Neville Smith pushing for a Champions League involving teams from the NRL and Super L

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Berkeley_Eagle

Current Status: 24/7 Manly Fan
THE British television guru driving Super League has proposed a rugby league Champions League tournament between the top four NRL clubs against the best four from England.

Neville Smith, Sky Sports' rugby league executive producer for 25 years, outlined the case for an end-of-season club extravaganza with teams such as Manly, Brisbane, Melbourne, Wigan, Leeds and St Helens going head to head.

Smith, who was behind the video referee concept, also called for a Papua New Guinea team to be introduced into the NRL.

A northern beaches-born executive, who has returned home for a holiday, Smith is the brains behind Sky Sports' coverage of all Super League games. Despite competing with Premier League soccer and rugby union, Super League still attracts a average audience of 250,000 viewers each game.

Smith wants an end-of-season showdown in which three countries would be represented by sides from eight cities.

Sides would represent Sydney, (Manly), New Zealand, Melbourne, Brisbane, Leeds (Yorkshire) St Helens, Warrington and Wigan (all Lancashire).

"An expanded World Club Challenge would be exciting," Smith said. "It could run immediately after the season. It gives the teams an extra edge - like football teams fighting for a place in Europe.

"Probably to start with it should be played in England - there would be more appetite for it over there.

"It could be played over a three-week period.

"Initially the interest would be built in the UK and maybe in year three, or year two, it could happen here in Australia.

"Teams would be against sides that have played together all year - not just thrown together at the end of the year. They would have to look for a window to do it without being at the expense of the international game."

Super League attempted a rushed version of this concept in 1997 but the gap between the competitions was excessive and the experiment failed. But the top four English clubs are now robust and professional - ensuring a bumper contest.

Asked how many Super League teams could compete in the NRL on a week-to-week basis, Smith said: "Wigan, Warrington, St Helens, Leeds and we're expecting Catalans Dragons to come good this coming season and potentially make the grand final."

An NRL spokesman said of the Champions League tournament: "I'm sure the concept would prove popular with fans, but to add another event to the already-demanding schedule is not a realistic option at this stage."

Smith also proposed PNG should be the next franchise granted entry into the NRL. Although some may scoff at his idea, rugby league would only strengthen by marching into a new country.

"Yes (to expansion) if they can tap into an area with an already deep interest and a classic example of that is PNG," he said.

"PNG would bring passion, entertainment, flair and TV revenue. The game is huge in PNG. It is a national sport.

"It would also strengthen their national side. Look what has happened to the New Zealand national side since the Warriors came in. They are reigning world champions. It would do the same for PNG."


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/neville-smith-pushing-for-a-champions-league-involving-eight-teams-from-the-nrl-and-super-league/story-e6frexnr-1226240276056
 
Don't like this idea at all. Clubs need the off season to plan for the next year and get over any injuries. With representative commitments the players need some time to recover. A post season competition does'nt make much sense, sure soccer players play a lot more games but the sport is much less physically demanding ( minimal contact ), also anything with the name Super League in it just rubs me the wrong way.
 
I don't think PNG would be a viable option for a side. They may bring passion, and flair but i can't see much t.v revenue. How many t.v games could they get? I don't think they would be that competetive and games between them and say Manly, Broncs, Storm etc would be boring one sided affairs. If they were looking to expand into a different country, i'd say Fiji. Atleast the away teams could enjoy their weekend away. Barring coups of course ;
 
Everyone already watches the NRL in PNG. I can't see the ratins rising much if at all if there was a PNG team.

No way club would want to play for an extra 3 weeks. And the idea of including Melbourne and Brisbane rehardless of how they went during the season is a joke.
If it was the top 4 teams in each comp it mgiht work but i doubt it.

If it was played here the pommy teams would not get close. ESL is a 2nd rate comp which is why average players here can turn into stars there. Example Pat Richards has won the Man of Steel.
 
Only way I see it working is scheduling the NRL and SL grand finals on the same weekend and the top 4 from both countries play off
On the week after the Gf's teams that finished 3 and 4th from both countries play, then the week after the Grand final losers play off and the premiers play each other
 
problem is that at the end of the season you lose players to different teams, which means that you aren't getting a true champions tournament and it also adds extra stress.

