Rugby league anoraks have been whining for a decade or more about the game broadening its horizons – but while we whine, money talks.

And with the globalisation and rationalisation of the media – and therefore of sponsorship, membership and merchandising – NRL clubs are suddenly tripping over themselves to broaden their geographical footprint after years of merely paying lip service to the concept.

North Queensland, Brisbane and Sydney Roosters have been paid a total of $1.2 million to take part in three games in northern England this weekend that many Australian fans still regard as trials.

Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share

There are some clubs dragging the chain back in Sydney, playing in suburban grounds that have never had their doors darkened by a scalper.

Presumably, demand for tickets is so frenetic at Remondis Stadium and Pepper Stadium that we needed another game there in 2016.

Assuming the penny will finally drop that NRL clubs’ IP is bankable and the coach should be ignored when he wants them to have a run out in February in front of no-one, for nothing, the time is ripe to ask this question: can the clubs be trusted with expanding rugby league as a sport?

Or should our Trojan horse be Test football? Should these missionary ventures be tightly controlled from ‘headquarters’ (where-ever that may be), or can the clubs go off and play in Kathmandu if the money’s right?

This columnist opposed Brisbane and Penrith playing in Hawaii last October for the simple reason that is our FIFA window – the end of the year is for internationals and if it wasn’t good enough for Great Britain to tour Australia as the players needed a break, then it’s not good enough for 40 NRL players to go off on a jolly.

The Rugby League International Federation has a stated aim to break into two new G20 countries over the next decade. Do any of these clubs planning training camps (don’t mention Dubai) and pre-season friendlies even know this?



The clubs have waited until the financial imperative made them act on expansion and now they’ve begun, they will continue to be guided by the financial imperative.

That does not always take the sport where it needs to go.

The Sydney Roosters have a decent argument that they should have been allowed to play Catalans last weekend. But why are these things being organised ad hoc between clubs?

Surely rugby league should have an events arm which negotiates with city, state and federal governments, informs clubs about messy political situations like the one in Dubai and connects estranged members of the rugby league family.

If these events skimmed off five per cent of the money on offer for staging games, in exchange for leveraging the whole sport, would that be such a bad thing?

A stadium in England wants a Four Nations game? Make them stage a Super League match first! You want an Origin? Let’s see how you go with a Nines carnival.

Instead, everyone is running around undercutting each other in search of the best deal, making no contact with local rugby league officials when they go there in some cases, and money which could be spent on rugby league is going to other sports.

It’s the same old story – competing with each other instead of with common rivals. The lunatics will continue running the asylum until someone is put in charge of said asylum.

Advertisement