Let me guess…you’ve stopped talking about the fact that Rugby League clubs at every level across the UK are in financial meltdown. You’ve stopped talking about the lack of funding being put into development. You have stopped talking about how terrible the current Rugby Football league administration is. Why? Because with a combination of smoke…
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…
Ok I am a strong believer in not trying to fix things that aren’t broken. But I’m now at the thinking process of why not throw in a few more things that would make our game just that little bit better. I have sat down and brainstormed a few Ideas that the NRL should look…
Channel 9 CEO and Sydney Roosters supporter David Gyngell has told the Sydney Daily Telegraph that it is imperative that the NRL retains Sonny Bill Williams in the face of the AFL’s move Buddy Franklin to Sydney to play with AFL team the Sydney Swans. Gyngell mentioned the boost to crowds and television ratings that…
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 NRL has a responsibility to take over and mentor the Super League whilst clubs could create an alliance or sister club in the UK. Super League is the 2nd biggest market but with the right promotion could be the new golden goose of Rugby League and it really wouldn’t take much of an outlay…
Channel Seven has sensationally won the rights to broadcast the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, beating out current Free To Air broadcaster Channel Nine. The 2013 Rugby League World Cup, which will be held in Great Britain, is a huge pick up for the Seven Network and breaks the stranglehold that Channel Nine has had…
The British and Irish Lions Rugby Union team is currently touring Australia. While Rugby Union in Australia might be a small sport that struggles to get a share of the spotlight, crowds have been good for their tour matches as Rugby Union fans come out of the woodwork and support the game. Steve Mascord this…
For over a decade Rugby League in Australia found itself living on a tight budget. The aftermath of the Super League War actually saw salaries shrink considerably. This was followed up by under funding after the game signed off on poor broadcasting deals, and it created a situation in which teams were spending the least amount of…
As always in Rugby League, when bad something happens, its a crisis. We might as well stop playing the game all together and spend the rest of our likes throwing our arms in the air… With the Sharks facing some serious, troubling allegations that some are suggesting could see a number of players banned from…
It took a long time to get there but the NRL has finally worked out a deal with Sky television in New Zealand that will see a wide range of broadcasting shown across New Zealand. The deal between Sky and the NRL will run for five years and will see New Zealand based fans get just about…
Premier Sports has announced that they will carry every single NRL game in a deal that will run for five years. With just one week to go before the NRL season kicks off, this will be great news for Rugby League fans in Great Britain looking to take in coverage of the worlds best club competition. You can check…
Update Feb 28, 2013: Premier Sports To Carry NRL Coverage Across The UK Update Mar 07 2013: New Zealand NRL Television Rights Announced Update Mar 08 2013: You can watch NRL games from overseas by clicking this link! The NRL has announced that they have signed off on an international broadcasting deal that will ensure…
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…
When Israel Folau reached out to the Parramatta Eels and told them he wanted to come back and play Rugby League for them, it put a number of different elements onto an eventual collision course that ironically would see Folau decide to turn his back on Rugby League once again, Folau’s decision to turn his back on one of…
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is reporting that Benji Marshall will ask for an immediate release from his contract with the Wests Tigers to take up a deal to play Rugby Union in Japan. This was always going to happen in the wake of the move by the Sydney Roosters to sign Sonny Bill Williams…
I have just sat down and watch the press conference in Sydney in which the Sydney Roosters announced that they had signed Sonny Bill Williams to a one year deal. The contract has yet to be forwarded to the National Rugby League and there is some concern about the way it come about, with no…
You always have to watch these media types, they will give you one side of the story, but leave out the other. Earlier this season the NRL put out a set of guidelines that teams needed to follow that outlines how much time NRL players and coaches should spend being available to the media and…
There is a lot of angst among media types at the moment in regards to the access they get to players and coaches and the quality of answers they get when they are fortunate enough to interview these people. I can see where they are coming from and to a certain extent, I agree with…
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…
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…
One of the main talking points for the first month or so of the 2012 NRL Off Season has been off the field and it’s a big issue – the next TV Rights Deal and indeed who they will go to. Now for those who don’t know (which I doubt will be many of you)…
It is the dream scenario for the National Rugby League, the worst case scenario for Fox Sport and it would be a deal that would change Australian television in a very dramatic way. The Sydney Daily Telegraph article Channel Ten to attempt to snatch NRL broadcast rights from Channel Nine outlines moves by Channel 10 to broadcast…
For well over a decade News Limited was part of the business. A 50% owner of the NRL, heavily involved in broadcasting rights, they had their fingers in all the pies and made hundreds of millions of dollars out of the game. Now, they are no longer at the table when it comes to the…
It took a long time but they finally got it done. The old ARL has been dissolved, News Limited has left the building and now the Independent Commission is finally in charge under the name of the Australian Rugby League Commission. The handover occurred yesterday at Moore Park in Sydney where the new HQ for…
This week we saw and interesting court case in which Optus were ruled to not be breaking any laws by allowing its customers to record free to air television programs on a personal DVR and then stream that recording to their mobile devices and computers as early as 2 minutes after that television program started….
Watch me start off simplifying this and then making it much more complicated as we go along. NRL clubs currently receive a grant from the NRL every year. This is basically their share of the current broadcasting deal. The NRL is looking to get clubs to sign an agreement that says that next year, they…
If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that this is something that I have brought up a few times and I am not happy about. As of today, the Penrith Panthers do not have a captain, CEO or a major sponsor. Earlier this week The Daily Telegraph looks at the latter in an…