I think that NRL is the best you will see of Rugby League, if only they could find a way to make it global
 
Easy fix knock both comps back to 22 rounds and if your club misses a spot to bad so sad. Means it puts more emphasis on finishing top 4
 
I think a few changes could be made to make this work.

1 run it bi annually with the 4 nations and world cup played in the other years.
2 Eliminate trials and start the season with the first 2 rounds of a Cup tournament featuring all nrl clubs all qcup clubs Wa state rep team and a nsw country side.
Shorten the premiership to 22 rounds and have 3 weekends off before origin to play the quarter finals, semi finals and cup final. You could also throw in some other rep games to ensure you get 3 games on those shut down weekend.

With the champions league put the premiers of both comps on seperate sides of the draw then do the rest out of the hat. Play it over 3 weekends
 
I like the idea personally. But you are punishing the good clubs that continually make it to the top four.

I suggest an end of year comp such as described above to include the 8 NRL teams that didn't make the playoffs.

Invite PNG, Fiji, Maori, Aboriginal, and four UK teams to play in an invitational knockout 16 team competition to be run in conjunction with the NRL finals. This would take 4 weeks and could be played either at the Sydney Football Stadium or suburban grounds.

The next year it could be played in the Northern hemisphere such as the UK.

Or it could be played in a 'non-rugby league' area with the intention of expanding the game. Sell it to foxtel and cover the cost.
 
mickyj said:
Everyone already watches the NRL in PNG. I can't see the ratins rising much if at all if there was a PNG team.

No way club would want to play for an extra 3 weeks. And the idea of including Melbourne and Brisbane rehardless of how they went during the season is a joke.
If it was the top 4 teams in each comp it mgiht work but i doubt it.

If it was played here the pommy teams would not get close. ESL is a 2nd rate comp which is why average players here can turn into stars there. Example Pat Richards has won the Man of Steel.

Or where star players in the NRL look ordinary ie Matt King was hopeless when he first got there.

The png idea is ordinary at best let them play in the Qld Cup for 10 years minimum and if nothings happened ie teams flopped, riots, government upheaval(coup) in the area then consider it
 
It would be interesting to hear players responses to this - no doubt fans would love seeing there teams running around 12 months of the year.

I'd imagine if the price was right they'd love it, its the training that kills them
 
Hyperthetical.....

We'd know that the likes of Wigan, St Helens and Leeds could draw a crowd.
If this was brought on and we got Warrington as a our home game (or another team (Catalan, Hull FC or whoever)) would the club possible move the game to say Suncorp and split the gate with the Broncos or Eden Park, or to Melbourne to get more money from it
 
Could it be something like they have in the US where they have the champions of the various conferences play off for the 'world series'? There would be an ANZAC conference and a European conference and in the end the best of the best meet for the play-offs. THis way the series is taken seriously with something to play for.
 
captainskin said:
Could it be something like they have in the US where they have the champions of the various conferences play off for the 'world series'? There would be an ANZAC conference and a European conference and in the end the best of the best meet for the play-offs. THis way the series is taken seriously with something to play for.
Typical American egocentricity to call something The World Series when no other country plays in it.....perhaps we could call it The Universe Cup.:D
 
Moondog said:
captainskin said:
Could it be something like they have in the US where they have the champions of the various conferences play off for the 'world series'? There would be an ANZAC conference and a European conference and in the end the best of the best meet for the play-offs. THis way the series is taken seriously with something to play for.
Typical American egocentricity to call something The World Series when no other country plays in it.....perhaps we could call it The Universe Cup.:D

Isn't the World Series actually named after a newspaper named 'The World'


Seen today the Rah Rah boys are going to be introducing something similar (try and find the link later).

Well done RL - once again it shows this code is run by brain dead numpties
 
I like the idea, always have. Id like to see the current competition slashed by at least 25%. id like to see 2 comps similar to this involving more teams where the top comp is played here and second comp played there and alternated, with all the spoils being spread amongst all teams

With the IPL showing what can be done , I never want to see a system where players are split from there teams though. . I see massive growth and marketing abilities and crowds returning by the droves

It should be played like the millenium round, where they have all 8 games on a weekend at the same ground back to back or simialr, where the grounds kick in a motza to hold it , the nrl and English run it, All profits are to be evenly returned to the clubs. Players can be paid out of that

The only problem i see is that feeding people for 8 hours at any facility in australia is the problem. How they can classify themselves as catering is beyond me
 

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