Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant flanked by NRL CEO Todd Greenberg. Credit:Christopher Pearce For many years, NRL club bosses have been sceptical of the exploding costs associated with running the game and the financial reporting that comes out of head office. This week the situation finally reached breaking point. For too long, NRL management has been secretly passing off to the commissioners and key members of the media the story that any unrest in club land is merely the rantings and agitations of a few rebel recalcitrants who were looking to make trouble. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When the NSWRL, QRL and 16 NRL clubs stood together as one during the week to say enough is enough, Idare say it took many of the other commission members by surprise. The whole problem stems from the fact that the commission and NRL management have been constantly borrowing from the future to pay for the financial extravagance and mismanagement of the past. They now realise they can't keep doing this and they certainly cannot honour the memorandum of understanding for NRL club funding that was agreed to only 12 months ago. Rather than admit to the financial problems they have created, the NRL is now trying to claw money back from the clubs and players. However, their explanations for doing so do not make sense and their methods will eventually prove damaging to the long-term future ofthe game. Every State of the Game report from the NRL I can ever remember talks about what great shape the game is in ... now ARLC chairman John Grant is telling us that participation rates are down and the game is going backwards.

As just one example, commission chairman John Grant is now saying the NRL needs to realign its spending towards grassroots participation because this area of the game is going backwards at an alarming rate. This is more a "political" ploy than anything. They obviously believe the mention of words such as "grassroots" and "participation" will resonate with the general public and generate support for their actions. The truth of the matter is that this commission and the NRL management teams of the past 15years have been so disconnected from the grassroots of our game that they wouldn't know where to find it. Anyway, it's very strange that the NRL is now saying our game is going backwards. Every "State of the Game" address and every NRL annual report for as long as I can remember has highlighted increased participation levels for junior leagues, senior competitions, touch football, women's rugby league, over 35s, etc. Every State of the Game report from the NRL I can ever remember talks about what great shape the game is in and how they're investing for the future. They highlight that the NRL game development division has engaged with an increasing number of school kids every year. The NRL game development division has more than 400 development officers, run by highly paid managers, costing the game millions of dollars each year. This has been the NRL's strategy to build participation rates at all levels.

They keep telling us what a great job they have been doing and they have been justifying the enormous amounts of money they have dedicated to these programs by reporting that participation is up, TV ratings are up, membership is up, crowds are up and the game is in great shape. Now ARLC chairman John Grant is telling us that participation rates are down and the game is going backwards. If this is true, then obviously all this money the NRL has spent on development and participation programs has failed. Actually, we have warned them for years that these programs were fundamentally flawed, so if there is evidence of failure it will come as no surprise to those who work in clubs and junior leagues. at the coal face. Why then would the NRL clubs trust this commission to fix the mess and allow them MORE money for MORE programs of their own making?

Our game has many issues and faces many challenges into the future that need to be addressed. I think this week we witnessed the NRL clubs saying that it would be very unwise to give those who created these problems the chance to solve these problems. The ARLC was formed to give rugby league "independence" from media ownership and to administer the NRL competition on behalf of the NRL clubs. The initial process of forming the commission was compromised by the interests of the exiting parties and the efforts of others acting purely out if self-interest and trying to survive. It is imperative, at this critical point in time, that the commission undergoes the necessary constitutional change to ensure the right people are placed in the right positions of authority, to manage the future of our game and make it the best it can be at all levels of our game. Loading

We live in hope. Phil Gould is general manager of football for Penrith Panthers.