the Northern Eagles, but they didn't want that team, so they refused to turn up and ran a high profile campaign against that team. In turn, the Eagles went broke, the joint venture broke up and the Central Coast was left without a club. Now they want another team.
They have a nice 20,000 seat stadium, but just north is Newcastle and just south in Manly. On top of that they have a small corporate base....one thats not big enough to support an NRL club snuggled between two of the games other sponsorship strugglers.
They have struggled to get 15,000 to the City vs Country rep games as well as struggling to get over the 10,00 mark when other clubs move a game to the Central Coast.
In short, one area is looking to embrace the game in any capacity, the other wants an NRL team on their terms and no one else's.
Drugs In League
I support testing players for both performance enhancing and recreational drug.
Performance enhancing drugs need to be rubbed out of Rugby League for obvious reasons. Aside from the issue of fairness and a level playing field, the health risks to players should become apparent by the fact that a lot of known drug users of the past either suffer major health issues, or simply die of a young age.
On recreational drug, Rugby League is now a professional sport. Any professional that puts these illegal substances into their system and therefor lowering their peak physical fitness to play Rugby League, they should be banned. On top of this, Rugby League players represent their club and the game 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Kids look up to these players and if they want to earn a living from the game the least they can do is stay away from drugs.
On recreational drugs, I think a minimum of a 1 year ban should be in place. For testing positive to performance enhancing drugs I think a two year ban is sufficient with a life ban being enforced on any player that tests positive to drugs more then once.
Ignorance IS NOT a defence. In this day and age players know about drugs before they even leave school. When they start earning a big salary to play Rugby League they are provided access to a team doctor who is on call almost 24 hours a day. On top of this they have access to the best medical treatment money can buy. Therefore when a player claimss he took a flu tablet or walked into a chemist and brought something off the shelf....the defence does not stand up.
Ask yourself this. If you were earning $200,000 a year to play football and you knew you could have that taken away by one of the many THOUSANDS of over the counter medications.....would you even take a chance?
No....no sane person would.
Jerseys
I believe teams should keep their main home and away jerseys for at least three teams before changing their design. League fans want to wear the latest gear and in an age where a new jersey cost upwards of $160 a pop, teams cant expect fans to buy a new jersey every time they feel the need to change the design.
The NRL has rules in place that stop teams changing their jerseys ever season but SL does not have such rules. This see's SL teams showing off new jerseys ever year.....something that must send some British fans crazy.
A jersey is the biggest thing a club can be identified by and changing jerseys every year does nothing for a clubs marketability or brand recognition. Fans find themselves not buying a jersey at all because in 12 months time...its seen as being old.
If teams want to come out with alternative jerseys every year thats find. But keep the main jerseys the same, at least for three years and do whats best by your own fans.
The Tri Series (Aus, GB and NZ)
I support the Tri Series although I would make some changes.
The first thing I'd do is bring in France and make it a series of four teams. Right now Australia and New Zealand play France in their off week anyway. France have held up well against both Australia and New Zealand in recent season and while they would struggle at first, France would build themselves up over time and the extra exposure to the competition and to new fans would help not only their players, but their sponsorship and therefore the bottom line.
I would cut the series down to one game against each opponent....cutting it back from four games each to three games each.
I would keep the series in the Northern Hemisphere but I would have Great British spreading its games out a bit with its clash against Australia held in Wales.
NRL Free To Air TV Rights
I think the NRL should split the TV rights into three different categories and, if needed, sell them to different TV stations.
1. The full NRL regular season.
2. The NRL Playoffs and Finals Series (Including Grand Final).
3. Representative football including State Of Origin, Test matches, World Sevens and World Club Challenge.
Some of the key upgrades I would look for in the next contract include:
1. State Of Origin to start at 7pm and played as a stand alone even on a weekend.
2. The Grand Final to start at 6:30pm on a Sunday night with the news to make way for an extended pre-game show.
3. At least one regular season NRL game showed in Perth and Adelaide during the weekend between 12pm and 6pm.
4.All other areas to show all games in their full capacity at the same time (No delays or shuffling of time slots depending on the market).
5. All Finals and Rep games to be shown Live in all capital cities.
This to go along with not only a major increase in funding, but a major discount on NRL advertising and a commitment to promoting the partnership with the successful bidder in much the same way that Channel Ten works its great partnership with the AFL.
Day Or Night Grand Final?
Personally, I like the night Grand Finals. It gets big ratings which means more people are watching it, however the time slot has its problems when compared to a day time Grand Final.
For instance, because of the one hour time difference, Queensland ends up taking the game an hour later and therefore it finished pretty late on Sunday night for them.
Country fans don't like the night game....Im not sure why, but they don't like it.
In New Zealand and the Pacific, the day Grand Final was on at a great time....almost prime time. At night however because of time differences the Grand Final ends up being played late at night.
I like the night Grand Final, but having said that, it isn't at the ideal time and to be honest, I'd be happy to see it move back to a 3pm kickoff if its the best thing for the game.
How Test Football Should Be Run
I believe Rugby League has the most amateurish international set up of any sport in the world. Outside of Australia and England, Rugby League international administration struggles because of lack of funding, politics and simply because of poor management by people who are doing their best, but who just don't have the necessary background to run an international sport.
I would set up a new international governing body, based in Sydney, at the NRL headquarters. This governing body could act as a the link between all Test playing nations. It would be the one stop shop for potential players and sponsors.
This governing body would basically start from scratch and build an international competition.
It would help with the scheduling of games. It would actively seek sponsorships for smaller Test nations. It would field interest from players that may be interested in representing a member nation.
So for instance if you wanted to have an international between Tonga and Samoa, this new governing body could help seek out sponsorship, not only of the game but for both teams as well. It would enquire with players about who would be willing to take part in the match.
It could help with venues, and promotion. It could sell TV rights for these games and not one dollar would leave the company and end up being channeled into something that did not help the international game.
In short, this new company would be set up and run with two things in mind.
1. To finally have one place that links all Rugby League nations together.
2. To help lift the profile and streamline the running of international Rugby League.
All of the current national governing bodies would link into this company. They would get help when needed.
Australia is the worlds leader when it comes to Rugby League. The games profile here should be used as a platform to build the international game.
We are already seeing international sides based in Australia, with players from Australia and sponsorship from Australian companies going out and helping to grow the game internationally. Lebanon started this way and now there is a club competition in Lebanon. Imagine if these emerging nations were given the use of professional resources as they set up Rugby League in their home nations.
The important thing is that this new governing body would be a modern day sporting administration. No politics and no old boys club, it would be a true administration in every sense of the word.
Not Played At?
One thing I have never understood about Rugby League rules is the rule that comes into play when a player is deemed to have “not played at” the ball.
Basically if an attacking team kicks the ball and it hits a defensive player in the back before going out, despite the defensive player having touched the ball last he is deemed to have not played at the ball and the scrum is still given to the defensive side.
But like most rule interpretations, the core meaning of this rule has been taken out of context and now is used to bail teams out of trouble.
One of the biggest misinterpretations is when a defensive player goes to charge down a kick by an attacker and turns their back at the last second, getting hit by the ball and being deemed not to have played at the ball. But if a player is running at the ball carrier with the idea of stopping the ball being kicked, even if his back has been turned, he is still playing at the ball.
The fact is ANYONE moving towards the ball is playing AT the ball.
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