First things first, Google ‘Danny Weidler’ if you haven’t already and see what comes up for a laugh…
The article does make some good points.
Rugby League is screwed – in fine Rugby League tradition though we just can’t agree on the reasons why it’s so screwed.
A bit like over in the main Broncos forum. Our team is shit – we just disagree on the reasons why our team is so shit.
Totally fine. Not everyone watches Rugby League through the same lenses, not everyone is entertained by the same facets of the game. Totally understandable.
OK, let’s start with Weidler.
Weidler believes the game is screwed due to dwindling ratings. This is being caused by fans turning off the game due to inconsistent refereeing and judiciary charges.
Whether that’s true or not, I’m not sure. Speaking for myself, I haven’t watched a full round of NRL since 2013. I mainly stick to Broncos games and whatever game I’m interested in – Souths-Storm the other day, for example.
I confess too this is the first year ever I haven’t actually seen all Broncos games. I skipped the Knights, Eels, and a few others.
So just based on personal experience, Weidler has a point. I’ve scaled back watching Rugby League - not necessarily due to refereeing and judiciary issues but more to do with the game being just so boring, robotic, monotonous and lifeless these days.
Every team plays the same and every team tries to play like the Melbourne Storm.
I’d like to expand some more though on why Rugby League is screwed.
Enter Phil Gould.
Phil Gould believes Rugby League is stuffed because doctors and lawyers are contributing to the softening of Rugby League.
To be fair, he has been pretty consistent on this for a long time. Here he is in a column from 2014:
'A smart man said to me years ago the day will come when society will no longer tolerate the brutality and toughness of rugby league.
He believed that the media, smart lawyers and concerned doctors would eventually have their way in watering this game down to nothing more than glorified touch football.'
He goes on to say:
'He said it probably wouldn’t happen in our lifetime, but he confidently predicted that eventually the popularity of the game would wane and the future of rugby league as we know it was in serious jeopardy.'
Steve Mascord, in a roundabout way, kinda comes to a similar conclusion.
In an article from 2016 he said:
‘But coaches need wins. Players need pay cheques. Concussion victims need analysing. Incidents need reviewing. Jobs need justifying. Generally speaking, bills need paying.
Brutal body contact sports are incompatible with modern life and these sports will pay an ever increasing ransom to keep modern life at bay.’
He goes on to elaborate further and then repeats his main point:
‘With each passing year they'll pay more and more to litigants. They'll eradicate every hint of violence. They'll fail utterly to juggle club v country and everything will come down to weight of money. They'll end up watched by the rich and played by the poor. The biggest of them will eat the smallest.
And eventually, brutal body contact sports will cease to exit.
Because they are incompatible with modern life.’
I like Mascord – your mileage may vary. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he writes but it’s concerning that a die-hard league tragic who loves the game sounds so pessimistic.
Bring on Benny!
Wayne Bennet thinks the game is stuffed because we have neglected expansion and have little to no interest in growing the international game.
This is a problem because by being so inbred and inward looking to the NRL we are not gaining a foothold in other markets and not appealing to a wider audience.
Bennett said:
‘If we don't have a global product in 20 years we won't have a product. Sport is changing that quickly and kids are growing up with all the sports around the world. I want to be in a market place where we can take rugby league people know about and they come and see it and want to play it.’
Say what you will about Bennett. You can grind your axe regarding the Broncos but he’s got skin in the game when it comes to international football, having coached Australia, England and assisted with New Zealand.
He can see the bigger picture.
A few years ago, Malcolm Knox pointed out something that should be a concern for why Rugby League is stuffed with participation numbers and ratings falling. This isn’t something Weidler just discovered last week.
Knox says:
‘Participation numbers hide the fact that the traditional 13-a-side sport has stagnated at around 170,000 participants, with long-term decline in the key boys' 13-to-18 age group.
The Australian Football League has almost twice the number of participants (1.5 million) with 697,000 playing in competitions – up 10 per cent last year.
Rugby league's TV ratings are treading water in a dropping tide, its lead exaggerated by its football rivals' falling audiences in a shrinking free-to-air environment. The NRL clubs raise about $200 million in overall revenue, but only half break even, whereas the AFL's clubs contribute more than $400 million. AFL clubs have 1 million combined members, almost three times the NRL's total club membership.’
So what do we make of this?
I’m fairly negative and pessimistic about the future of Rugby League. It’s hard to find anyone close to the game that is painting a bright future and can back up the talk.
It gets worse the more you dig into it. There are already whispers that the next TV deal won’t be for as much. The rivers of gold won’t be there forever.
Combine that with an ageing fanbase, the NRL failing to capture younger generations of fans, kicking the can down the road on expanding the game, too many games ruined by stalling and time wasting tactics (if not outright, blatant cheating), games played in cavernous, empty stadiums, kick off times not being family friendly and it’s easy to see why it’s shedding a steady chunk of fans every year.
Anyway, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Keen to get your thoughts.
Here are the links to the articles I looked up:
The victims of crusher tackles are contributing to the dangerous tactic while doctors and lawyers will kill off rugby league within the next two decades, those were the furious thoughts of Phil ‘Gus’ Gould on Friday night.
www.sportingnews.com
This is a column about nothing. I am not trying to make a point.
www.smh.com.au
Let's start with Monday, and Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson's tirade against the Bunker. This is a classic example of the troubled intersection of technology and human behaviour that has archaic origins, like beer being introduced to the Amazon.
www.smh.com.au
Having coached Queensland in the 1987 State of Origin match at Long Beach, California and Australia against the United State in 2004 at Philadelphia, Wayne Bennett doesn't want the Denver Test to be a one-off.
www.nrl.com
The National Rugby League boss always had his work cut out – and was always a polarising figure.
www.smh.com.au
ARL Commission chairman John Grant made some ambitious promises with his strategic plan in 2012. How is it faring five years down the track?
www.smh.com.au
