Australian Rugby League
The Australia and New Zealand Rugby League commission. It’s clear Peter V’landys is an expansionist. As an expansionist myself, I love it! V’landys has been very forthcoming with his ideas about not only expanding the NRL competition, but the overall footprint of Rugby League all over the world. He is being aggressive about it, and…
The ARL and NZRL have both officially withdrawn from the 2021 Rugby League World Cup according to multiple sources on both sides of the Tasman. This decision has reportedly been made because of concerns about player welfare as Covid 19 numbers spike in the UK. Here is the joint statement from the ARL and NZRL…
NRL clubs have made a move to oust Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman John Grant after Grant, along with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, promised clubs a funding bonus, and then backpedaled on that promise due to other areas of the game needed the money more. The clubs not only want Grant removed, they also want…
Who is in charge of Rugby League? Who runs the sport? Whose job is it to stand up and protect the integrity of the game? It doesn’t take much to change things in Rugby League. All you need to do is whinge louder than everyone else. Rugby League was once known as a sport that…
Over the course of the World Cup Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League officials spent time in the UK meeting with their UK counterparts from various sporting codes. It allowed Australian officials to spend well over a month on an extended fact finding mission they normally wouldn’t have had the time to complete. Out…
When the Australian Rugby League Commission came into power there was a clear message that the new administration would have a “whole of game” approach to the decisions they made. In the past there was something of a disconnect between the NRL competition and the rest of Rugby League. The NRL was basically a company…
The Australian is reporting that NRL clubs are digging their heels in over a fight for increased funding from the NRL. Clubs want the NRL and ARL Board to boost their funding with money that would be drawn from the games “Future Fund”, and it is expected to end in a showdown between the clubs…
Canterbury Bulldogs CEO Todd Greenberg will leave his post at the Belmore based club today and take up a with role the NRL which is being described as Deputy Chief Executive of the NRL. Greenberg is expected to work under NRL CEO David Smith and will probably become the public face of the game. NRL CEO David…
An investigation by BBC Inside Out has found that Super League clubs have a combined debt of around £68.5 million. Sports Finance expert Rob Wilson explained the situation as “There are too many teams generating insufficient turnover and generating too much cumulative debt”. Incredibly, the Rugby Football League’s director of standards and licensing Blake Solly…
Award in Rugby League rain like confetti these days. You have organisations and magazines handing them out to all and sundry and forming groups of people who vote based on their own agendas or in most cases, ignorance. That is why The King Of Rugby League Awards stands out from the crowd. I am the…
For the last two weeks Rugby League fans have been promised that the NRL Draw would be released “Tomorrow”. We have all waited patiently, all looking forward to see the make up of the season and finally having the luxury of being able to play trips to away games well in advance. We are all…
When you cross the white line and onto the playing surface of a Rugby League field, the risk level rises. Rugby League is a tough sport and there are about a million ways to get injured playing the game. When you take the field, you know the risks, and you accept them. When you become…
Thanks to funding from the New South Wales government, Sydney will host two games in next years State Of Origin series with Brisbane hosting the other match. Over the last few years the NRL has been pushing for more funding to host these games. Ironically it was Victoria’s willingness to pay to host matches that…
For well over a decade now the game of Rugby League in Australia has been crying out for a strategic plan. Something that the game can work towards to give fans, players and various investors in the sport something they can look forward to. Basically the game needed to build towards something, and so today…
I love international Rugby League. I grew up watching test football and enjoying every single minutes of it. I would set my alarm late at night to watch games played over in England, and I still credit the 1994 Kangaroo Tour for giving me the terrible sleeping habits I have today. Then Super League hit,…
The title says it all really. Not again. Not again as the Bulldogs who, in my opinion, were certainly the cream of the crop throughout the season came crashing back down to Earth after audio of someone within the club calling out abusive comments to a media contingent. Compounding the matter, the comments were of…
The Rugby Football League’s licencing system has come under fire recently after the financial collapse of the Bradford Bulls showed it up for what it really was. The grading of clubs in such black and white terms was completely ridiculous. Putting clubs into different categories was always going to lead to problems simply because so…
Australia, New Zealand and England poach talent from other countries, and then they dare to suggest that no other country can offer them a decent contest, so they refuse to play anyone else. That is the current situation in international Rugby League right now. You have a bunch of growing Rugby League nations playing games…
If I was running the Australian Rugby League Commission today I would have called NRL chief medical officer Ron Muratore into my office today and fired him on the spot. Making Rugby League as safe a sport as it can possibly be has been one of the major goals of every Rugby League administration going…
With Rugby League in Australia now predicted to generate an average of $270 million dollars per year the game administrators have an opportunity to do something they have not been able to even think about for a very long time. Building a legacy. While clubs grants will be raised along with the salary cap, Rugby…
The Warrington Wolves have defeated the Leeds Rhinos 35-18 at Wembley Stadium to claim the 2012 Challenge Cup Final.The game will probably be remembered for an incredible change in the weather in the first half. Kicking off in sunshine, part way through the first have of the match a massive thunderstorm passed over the ground…
There are a number of pertinent issues in Rugby League in Australia today that are the result of over a decade of self-interest by the NRL. A lot of these can be quickly and easily rectified through the implementation of a smarter draw. What the NRL needs to do is look back at what the…
G’day from Scotland! Whilst it is summer here, I’ve seen the four seasons over the past hour, and have just had my fix of Australian news, especially all things RL. And what a massive couple of days it has been! When it rains, it pours. When ol’ Huey decides to dump it on theARLC/NRL, grab…
The deal has been done and the budget is now set, so where does Rugby League go from here? For well over a decade Rugby League in Australia was just trying to survive. It wasn’t that the game wasn’t growing, it simply come down to the fact that clubs at first were spending way beyond…
The Australian Rugby League Commission has today announced that the broadcasting rights for Rugby League in Australia have been retained by Channel 9 and Fox Sports Australia. The deal will run over five years and is worth $1.025 billion dollars. $100 million dollars of that is advertising on Channel 9 and Fox Sports. This deal…
Let me start off by saying I love rugby league. Love it so much that it leaves me wanting to tear out another handful of hair or kick the nearest small child sometimes. This week, it’s the judiciary that needs our help. Like many things these days, the NRL judiciary system has become over-complicated to…
The Administrator in charge of the Bradford Bulls has made members of the clubs front office and coaching staff redundant today, including head coach Michael Potter. Assistant coach Francis Cummins is the only member of the coaching staff left to prepare the squad for their next Super League game. What a mess. It is a…
Last month ARLC Chairman John Grant was asked about the ridiculous situation in the State Of Origin series that saw both Queensland and New South Wales actively recruiting players who were not born and raised in Australia. His reply was pathetic and limp wristed. “I don’t think the State of Origin rules are going to…
The Western Australia Rugby League has announced that the name they will use for their National Rugby League expansion team will be the West Coast Pirates. Previously the Western Australia Rugby League had used the name Western Reds, Perth Reds, then WA Reds, but obviously they decided to go in a different direction for their…
The Rugby Football League should be on the phone right now to David Gallop and offering him the role as RFL Chairman along with a sizable contract. During David Gallops time in charge of the NRL he always pushed three major idea’s and never wavered on their importance. Gallop resisted calls to raise the salary…